September 8th, 2008 CSL Week 17 Summary (from CSL media release)
Big weekend for Serbian White Eagles..........Attak on top with Saturday victory while Border Stars tie with Wolves....... Portugal win Friday 2008-09-07
Nine CSL Teams See Action Over The Weekend
Serbian White Eagles continued their recent fine form with two wins over the weekend to take over the International Division and create a 3-way battle for the overall favoured top position as the season moves closer to the playoffs. Serbia defeated North York Astros 3-1 at Esther Shiner Stadium on Sunday, for a weekend double that included an impressive 5-1 victory over Brampton Lions on Friday night. Rain took out the other CSL game scheduled for Sunday when the Brampton Lions vs. Portugal FC game scheduled for Victoria Park was postponed due to severe wet ground conditions. On Saturday, Trois-Rivieres Attak jumped on top of the overall CSL standings and increased their lead to eight points at the top of the National Division following a 3-1 defeat of TFC Academy at the University of Quebec Trois-Rivieres, while in one other game played that evening the Border Stars and St. Catharines Wolves did little to improve their playoff aspirations playing to a 1-1 tie at Windsor Stadium. Portugal FC also won on Friday night, a 3-2 result over Italia Shooters.
North York Astros were the first to score in Sunday's only game when Jonathan Hurtis found the net at the 31st minute mark and the 1-0 score held up at the interval.
An own goal in the Astros' net by the North York defender Alex Kawalit tied the game 1-1 and Serbia took a 2-1 lead on a goal by Nenad Stojcic at 64 minutes. Eagles' forward Darryl Gomez then scored his third goal of the weekend when he beat Astros' goalkeeper Pablo Alvarado at 75 minutes to make the score and the final result 3-1.
Nicolas LeSage struck his 7th goal of the season near the end of the first half at Trois-Rivieres on Saturday to give Trois-Rivieres the lead against TFC Academy and Serge Dinkota made it 2-0 at the 54th minute mark. TFC Academy defender Shawn Kodejs reduced the lead to 2-1 at 62 minutes, but Attak forward Guillaume Heroux scored a third goal for his side at 77 minutes for a 3-1 final score.
It was a tough, well-played entertaining encounter at Windsor Stadium where both teams needed a full three points in their quest for a playoff berth. Dominic Secluna found the net in the first half for the home side after Windsor hit the woodwork three times and were generally the stronger side, but St. Catharines showed more determination following the interval and midfielder Arnaldo Magnotta scored an all-important equalizer at 69 minutes. It was Windsor's last regular season home game and the border side have not yet secured a playoff berth with their 21 points and four games remaining. St. Catharines are in a similar position with 20 points as they fight to become one of the eight teams to enter the playoff quarterfinals.
Dragan Radovic struck his 11th goal of the season at 25 minutes (a penalty kick) and 12th at 38 minutes to put his team well on the way to victory over Brampton, for a 2-0 lead at halftime at Centennial Stadium on Friday night.
Darryl Gomez made it 3-0 for Serbia, he broke through the middle to find the net from 15 yards. Brampton's Alex Arbello reduced Serbia's lead to 3-1 at 59 minutes, then Gomez scored his second to make it 4-1 for Serbian White Eagles at the 61st minute mark.
Sasa Viciknez completed the scoring, his 8th of the season at 67 minutes, a 5-1 final.
Mike DiLuca opened the scoring for Portugal FC at 11 minutes at Lamport Stadium on Friday and Selmir Sehic made it 2-0 with a spectacular volley from 45 ards that caught Italia 'keeper Camilo Benzi out of his net. David DiPlacido struck for Italia at 68 minutes but Emerson Fiti made it 3-1 for Portugal with a free-kick minutes later. With Portugal coasting to a comfortable 3-1 win, Kadian Leckie caught the net for Italia Shooters at 94 minutes, but too late to bid for an equalizer - a 3-2 final score.
The Playoff Race following the weekend games: Place Team G Points 1 Trois-Rivieres Attak 18 37 2 Serbian White Eagles 18 36 3 Italia Shooters 17 33 4 North York Astros 18 29 5 Toronto Croatia 16 25 6 Portugal FC 16 25 7 Brampton Lions 18 23 8 Windsor Border Stars 18 21 9 St. Catharines Wolves 17 20 10 TFC Academy 17 16 11 London City 17 2
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