September 21, 2008 CSL Week 19 Summary (from CSL media release)
Italia Shooters defeat TFC Academy 4-1, Wolves, Portugal FC tie 1-1 Sunday ............Trois-Rivieres win National Division title Saturday.....they defeat London City 3-1 while Brampton Lions win 3-1 over North York Astros........On Friday, Toronto Croatia grab playoff spot with 3-2 victory over Portugal FC........ Serbian White Eagles win 3-0 over Italia Shooters
2008-09-21
Italia Shooters were full measure for their 4-1 victory over TFC Academy at Maple on Sunday afternoon, a win that keeps the York Region team in contention for the International Division title. Italia (20 games 12-6-2 for 38 points)or Serbian White Eagles (21 games 12-4-5 for 41 points)will win that division, a decision that may have to wait until the last regular game of the season on October 5. In one other game played in the CSL Sunday, St. Catharines Wolves and Portugal FC fought to a 1-1 tie at Club Roma. Both teams are still in the running for a playoff spot, a race that enters the last two weeks of the season. On Saturday, Trois-Rivieres Attak won the National Division in the team's second season in the Canadian Soccer League. The title win came following the 3-1 defeat of second place North York Astros by Brampton Lions Saturday afternoon and a few hours later the Attak confimed the divisional title win by defeating London City 3-1 at the University of Quebec Trois-Rivieres. The Quebec team also regained their earlier position at the top of the overall standings and will bid to keep that position with the upcoming home encounter with Serbian White Eagles on September 27. On Friday night, Serbian White Eagles and Toronto Croatia won their games to gain big dividends in their divisional standing at a crucial time in the race to the playoffs. Serbia blanked Italia Shooters 3-0 in the Rogers TV Game of the Week played at Centennial Stadium, while Toronto Croatia became the fifth team to gain a playoff berth after edgeing Portugal FC 3-2 at Lamport Stadium. Toronto Croatia joined Trois-Rivieres Attak, Serbian White Eagles, Italia Shooters and North York Astros for the CSL championship playoffs, leaving five teams fighting for the three remaining spots. The eight teams will begin their playoff campaign with quarterfinal games during the Thanksgiving Day holiday weekend October 10 – 13 and the top four of the eight at the end of the regular season will go into the playoffs with a favoured home draw.
Midfielder Tristan Murray scored just on halftime for Italia Shooters at Maple on Sunday afternoon for a 1-0 interval lead over TFC Academy, forward Murphy Wiredo made it 2-0 for the home side at 69 minutes, Kadian Leckie struck from the penalty spot to give Italia a 3-0 lead at 75 minutes and Wiredo scored his second and Italia's 4th at the 85th minute mark. The lone TFC Academy marker was scored by Erick Olazabal at 88 minutes for a 4-1 final score.
Italia's Fitzroy Christey was shown a red card at the 90 minute mark.
Portugal captain Danny Amaral opened the scoring from the penalty spot at the 16th minute after being taken down in the penalty area by Wolves' defender Geoff Attard for a 1-0 lead at halftime in Sunday's game at Club Roma. It was Amaral's second goal of the weekend and 9th of the season. St. Catharines' Tony Mermigas equalized at the 16th minute mark after collecting a cross from defender Danny Gallagher and the 1-1 score stood to the final whistle.
Portugal FC midfielder Selmir Sehic was ejected in the second half after being shown a second yellow card.
London City took the lead after just two minutes against Trois-Rivieres on Saturday night when forward Andrew Loague drove the ball into the net from 20 yards for his 12th goal of the season. Attak's Serge Dinkota tied the game 1-1 after 39 minutes, forward Massimo Di Ioia made it 2-1 for Trois-Rivieres at 57 minutes and Nicolas Lesage struck his 8th goal of the season to make it 3-1 at 89 minutes, the final score.
Jeremy Sheppard scored twice for Brampton Lions in their 3-1 victory over the Astros at Esther Shiner Stadium in North York, he opened the scoring at 4 minutes and 39 minutes, while the league's leading scorer Daniel Nascimento, scored the third Brampton goal at the 20 minute mark. That was his 16th of the current campaign.
Another prolific scorer this year, Astros' forward Selvin Lammie, scored his 14th of the season to put North York on the scoreboard for a 3-1 final result.
North York Astros are are in a battle to retain 4th spot in the overall points race to the playoffs and while the Astros have secured a playoff berth, their opportunity to gain a top four finish becomes more difficult following Saturday's defeat.
Serbia striker Sasa Viciknez scored his 10th of the season at 8 minutes to open the scoring for Serbian White Eagles in Friday's game, midfielder Milos Scepanovic made it 2-0 at 36 minutes and Alex Braletic rounded the scoring at 75 minutes for a 3-0 result.
Serbian White Eagles have the one regular season game remaining, against Trois-Rivieres Attak at Quebec on September 27.
Wigor Gomes opened the scoring after just two minutes at Lamport Stadium on Friday night, to put the Portuguese team one-up. But Croatia's Tihomir Maletic changed that with two quick goals at 30 and 33 minutes, to be followed by a srike by Hayden Fitzwilliams who made it 3-1 at the 88th minute mark. Portugal FC scored their second goal when captain Danny Amaral hit his 8th of the season, but time ran out for the home side for a 3-2 final score for Toronto Croatia.
The win kept Croatia in third position in the International Division standing and a spot in the playoffs,
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