June 23, 2013 CSL--Toronto Croatia vs St Catharines Roma Wolves (by Rocket Robin)

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Result and details of the Sunday June 23, 2013 CSL game between Toronto Croatia and St Catharines Roma Wolves played at Centennial Stadium in Etobicoke at 8:00pm.

Toronto Croatia (blue socks, white shorts and numbers, red shirts)

...................12 Antonio Ilic
7 Halburto Harris...4 Sven Arapovic (cpt)...3 Josip Keran...15 Ainsley Deer
21 Daniel Niksic...20 David Alva...22 Mladen Bajamic...8 Hayden Fitzwilliams
............9 Kresimir Prgomet...5 Roberto Galle

Subs:...1 Sergio Moralo (gk)...6 Hruoje Perkovic (def)...17 Mateo Sutic (mid)...19 Petar Mingon (mid)...23 Nikola Brtan (def)
...25 Joseph Filipic (mid)
team officials:...head coach Miodrag Akmadzic...manager Ivan Kulis...assistant manager Perica Arapovic...physio Amanda Liddle

St Catharines Roma Wolves (all black, white numbers)

...................1 Chris Kurdziel
2 Matthew DiMaria...19 Matthew Mateljan...4 Matthew Mateljan...13 Angelo Beatrice
8 Camilo Veloza...3 Nicholas Vecchi...10 Scott MacLennan (cpt)...12 Zack Bewley
............9 Lucas Andrade...5 Michael Pavela

Subs:...6 David Fimiak (def)...7 Antonio Stranges (mid)...14 John Maurizio (fwd)...16 Brett Larocque (fwd)...18 Carlo Arghittu (mid)
...20 Joe Conte (def)
team officials:...head coach Carlo Arghittu...assistant coach Joe Conte...manager Carl Mendonca...directors Angelo Pizzacalla and Armand DiFruscio

Game officials:...referee Michael Stenbring...referee's assistants Allison Enright and Sean Hornsby...fourth official David Di Pasquale
...(neon yellow shirts, black shorts and socks)

1st Half:...game starts 8:03pm...TC defends south end on this very hot and humid evening with the sun setting in the North West.
2 min...W Veloza rush on right and rolls 25 yard shot to goalie.
6 min...W Andrade blasts 35 yard shot down middle.
7 min...TC Bajamic cross from 12 yards along right end line has TC Fitzwilliams shoot one-touch 8 yard shot that sprawling goalie gets hand on to push wide.
11 min...W MacLennan cross from 15 yards on left is caught by goalie stepping forward.
There are no chances for the next 12 minutes.
23 min...TC Galle on right 30 yard cross along 6 yard box but no one to play it.
24 min...TC Harris gets back to check W Andrade off through ball pass on edge of box.
25 min...W MacLennan touches pass in middle and W Veloza blasts 20 yarder well over net.
26 min...TC Fitzwilliams cross from 25 yards on extreme right has defender on left concede cornerkick.
26 min...TC Alva cornerkick from left is low and cleared by nearest defender.
28 min...TC Alva high cornerkick from left is over players in box and recross is cleared. TC Bajamic blasts 22 yarder from midair that deflects off defender and over to goalie.
29 min...W Rosario cornerkick from left has W Veloza get good chance stopped.
29 min...TC Galle gets pass up middle and 22 yard shot has goalie block. Galle then rounds goalie on left and sliding W Vecchi deflects 6 yard tap-in for cornerkick.
30 min...TC Alva cornerkick from left has TC Keran head 10 yarder on right that goalie catches.
31 min...TC Galle rush to through ball on right and low cross from near end line back to middle and TC Deer shoots 12 yarder wide right.
32 min...W YELLOW card...MacLennan earns it for tackle at W 40 yards.
34 min...W MacLennan has 18 yard shot from left is pushed wide left of post by sprawling goalie for cornerkick.
34 min...W Rosario cornerkick from left is caught by goalie.
35 min...TC Deer low cross from left is through 6 yard box but is unplayed.
38 min...TC YELLOW card...Fitzwilliams earns it for tackle at TC 33 yard line.
38 min...W player's 35 yard freekick from left has TC Keran head ball away.
41 min...TC Bajamic cornerkick from right has TC Keran on left head 8 yarder just wide right of net.
41 min...TC Fitzwilliams passes back from right has TC Harris shoot 10 yarder that's stopped.
42 min...TC Fitzwilliams in clear shoots 15 yarder from right that diving goalie partially stops and rolls just wide right of post.
43 min...TC Bajamic cornerkick from right has TC Niksic twist from 5 yards to twist down wide right of net.
45 min...TC Harris rush on right to ball and crosses from 20 yards through 6 yard box unplayed.
45:08 min...half ends 8:48pm.

2nd Half:...starts 9:04pm.
46 min...TC Fitzwilliams rush up middle pass over to TC Prgomet but goalie beats him to sweep ball with hand and Prgomet falls over him.
47 min...W Rosario 25 yard freekick from left has defender clear away for fast break.
48 min...TC Harris 35 yard pass forward but bounces wide left.
50 min...TC Fitzwilliams cross from 30 yards on right through players and TC Progomet at 10 yards shoots wide left of top left corner.
51 min...TC YELLOW card...Arapovic earns it for tripping player at TC 30 yard line.
53 min...TC Kresimir Prgomet GOAL...TC Hayden Fitzwiliams gets high pass at 35 yards between two defenders and rolls pass left to Prgomet who shoots low 12 yarder from left into right corner of net over diving goalie Chris Kurdziel.
54 min...TC goalie catches 25 yard chip from right.
55 min...TC Bajamic 30 yard freekick from left is wide to right. Goalie catches recross from right.
59 min...TC Niksic pass back to TC Fitzwilliams who blasts 25 yarder well over net.
60 min...W MacLennan cross from 25 yards on left has partial clearance and W Pavela rolls low 25 yard shot up middle that goalie smothers.
62 min...TC Prgomet is injured at W 30 yard line.
65 min...W Beatrice long throw-in from left has defender clear from box.
66 min...TC Alva blasts 35 yard shot down middle over crowd of players and well over net.
66 min...TC Galle cross from 20 yards on right has ball deflect off W Beatrice over net for cornerkick.
67 min...TC Bajamic cornerkick from right has 10 yard shot from left saved.
69 min...TC Daniel Niksic GOAL...A TC player's cornerkick from the left has the ball headed across the box from the left. A TC player had a shot from the right that was blocked by a defender and the ball deflected out for Niksic to shoot a low 10 yarder into the right side of the net.
70 min...TC Prgomet races up middle from left to shoot 25 yarder that deflects off goalie wide right of net.
73 min...TC Bajamic 40 yard freekick down middle has W Vecchi head ball back to goalie.
75 min...TC Veloza rolls 20 yarder that deflects off goalie. TC Fitzwilliams can't rescue ball before it rolls over end line on left.
76 min...W sub...Maurizio replaces Andrade.
........TC sub...Perkovic replaces Niksic.
78 min...W MacLennan is injured at TC 25 yards on right.
80 min...W sub...Fimiak replaces injured W MacLennan before play resumes.
80 min...W Bewley blasts 28 yard freekick from right is over net.
81 min...TC Galle 28 yard cross from right is just high and wide left of top corner.
84 min...W Beatrice is injured trying to make check at TC 30 yards.
85 min...TC Kresimic Prgomet GOAL...TC David Alva pushes pass forward up middle from 30 yards and Prgomet gets in open and he takes a low 15 yard shot past the charging goalie to the right side of net.
85 min...TC sub...Brtan replaces Fitzwilliams.
88 min...TC sub...Filipic replaces Galle.
89 min...TC Brtan pushes ball too far forward and slides cleats first to spear diving goalie at 8 yards on left injrying him. A pushing match ensues.
.......TC YELLOW card...Brtan earns it for the slide.
.......W YELLOW card...Fimiak earns it for his part in the pushing match.
95 min...W Rosario on rush rolls 18 yard shot up middle that's smothered by goalie.
96 min...TC Brtan rolls 15 yard shot wide right of net.
100:38 min...game ends 9:59pm.

Final Score:.....Toronto Croatia........3........St Catharines Wolves.........0............

Attendance was about 80 on this hot and humid night with the setting sun only being a factor for the first 20 minutes.

Antonio Ilic earned the shutout for Croatia making a few good saves but was otherwise well protected by the defence of Halburto Harris, Sven Arapovic, Josip Keran, and Ainsley Deer. Harris and Deer also joined the attacks down the wing. Arapovic acted as captain tonight for the vacationing Tihomir Maletic. This has happened in previous years. Hard to say if Maletic's presence would have put the game away earlier.

Referee Michael Stenbring gave out five Yellow cards (three to Croatia) that I counted in a game that wasn't really rough at all. 89th minute had the most dangerous play when young substitute Nikola Brtan who'd only been on for 4 minutes first touched a ball too far forward and the goalie ran forward and to smother the ball but rather than jump over him as it was easy to see that the goalie would get to it first, Brtan slid in like a baseball player stealing second base and with spikes up tore into Chris Kurdziel injurying him in the arm. This resulted in a dust-up between the two teams. Brtan drew a Yellow but David Fimiak a Wolves defender also drew a Yellow for his part in the pushing match. That's the major reason the game was not called until '00:38' (100.38 min). I'd forgotten the scoreboard would do that but should have remembered 120 minute playoff games.

Best non-scoring chances in the game were at 7 minutes when TC Mladen Bajamic crossed from 12 yards along the right end line and TC Hayden Fitzwilliams shot a one-touch from 8 yards that the sprawling goalie gets a hand to and pushed away. 29 minutes had W Calvin Rosario take a cornerkick that W Camilo Veloza had a close in chance. The same minute TC Robert Galle received a pass up the middle and his 22 yard shot had the goalie block and Galle then rounded the goalie on the left his 6 yard tap-in was deflected for a cornerkick by the sliding W Nicholas Vecchi. TC David Alva's resulting cornerkick from the left had TC Josip Keran head a 10 yarder on the right that the goalie caught. 42 minutes had TC Fitzwilliams in the clear shoot a 15 yarder from the right that the diving goalie partially stopped and the ball rolled just wide of the right post. 50 minutes had TC Fitzwilliams cross from 30 yards on the right though players and TC Kresimir Prgomet at 10 yards shoots wide left of top left corner of net.

Toronto Croatia's win means their record improves to 5 wins, 0 ties, 1 loss. Because of not playing as many games as some other teams they are in 3rd place. 16 goals for and only 4 against (stingiest defence in the league).

Wolves won their opening game of the season right here at this stadium on May 24th when they beat Serbian White Eagles but have now lost their three games since then.

Rocket Robin
robing@eol.ca

Croatia starters