October 6, 2013 CSL--Astros Vasas FC vs Windsor Stars (by Rocket Robin)

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Result and details of the Sunday October 6, 2013 CSL game between Astros Vasas FC and Windsor Stars played at Esther Shiner Stadium in North York at 3:30pm.

Astros Vasas FC (all black, gold numbers)

....................1 Matthew George
3 Vincenzo Sasso...6 Jevon Vanderreyden...14 Kurt Ramsey...13 Antoine Paul
7 Jose Goncalves De Sousa...5 Kevin Dhillon...20 Igor Pisanjuk...17 Evan James
............10 Jose Melo (cpt)...11 Eric Luptak

Subs:...12 Antal Toth (gk)...4 Robert Maria (def)...8 Adam Simon (mid)...15 Alan Fishcharyn (def)...18 Adrian Bainbridge (fwd)
...19 Gideon Afrane (def)
team officials:...head coach Gerardo Lezcano...manager Bruno Ierullo

Windsor Stars (all white, black numbers)

....................1 Anthony Santilli
2 Jamar Kelly...3 Patrick Lepera...5 Sleman Habib...11 Ciprian Codea
.........9 Stepehn Ademolu (fwd)...15 Chad Stuecher...14 Adam Philip
............20 Eric Cirovski...16 Gino Berardi (cpt)

Subs:...1 Josh Rogers (gk)...13 Michael Watson (mid)...17 Jeff Hodgson (mid)...22 Michael Chiandussi (def)...[there were actually no subs and only ten starters]
team officials:...manager Gino Berardi...chiropractor Anthony Meo...director Vancho Cirovski

Game officials:...referee Justin Tasev...referee's assistants Miryam Jabali and Sharon Welsby...fourth official Ramee Arbaji
...(neon yellow shirts, black shorts and shorts)

1st Half:...game starts 3:33pm...AV defends east end. It's overcast but no rain ends up falling.
1 min...AV Luptak steps around defender and low 15 yard shot rolls to goalie.
2 min...AV Melo 35 yard shot over players down middle bounces to goalie.
5 min...AV De Sousa cross from 30 yards on right is too far forward to AV player on left and bounces for goalkick.
5 min...AV Luptak cross from left near cornerflag has AV Melo not able to turn header in box.
7 min...WS goalie slides to left to beat AV Luptak to through ball.
11 min...AV Luptak receives high centering pass from left and 15 yard shot off defender has goalie catch wide left of net.
12 min...AV Melo cornerkick from left has goalie punch ball away. AV Melo rolls short pass to AV player and his 25 yard chip forward and to right has AV Ramsey head 10 yarder into wide webbing of net.
19 min...AV player's cornerkick from right has defender leap and head ball out left side of box.
20 min...AV Melo cornerkick from left has play whistled down in box.
20 min...AV De Sousa 25 yard shot from right bounces to goalie.
23 min...AV De Sousa cornerkick from right has play whisteld down in box.
25 min...WS Stuecher cornerkick from right has goalie palm ball up at 8 yards and defender clears.
26 min...AV De Sousa 22 yard bender from right has ball hit bar. AV Melo gets 18 yard slide to shot from left that's wide right.
29 min...WS Philip intercepts pass, runs to middle and 25 yard shot flies well wide right of net.
31 min...AV Luptak cornerkick from left is rolled to center of box but defender clears.
31 min...AV Pisanjuk 35 yard shot is over players in box and well wide left of net.
32 min...AV James 22 yard shot from left is caught by goalie.
35 min...AV Luptak gets through ball on right and shot is deflected wide right by retreating defender.
35 min...AV Dhillon cornerkick from left is short and cross into box has defender head ball away.
36 min...WS Philip 30 yard shot from left is wide right.
39 min...AV Evan James wins a Penalty kick when he is pulled down by a defender at 8 yards inside WS box.
40 min...AV Matthew George GOAL...George blasts the Penalty kick to the left as goalie Anthony Santilli is frozen in center of goal. (Matthew George is the Astros goalie).
43 min...WS Adam Philip GOAL...WS Chad Stuecher takes freekick from near right cornerflag and Philip is in box jumps unchallenged and heads 10 yarder into right side of net beyond goalie Matthew George.
44 min...AV De Sousa shoots 12 yarder wide left of net.
45 min...half ends 4:19pm.

Halftime Entertainment: There's a demonstration of tricks performed by the 'Anti Gravity Crew' of Floor Ball Pro, a sport more like floor hockey than lacrosse.

2nd Half:...starts 4:34pm.
45:06 min...AV Jose Melo GOAL...AV Eric Luptak taps the ball back from the center spot to start the second half and Melo blasts a 60 yard shot down the middle that catches the top left corner of net. The goalie was caught off guard.
51 min...AV Evan James GOAL...AV Jose Melo shot from 15 yards from right near the end line hits the right post. AV Kevin Dhillon taps a short pass back and James shoots 12 yarder down middle into the net.
55 min...AV James pass forward from 20 yards and AV Luptak off-balance shot from left is high wide left.
55 min...AV sub...Antal Toth replaces Matthew George in goal.
57 min...WS Berardi is pushed short pass and 15 yard shot from left is off bar and just over head of WS Ademolu at 10 yards.
62 min...WS Stuecher cornerkick from right has WS player have shot blocked.
62 min...WS Stuecher 12 yard shot has defender block.
66 min...AV YELLOW card...De Sousa earns it for kicking ball into net after whistle.
68 min...AV YELLOW card...Melo earns it for tripping WS Ademolu at AV 40 yards.
71 min...AV YELLOW card...Pisanjuk earns it for tackle while he's on ground and WS player running by.
72 min...WS Stuecher chips 35 yard freekick forward has play called offside.
73 min...WS Kelly rush on right has cross through box from sideline rolls through players.
75 min...AV YELLOW card...Luptak for argueing with referee while play stopped.
77 min...AV Pisanjuk is injured at WS 22 yards when checked off ball.
79 min...AV Luptak 20 yard shot through two defenders and saved by goalie.
80 min...WS Kelly rush on right and pass to WS Berardi has cross near end line has goalie punch ball forward before WS Philip can head in 2 yarder.
81 min...AV sub...Maria replaces De Sousa.
83 min...AV Jose Melo GOAL...AV Evan James at 25 yards in middle rolls pass to Melo on right and his low 15 yard shot is into the net.
84 min...AV RED card...Jose Melo earns his second YELLOW card from referee Justin Tasev for either taunting a game official or a Windsor player before the play resumes. Sort of a release for all the times the team had been caught offside.
85 min...AV Sasso 28 yard shot is wide right of net.
87 min...WS Stuecher cornerkick from right has defender pop up header.
88 min...AV sub...Bainbridge replaces Luptak.
89 min...AV James 22 yard freekick from left is batted down and picked up by goalie.
90:20 min...game ends 4:19pm.

Final Score:...Astros Vasas FC.....4.......Windsor Stars....1...

Attendance was about 30 on this mild, overcast but damp afternoon. Where is that huge storm we've been expecting for days? How small was this crowd? The winner of the 50/50 draw won $10.00.

Referee Justin Tasev gave out five Yellow cards to Astros (two of them to Jose Melo) and none to Windsor in a game that wasn't very rough. It could be said that three of those cards were for argueing calls and kicking the ball after the whistle. Astros had a problem all afternoon with being called offside.

This game featured one of the greatest goals ever scored and one that would be copied to YouTube if anyone had have filmed it. Melo took a tap back to start the second half and blasted in a 60 yard shot to the top left corner. The goalie wasn't tieing his shoe or 20 yards off line--he just was caught off guard and couldn't have got to it unless he'd had a running start. I was saying it was the greatest goal I'd ever seen in person but thinking back later in the evening because of the non-importance of the game I'll stick with the 2005 CSPL Final when the retiring Ryan Gamble scored the winner at 100 minutes in Golden Goal overtime on a midair blast when his Oakville Blue Devils team beat Vaughan Shooters.

Best non-scoring chances were at 26 minutes when AV Jose Goncalves De Sousa shot a 22 yard bender from the right that hit the bar and AV Jose Melo slid in to shoot the 18 yard rebound wide right. 57 minutes had WS Gino Berardi pushed a short pass and his 15 yard shot from the left was off the bar and the rebound flew just over the head of the charging WS Stephen Ademolu at 10 yards. 80 minutes had WS Jamar Kelly rush on the right and pass to WS Berardi and his cross near the end line had the goalie (now Antal Toth) punch the ball forward to prevent WS Adam Philip heading in a 2 yarder in the center of the box.

I expected Astros would have an easier time in winning this game when I saw the depleted Stars roster. Astros had three subs who I hadn't seen before. They were from their 16-17-18 year old teams. (Astros do not have a CSL Second Division team) Astros were burned all game with mistimed runs which were flagged offside. It took those two goals at the beginning of the second half to give them some breating space.

A 15 member choir from the Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre sang the national anthem. This performance will look great on a resume. "...Performed at the opening of a Canadian Soccer League game..." will have foreigner think of Canada and soccer and translate that in their minds "Canada = Big country....50,000 people watching!"

Astros Vasas FC finishes their season with a record of 7 wins, 11 losses, 4 ties good for 9th place, one point behind Serbian White Eagles who clinched the last playoff spot on Friday night. It is certainly an improvement on 'North York Astros' 2012 record of 2-19-1. I'd say the major reason for their improvement more than their link with Vasas FC of Hungary is the roster pickups they acquired from 2012 CSL teams who did not play this year.

Windsor outdid themselves when they brought twelve players to Toronto on Friday night and had one of them Red carded. This game they only brought ten men! Today's only motivation was to lose by less than nine goals and they'd hang on to 6th place. Their record was equal with London City with any close loss but the tiebreaker after wins, then head to head record, which were both equal, was the plus/minus goals record. I would bet that if Serbian White Eagles had not clinched on Friday and Astros could have flipped over them for 8th there be major SWE complaints with the league much stronger than the fines Windsor will have to pay for not bringing at least two backups. I heard the standard fine is $1000 per incident. Expensive weekend as it happened twice. Their record is 8 wins, 11 losses, 3 ties to finish 6th.

Now one hour to get to the York Region Shooters vs Kingston FC game but that report will wait until tomorrow.

Rocket Robin
robing@eol.ca

Astros Vasas starters