July 5, 2014 League 1 Ontario--Sigma FC vs Vaughan Azzurri (from League 1 Ontario)

  
Sigma FC 3 - Vaughan Azzurri 0
. Mon Jul 7 
Written By: Hylton, Kamal  

In its League1 Ontario home opener, Sigma FC defeated top-of-the-table Vaughn Azzurri 
in convincing fashion. The result was sealed by the efforts of Cyle Larin and Emery 
Welshman - Larin opening the scoring and providing an assist, while Welshman put 
in a Man-of-the-Match performance with a brace. 

The former Toronto FC first round pick floated from wing to wing, and constantly 
troubled defenders by running into pockets of space. 

Welshman’s performance wasn’t lost on his coach, Bobby Smyrniotis. 

“He’s a guy who’s important for this team,” said Smyrniotis. “He’s a player who 
is coming off months without regular football in a competitive environment, so it has 
taken him some time, but in the last couple of games he has really picked it up and 
his quality showed out there.”

The game started off at a high tempo, Sigma taking advantage of the wide positions 
through fullbacks Kwame Amuah and Johnny Grant, while Vaughn was looking to force 
turnovers, play quick counters and get the ball to its big forward Dena Iezady. 

It only took only seven minutes for Larin to find the back of the net, after some 
quality passing in the midfield, as Sigma’s number nine sprung onto a through ball 
and shot it past Vaughn keeper Andrew D’Souza’s left side. 

For Vaughn, the main supply line to Iezady were midfielders Jonathan Lao & Joey Cicchillo. 
One of the Azzurri’s best chances came in the twenty-ninth minute, with Iezady 
collecting a pass just outside the eighteen-yard box only to fire it by Sigma 
goalkeeper Greg Ranjitsingh and ring it off the crossbar. 

Sigma continued to create opportunities through build-up play, switching the point 
of attack from one side of the field to the other, which eventually led 
to Welshman scoring his first goal just before the break. Finding open space, 
he rounded a helpless D’Souza and rolled the ball into the back of the net in the 
forty-second minute. 

The second half was played at a slower pace at times, with the heat began to play 
a role by forcing both teams to take a more measured approach. Vaughn, under 
coach Carmine Isacco, were particularly restricted to set play chances, and seemed 
resigned to dealing with large spells of pressure from Sigma. 

“We had a plan, and it takes the individuals to execute that plan, but when 
individual errors happen it’s not easy,” said Isacco. “We knew we would spend 
a lot of time defending, and we were OK with that, but Sigma definitely has 
some quality.” 

That quality was witnessed in the eighty-fifth minute when Larin and Welshman 
combined to seal the result, Sigma’s number seven collected a swift pass from 
Larin sixteen yards from goal, before curling the ball by D’Souza. 

The overall performance of Sigma was put best by Welshman in his post-match comments. 

“I think the team played really well,” said Welshman. "We finally put everything 
together today, and it was our first home game so we wanted to come 
out firing - that’s exactly what we did. We took care of business, sending 
a message out to the rest of the league that we’ll not let results like last 
week [3-0 loss to TFCA] happen.”

back to League 1 Ontario 2014 menu

.

.