July 30, 2014 League 1 Ontario--Sigma FC vs Vaughan Azzurri (by Rocket Robin)

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Result and details of the Wednesday July 30, 2014 League 1 Ontario game between Sigma FC and Vaughan Azzurri played at Hershey Centre in Mississauga at 9:00pm. This was a Cup game in Group B.

Sigma FC (blue socks and shirts, black shorts, white numbers)

...................1 Anthony Whyte
2 Aidan D'Mello...4 Luca McLean...5 Aaron D'Souza...3 Brett Landles
7 Marquis Pitt...20 Christian Samaniego...8 Darcy Bloemen...11 Elijah Larin
............9 Eji Mrabure...10 Kadell Thomas

Subs:...31 Corey Marques (gk)...12 Steven Mai...15 Kris Garcia...19 Jordan Kalonji...17 Dion Stergiotis
...21 Jordan Pereira...18 Mike Matic
team officials:...head coach Bobby Smyrniotis...assistant coach Phillip Opassinis...team officials Dave Zonneveld and James Haloulos

Vaughan Azzurri (all white, red numbers)

...................1 Dayne St Clair
5 Daniel Fabrizi...21 Oliver Spring...4 Arthur Casupanan...30 Daniel Di Biagio...3 Joseph Amato
............26 Joseph Di Chiara...27 Jarek Whiteman...11 Joey Cicchillo
...........7 Jonathan Lao...10 Andrew Ornoch

Subs:...12 Anthony Greco (gk)...8 Carlos Nogueira...14 Dana Iezady...18 Matthew Arnone...19 Ryan McLeod
...20 Henry Moody...23 Malcolm Loukides
team officials:...team head coach Carmine Isacco...assistant coaches Kosta Poulos and Patirice Gheisar...manager Tony De Palma

Game officials:...referee Yusri Rudolf...referee's assistants Bahi Ravi and Alex Thomistocleous...fourth official Alexis Vaughan
...(yellow shirts, black shorts and socks)

1st Half:...game starts 9:00pm...Sigma defends north end. As there was no scoreboard, all times are converted from my wristwatch.
4 min...VA player takes a short cornerkick from the left and ball is then crossed into box. VA Whiteman ducks and heads 10 yarder from left wide right of post.
5 min...VA Ornoch 20 yard low shot from right is wide right of net.
8 min...VA player's cornerkick from left is worked out and VA Cicchillo takes low 20 yard shot from left that hits defender at 7 yards on left and deflects to goalie on left post.
11 min...Sigma Larin intercepts ball and takes low 22 yard shot from left and goalie dives to block at 5 yards and defender clears rebound.
13 min...Sigma Eji Mrabure GOAL...Sigma Kadell Thomas rolls pass from 20 yards on right over to Mrabure who's even with left post and shoots 18 yarder that catches the inside of the left post beyond diving goalie Dayne St Clair.
16 min...VA Ornoch one-touch midair shot from 15 yards on left has goalie near left post bat ball wide left.
16 min...VA players work out short cornerkick from left that crosses over for cornerkick on right.
17 min...VA Cicchillo cornerkick from right is headed away.
18 min...Sigma Larin steps between defenders for high chip from 22 yards that flies wide left of net.
20 min...VA Fabrizi is touched back pass and shoots 28 yarder down middle well over net.
23 min...VA Whiteman lofts 35 yard chip from right is over players and is caught by goalie.
24 min...VA Whiteman long rush down right and crosses over players in box.
25 min...VA Di Chiara 22 yard freekick from left is palmed over bar by goalie.
25 min...VA Lao cornerkick from left bounces over players in box but wins another cornerkick.
26 min...Vaughan Jarek Whiteman GOAL...Vaughan Joey Cicchillo cornerkick from right has Whiteman rush into crowd of players at 6 yards and heads ball into top corner of net on short side past goalie Anthony Whyte.
33 min...VA Cicchillo cornerkick from right has goalie leap and punch ball forward and out of box.
35 min...Sigma Pitt long run down right wing then cuts towards center and blasts 25 yarder from right that goalie leans right to catch on right post.
36 min...VA Witeman blasts 28 yard roller from right that goalie picks up.
38 min...VA Cicchillo flicks short pass from 25 yards on left that VA Ornoch can't control and goalie picks it up.
40 min...VA Ornoch 15 yard shot from left tips over defender and flips up for goalie to catch.
43 min...VA player's short cornerkick from left ends with VA Cicchillo checked off ball on edge of box.
45 min...VA Ornoch 22 yard freekick from right is rolled wide left of net.
46 min...half ends 9:46pm.

2nd Half:...starts 10:00pm.
halftime subs:...Sigma Stergiotis replaces Bloemen.
................Sigma Matic replaces Larin.
46 min...Sigma Matic 28 yard freekick from left has Sigma player head ball down on right and goalie rushes to left to mother ball near post.
48 min...Sigma Mrabure rush on left and corss is blocked by defender. Mrabure gets to ball again at 12 yards on left and crosses and Sigma Matic heads 10 yarder that goalie catches.
50 min...Sigma Mrabure rolls low cross from left that defender kicks away at 8 yards.
52 min...VA player's 55 yard freekick up middle bounces to goalie.
53 min...VA Di Chiara ends pressure with low 25 yard shot up middle that's tipped by defender for cornerkick.
54 min...VA player's cornerkick from goalie has goalie steps forward and punch ball forward in crowd of players. VA players and then called offside on chip back into box.
57 min...VA sub...Moody replaces Casupanan.
58 min...VA sub...Loukides replaces Amato.
59 min...VA Cicchillo intercepts defender's pass and rushed up left to take quick 20 yard low shot that's wide left of the post.
60 min...Sigma Matic rolls through ball pass from 30 yards that goalie picks up.
61 min...VA Whiteman cross has Sigma Landles tip ball from 15 yards behind own goal.
62 min...VA Cicchillo cornerkick from right has goalie catch ball in crowd of players.
64 min...Sigma Thomas long run on left and taps centering pass that goalie dives on before Sigma Mrabure can get to at 15 yards.
65 min...VA Lao 30 yard shot through players has goalie block at 7 yards on left post and then smother rebound.
67 min...Sigma player's 50 yard freekick from right bounces forward and Sigma Mrabure flicks 15 yard shot that goalie catches.
68 min...VA Whiteman cross from left has VA Moody slide and head 7 yarder that goalie turns to right corner and swats over net.
69 min...Sigma sub...Kalonji replaces Mrabure.
70 min...VA player's cornerkick from right has VA Spring head 7 yarder in crowd of players that is cleared away on line.
71 min...Sigma RED card...head coach Bobby Smyrniotis is ejected from bench.
There's then about a five minute delay before play resumes.
75 min...VA defender clears off Sigma Thomas on left and ball deflects over for goalie to catch on right post.
77 min...Sigma YELLOW card...Samaniego earns it for tackle at Sigma 25 yards.
79 min...Sigma Stergiotis 28 yard shot through players is low and wide left of net.
81 min...Vaughan Henry Moody GOAL...Vaughan Jarek Whiteman at 30 yards on right crosses over to charging Vaughan Joey Cicchillo on left and he crosses from 15 yards for Moody who's even with right post to blast 7 yarder straight ahead to just inside right side of net.
82 min...Sigma sub...Pereira replaces Pitt.
82 min...VA defender blocks centering cross to clear.
83 min...Sigma Stergiotis is injured at VA 40 yard line and needs help from trainer.
85 min...VA sub...Nogueira replaces Lao before play resumes.
87 min...VA players are in a flurry of action on the edge of the Sigma box ends with a shot wide right of the net.
88 min...Sigma Kadell Thomas GOAL...Sigma Mike Matic from 40 yards on left sends in a cross that Thomas gets to on the right and chips from 20 yards over goalie jumping at 12 yards and into left corner of net.
92 min...VA Di Biagio chip from 35 yards up middle is just over net.
93 min...Sigma sub...Garcia replaces Thomas.
94 min...VA sub...Arnone replaces Di Biagio.
95 min...VA player rushes up left and sends low cross that a sliding VA player running up middle is not able to redirect ball at 7 yards.
95 min...VA YELLOW card...Spring earns it for tackle at center line.
96 min...game ends 10:51pm.

Final Score:........Sigma FC.........2.........Vaughan Azzurri......2.....

Attendance was about 100 on this mild evening with the temperature cooling fast.

Referee Yusri Rudolf gave out only one Yellow card to each team in a game that was not rough. There was about a five minute delay at around the 71 minute mark when he ejected Sigma head coach Bobby Smyrniotis and one other team official from the bench. It was this second ejection he explained later that caused the delay.

Vaughan had the advantage in play for most of the game. Sigma were most effective on the counterattack with Kadell Thomas breaking down the wing more than half a dozen times but his crosses were mostly intercepted by retreating defenders.

It was confusing for me to hear whistles but they were from the game in the adjoining field.

This was a Cup match in Group B. It is the first game for Sigma in this competition. I asked one of the few remaining Sigma officials after the game why the few 'stars' I knew like Emery Welshman and Alex Halis weren't in the game and he answered that they wanted to go with their young players. I do notice they have a League game on Friday night. I would have expected that the team would go all out for Cup games as Toronto FC Academy is pulling so far ahead of all the other teams in the League and there are no playoffs. Sigma is one of the few teams that can catch them though as they are four points behind having played the same number of games.

Vaughan's record in Group B improves to 1 win, 1 tie, 0 losses in the four game round. Woodbridge Strikers lead with 2 wins and 1 loss but Vaughan did beat them previously.

Surprise player for Vaughan Azzurri tonight was Jarek Whiteman who was listed (a typo) as Jarek Whitehead but it didn't take long for some travelling fans to figure who it was. I asked him after the game about how he was here. He'd been playing on K-W United of the PDL until two weeks ago when they were put out of the playoffs. He is now with Vaughan because he attends York University. Quite a few of the Azzurri players are on that team. Vaughan head coach Carmine Isacco is also the head coach of York University. I've been to a Vaughan home game held at the school's stadium. I've followed Whiteman from his time on TFC Academy in its first years. A few in the Vaughan team are also former TFCA players. This same system of stretching the season took place for the CSL's SC Toronto team of two year's ago with players on the York U team and Isacco coaching both teams.

Rocket Robin
robing@eol.ca

Sigma FC starters