May 14, 2017 League 1 Ontario Match Recap: Ottawa South United Force vs Toronto Skillz (from League 1 Ontario website)
Match Recap: OSU Force 3 - 0 Toronto Skillz 05/14/2017, 2:00pm EDT By League1 Ontario staff Ottawa South United Force opened their first ever League1 Ontario home match at University Of Ottawa's Matt Anthony Field on Saturday May 13 with a resounding 3-0 win over Toronto Skillz in front of their supporters. Second half goals from Stefan Andjelic (63') Mekonen Lovemore-White (76') and Jemuel Paul (77') proved decisive for the home team, while a first clean sheet from Dylan Roosien completed a perfect home opener. OSU head coach Traian Matheas felt his team took some time to get going, and worked through various pairings on the pitch to find the right formula for goals, but in all was quite happy with his team's performance. "I thought the players responded exceptionally well to the home atmosphere," he said. "It took them a little while before they really got going in my opinion but once they let go of that bit of nervousness and butterflies in the tummy they began to play their game." "I think they played for the fans, and seeing quite a few people here. It's really important to all the younger club players here who are watching and realizing they want to step into their shoes one day." "However, the biggest and most difficult job is scoring goals and we have to polish that in our performances," he added. "We are searching for the right combination of striker that is doing that job and also those behind that are sharing the responsibility, so that is something for us to continue with going forward." "This game is ninety minutes and as soon as the players realize that they are willing to take responsibility for that fitness aspect of the game we're going to be fine." As one-sided as the scoreline looked at full-time, on the other hand the story easily could have been much different on the day. Toronto Skillz were awarded two penalties, both of which were missed. "Yes, it was the same thing in our game on Tuesday," said Toronto Skillz head coach, Leslie "Tiger" Fitzpatrick. "We had a penalty then at thirteen minutes in and the score was 0-0 against the defending league champion." "When you are playing tough, experienced teams then these moments are often the difference in the game. Today we delegated the penalties to those that were leading with confidence and you could see what happened. They didn't strike the ball well, and it didn't go in the back of the net, and that's just symptomatic of what we've been going through this season." Toronto Skillz have had a grueling schedule of late, playing the defending League1 Ontario champions Vaughan Azzurri a week ago, and midweek for a first round L1 Cup fixture, before travelling to Ottawa to meet the Force. "Yes it has been a tough schedule," he said. "We've had three games in seven days and as well the travel to Ottawa." "We tried to do what we could by traveling up here the night before, get some rest and come in. It's not ideal but at some point your mental strength and toughness has to take you through and I think we're lacking in that department a lot." "We are trying to implement certain things and when you look at it today you have the oldest and youngest two guys on the field being the two toughest players and the ones that were working through it. We have to get that to be contagious and spread through, and so as the season goes on you will see we will start to add some of these younger players." "Today you saw our right-back that came off injured is 16 year old, and the number ten in the middle is 16 year old. They didn't just hold their own out there, they excelled." OSU Force next play Durham United FA on Friday May 19 at Pickering Soccer Centre, Pickering. Toronto Skillz next play Woodbridge Strikers on Sunday May 21 at Birchmount Stadium, Scarborough.
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