May 15, 2017 League 1 Ontario Match Recap: North Toronto Nitros vs Woodbridge Strikers (from League 1 Ontario website)

Match Recap: North Toronto Nitros 1 - 2 Woodbridge Strikers
05/15/2017, 5:15pm EDT
By League1 Ontario staff

North Toronto Nitros and Woodbridge Strikers rekindled a growing east division rivalry 
in a match that saw ten cautions handed out and an exciting finish before finishing 2-1 
to the Strikers.

"So we've played Woodbridge for two years, since we came into the league," said North 
Toronto assistant coach, Ilya Orlov. "It is always tough against them. It always seems 
to be one goal that separates most of the games."

"There were a lot of yellow cards but it was a competitive game and both teams were 
fighting for it and making tough challenges. Both teams were putting pressure on the 
ref too, but at the end I don't think any of this was aggressive or over the top, it was 
just the type of game it was and the ref did their job with handing out cards and cooling 
the game down. It was okay." 

North Toronto's Kembo Kibato (42') hammered one into the roof of the net to open the 
scoring for the Nitros, who were playing at home in the University of Toronto 
Varsity Stadium.

Nitros remained well-organized and demonstrated a formidable defensive organization 
that has been the team's hallmark in the league.

"Two games in a row now we have out-chanced the other team," said Orlov.

"On both occasions we have had about 5-6 chances in front of the net, we just don't 
finish. The other team two games in a row have not had many chances but they have 
finished and punished us. I think for us all the phases of the game have been okay 
but the finishing has to get better or we won't pick up three points." 

"We have an L1 Cup game on Wednesday this week but we'll need to work on finishing, 
finishing, finishing as the season goes on."

It took until the last five minutes of the match for Christian Cavallini (85') 
and then Dylan Carriero (87') to unlock the puzzle. 

"I think first of all we brought in some fresh legs, which seemed to give us 
a little more energy," said Woodbridge head coach, Peter Pinizzotto. 

"We were struggling to get in behind and we were playing against a team that is very 
disciplined and kept their shape on the field so it was very difficult to penetrate. 
Near the end you could see we were pushing and pushing to get the equalizer and 
we were able to do that and at the end find a winner." 

"This is the second game where we have been behind and came back to win 2-1," 
continued Pinizzotto, referencing the team's opening weekend 2-1 win over 
Masters FA. 

"I have to give credit to my boys, they never give up. They knew that there 
was a chance to win and we did that. I don't think we played that well today 
to tell you the truth, but in the end we got the three points."

North Toronto Nitros will next play Vaughan Azzurri on Sunday May 21 
at Varsity Stadium, Toronto.

Woodbridge Strikers will next play Toronto Skillz FC on Sunday May 21 
at Birchmount Stadium, Scarborough. 

back to 2017 League 1 Ontario Men's index

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