June 25, 2017 League 1 Ontario--Vaughan Azzurri vs Windsor TFC Stars (by Rocket Robin)

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Results of the Sunday June 25, 2017 League 1 Ontario game between
Vaughan Azzurri and Windsor TFC Stars played at McNaughton Turf in Maple at 2:00pm.

Vaughan Azzurri (all navy, white numbers, red trim)

.....................1 Colm Vance
6 Brandon John...5 Allister Johnson...15 Daniel Gogarty...2 Jarred Phillips
16 Devante Walker...9 Jarek Whiteman (cpt)...24 Joseph DiChiara...7 Jahsua Mills
..............10 Benjamin Futoriansky...18 Tomasz Sklubiak

Subs:...12 Shyon Gaseni (gk)...3 Malcolm Loukides...14 Dena ezady...8 Ryan Raposo
...11 Brandon Mills...20 Aidan Ohara...4 Andranik Kagramanyan
team officials:...head coach Carmin Isacco...other team officials Patrice Gheisar,
Wayne Mllls, Esteban Clavijo, Tony Bartolomeo, and Tony DePalma

Windsor TFC Stars (red socks and shorts, white shirts, black numbers)

....................30 Kyle Vizirakis
3 Damon Johnson-Holders...14 Kyle Ruggaber...11 Bryce Phillips...15 Michael Jonathan Brait
20 Dredon Kelly...8 Christopher Al-Youssef...4 Noah Pio...21 Stephen Ademola (cpt)...7 Stefan Zastavnkovic
....................10 Celso Carapau

Subs:...48 Shervin Mollahassani (gk)...6 Erik Cirovski...24 Pablo Ortiz...23 Shihab Al-Kulaidy
...5 Marco Bernabo
team officials:...team head coach Zibby Piatkiewicz...manager Daryl Muscat and Vancho Cirovski
suspended player: Jamar Kelly

Game officials:...referee Fabrizio Stasolla...referee's assistants Mike Stenbring and Felip Dujic
...fourth official Jason Thomas...(watermelon shirts, black shorts and socks)

1st Half:...starts 2:03pm...VA defends north end on this mild afternoon with a bright sun (for now)
in the west.
8 min...VA player's cross from far right is cleared in W box.
8 min...W Pio cuts in from left and 25 yard shot down middle is caught by goalie.
10 min...VA Whiteman in center can't connect on cross from left sent over to him at 10 yards.
12 min...VA Whiteman receives low pass at 12 yards on right and one-times shot and sprawling goalie saves
on right post.
12 min...VA DiChiara cornerkick from right has VA player flick header from right along 6 yard box but ball
cleared on left side.
13 min...VA Jahsua Mills has goalie beats him to grab bouncer on left side of box.
15 min...VA player can't get to ball before it crosses WS end line to cross.
17 min...VA Phillips long run up left dribbling past defenders and is finally stopped.
18 min...WTS Damon Johnson-Holder pulls down VA Jahsua Mills after long run down left side
and into box. Referee Fabrizio Stasolla gives Johnson-Holder a Yellow card and awards VA
a Penalty kick.
19 min...VA Jarek Whiteman GOAL...Whiteman rolls Penalty kick to left side of net as goalie
Kyle Vizirakis dives right.
22 min...VA Sklublak blasts 28 yarder off defender and it flies for goalie to catch.
23 min...W goalie knocks down cross from left.
23 min...VA Whiteman chip from 80 yards on right finds VA Sklublak on right at 25 yards and he chips
charging goalie and ball is over net.
26 min...VA Futoriansky blasts low shot down mddle from 28 yards and goalie dives to push ball
wide left and defender clears.
31 min...W Zastavnikovic gets long pass up left sideline and rushes to near end line and crosses through 6 yard
box but unplayed.
34 min...VA YELLOW card...John earns it for clip on W Pio at VA 28 yard line.
35 min...W Pio 30 yard freekick from left has W Ademola running forward flick 7 yard header wide right.
36 min...VA goalie beats W Pio to smother ball on top left corner of box.
38 min...W Brait 35 yard shot from right bounces forward unplayed and goalie catches left of net.
39 min...VA player's cornerkick from left has defender on right side of box head ball away.
39 min...VA Sklublak intercepts clearance and 30 yard chip over goalie who was just out of box has him head away.
41 min...W Pio freekick blast up middle is well over net.
It starts to rain until the end of injury time.
42 min...W player's 30 yard freekick from left sideline has defender duck at 5 yards and head into ground
and another defender clears from box.
43 min...W goalie swats ball wide left of post.
45 min...VA DiChiara freekick from 30 yards on right has defender boot out of box.
46 min...VA DiChiara freekick up middle from 30 yards has flying goalie palm ball over top right corner of net.
46 min...there's no time for a cornerkick as the half ends.

Halftime 'Entertainment': There now starts thunder and lightning moving overhead and hail begins to fall while
the rain gets even faster. The fourth officials tells the Windsor players to return to the locker room about 500 yards
away and across the street. They were seeking cover under a canopy over the player's bench but that only protected
half of them. The hail was a big as chick peas. I was cowering under the fourth officials canopy with photographer
Martin Bazyl. He was taking pictures then made a movie and posted that too live to the internet.

The lightning meant that the halftime had to be extended until 30 minutes after the last flash. By the time play resumed, the hail had all melted.

2nd Half:...starts 3:27pm.
47 min...VA DiChiara rolls ball forward for VA Sklublak but he's checked off ball in W box.
47 min...VA DiChiara is injured at W 22 yard line on sideline.
50 min...W goale is almost caught by VA Sklublak at 10 yards but gets clearance kick away.
50 min...Referee blows whistle for 'head' injury from a bad angle then sees that players shake off collision
and he orders a drop ball between W goalie and VA Whiteman who sportingly deliberately rolls over end line for W goalkick.
51 min...VA Jarek Whiteman GOAL...W Damon Johnson-Holder takes throw-in from left at W 22 yard line has W defender
threatened by VA player and he chips cross from left edge of W box over to another W player who eludes VA Tomaxz Sklublak
but Whiteman charges in and chests ball down at 18 yards on right and shoots low 8 yarder under sliding goalie
into left corner of net.
53 min...W Pio cross from 22 yards on far left lands on top of VA net.
55 min...W sub...Bernabo replaces Al-Youssef.
.........VA sub...Brandon Mills replaces Raposo.
57 min...VA Whiteman is given quick freekick pass and low 15 yard shot is stopped by goalie.
58 min...W goalie punts ball upfield that finds W Pio on bounce and his 15 yard shot is caught by goalie.
59 min...VA Whiteman blasts low 22 yarder from left that goalie saves on left post. VA Jahsua Mills charges up for rebound
from 15 yards and blasts shot over net on left.
63 min...VA Sklublak gets cross from left in middle between two defenders at 12 yards and rolls ball wide left of post.
65 min...VA sub...Iezady replaces Johnson.
65 min...W Zastavnikovic cornerkick from right has charging defender head away.
67 min...VA Brandon Mills recovers W clearance off referee and blasts 28 yarder up middle wide right of net.
69 min...W Pio 30 yard shot from left has goalie fly to push wide right of net.
69 min...W player's cornerkick from right has W player boot shot over net and hit scoreboard.
70 min...VA Jahsua Mills gven pass on left not offside and is caught by defender before he can shoot.
74 min...W Ademola 30 yard freekick down middle hits head in wall and cleared.
75 min...W Benabo 50 yard freekick from left is partially cleared. W Zastavnikovic skies shot from right
that goalie catches on left post.
75 min...W sub...Crovski replaces Ruggaber.
77 min...VA sub...Loukides replaces Walker.
78 min...W Zastavnkovic 22 yard shot from far right is caught by goalie sprawling on right post.
81 min...VA sub...Raposo replaces Jahsua Mills.
82 min...W Sklublak wins cornerkick on rush along right end line.
83 min...VA DiChiara cornerkick from right has ball cleared on left side of box.
84 min...W Bernabo 30 yard freekick on right is over players and wide left of goal.
88 min...VA sub...Kagramanyan replaces Sklublak.
89 min...VA Whiteman receives cornerkick when ball is finally crossed in from right and flicks 6 yard header wide left
and defender clears.
92 min...VA YELLOW card...Loukides earns it for delaying the game by W player taking quick freekick while Loukides standing
just 3 yard away.
93 min...W Carapau 30 yard freekick from right has W Zastavnkovic fikc 10 yard header down middle over net.
94 min...W YELLOW card...Ademola earns it for sliding tackle at W 30 yard line.
95 min...game ends 4:17pm.

Final Score:....Vaughan Azzurri......2.....Windsor TFC Stars.....0...

Attendance was about 30 on this warm day that was mostly overcast with
rain before the game, then again at 41 minutes which turned into a hail 
storm with thunder and lightning.  I measured a 38 minute halftime 
because of the 30 minute rule from the last strike of lightning.  
Fourth official Jason Thomas ordered the WTS players back to the dressing 
room just before the hail started.  It did make sense as they wouldn't 
have all fit under the player's bench canopy.  Photographer Martin Bazyl 
and I were cowering under the fourth official's canopy.  He was taking 
pictures and making movies to upload to twitter.  During the second half 
the sun even came out!  The hail had melted before the second half started.  
The stones were about as big as chick peas.

Windsor was stalling the game officials during the warmups delaying 
handing in their lineups.  No wonder as they had only eleven guys.  
By the time of the national anthems they had two guys to spare and finished 
with four extra players on the bench.  Their starters were flipped around 
with the two extra guys to use more of the players they wanted.  
Captain Stephen Ademolu was still tying his shoes during 
the national anthem.   

Sure they ended up having enough guys and a moderate bench but the 
uncertainty must have left them rattled.  Ademolu told me at halftime 
that they were caught in traffic then he was almost hit by a car 
crossing the street (as the players dressing rooms are on the other 
side of McNaughton Road at the Maple Community Centre.  This would 
be a five hour drive on a good day...measure Detroit to Toronto in your 
atlas you out of province readers.  Must have been some car pool.
Windsor are direct descendants of the league I followed before and they
had trouble getting enough guys out for GTA games back then too.  

Referee Fabrizio Stasolla gave out two Yellow cards to each team.  
He got hit with the ball twice that I saw.  He also called a break 
at 50 minutes on what he expected was a head injury as two players 
crashed together just on the edge of the Windsor box.  When he checked 
on their condition and found nothing was wrong he ordered a drop ball.  
Whiteman deliberately rolled the ball over the end line to give Windsor 
a goalkick.  Ok sounds fair.  Goalie Kyle Vizirakis then places the ball 
for a goalkick and goes short so WTS could work the ball out but what 
it looked like he kicked it straight to Whiteman who quickly stopped 
the ball and scored on a sharp angle shot.  Whiteman had a few more 
chances to get a hattrick.  

Colin Vance earned the shutout for Vaughan.  He had a few key saves 
to make.  WTS most threatening player was Noah Pio.  Azzurri have only 
allowed six goals in eight league games which is best in the league. 

The thirty fans disappeared over halftime with the storm but a little 
more than half returned.  I noticed a guy wearing a K-W United windbreaker.  
I started talking about them and asked who he was.  It was Jared Brown!  
He was not on the PDL champions team but he said he is on this year's team!  
I was thrown because I am following them on twitter and read they were 
on a road trip in Ohio this week but he said he'd just got back.  He was 
on the 2016 team that came to Toronto with only 11 guys for the first game 
of the year and beat the Toronto FC Academy 7-0 in TFC's last year in PDL.  
I had forgotten until I looked up his bio that he is the goalie.  

The win improves Vaughan's record to 8 wins, 1 loss, 1 tie for 19 points 
and were third place in the East at the start of the day.

Windsor's record falls to 2 wins, 3 losses, and 4 ties for 10 points and 
would stay in fifth place in the West and may even drop a place 
depending on other results.  

Now for me it's off to Woodbridge to see them play FC London.  

Rocket Robin
robing@eol.ca
twitter RocketRobin01

Vaughan Azzurri starters