October 4, 2017 League 1 Ontario--Match Recap: Oakville Blue Devils vs Woodbridge Strikers (by Rocket Robin (from League 1 Ontario)

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Result and details of the Wednesday October 4, 2017 League 1 Ontario game between Oakville Blue Devils
and Woodbridge Strikers played at Bronte Athletic Park in Oakville at 8:00pm.

Oakville Blue Devils (all navy, white numbers)

...............27 Matt George
6 Victor Gallo...18 Christian Young...5 Julian Connor McNamara...22 Al James
.........8 Judah Hernandez...14 Mikeal Taylor McNamara (cpt)...20 Hitesh Joshi
.........9 Filipe Vilela...23 Anthony Novak...13 Mathew Santos

Subs:...25 Daniel Voci (gk)...3 Gurjot Uppal...10 Braden Culver...15 Anthony Doran
...16 Khody Ellis...24 Christian Kusiewicz...25 Stephen Ademolu
team offcials:...team head coach Duncan Wilde...assistant coaches Billy Steele, Brent Mosen,
and Glenn McNamara

Woodbridge Strikers (all white, blue numbers)

.................1 Quillan Roberts
.......11 Stephen Almeida...3 Kyle Watson...22 Michael Krzeminski
2 Quante Abbott-Hill-Smithe...6 Joshua Paredes-Procter...8 Oscar Cordon...7 Dylan Carreiro (cpt)
...........10 Christian Cavallini...23 Luca Baldassarre...17 Emmanuel Issac

Subs:...12 Micheal Scavone (gk)...5 Michael Fayehun...16 Mikateko Zwane...20 Adrian Gallo
...18 Marcos Nunes...21 Ronaldo Marshall...24 Isaiah Johnson
team offcials:...team head coach Peter Pinizzotto...assistant coach Marco Reda...manager John Scarlato
...equipment manager Amedeo Pellegrino...therapist Justin Miranda

Game officials:...referee Braeden Krampert...referee's assistants Scott Bowman and Derrick Farwell
fourth officials Hassane Rifai...(yellow shirts, black shorts and socks)

First Half:...game starts 7:58pm...OBD defends north end. It is already dark and a hard pregame rain
has fallen on the field turf but just the benches in the stands are wet.
2 min...WS player's 30 yard shot from left is well wide right of net.
5 min...WS Issac rush to ball on right end lne and 12 yard shot is deflected wide right.
5 min...WS Paredes-Procter cornerkick from right has WS Baldassarre head 8 yarder in crowd of players
wide right of net.
6 min...OBD Hernandez 25 yard cross from left has goalie dive forward to smother ball at 8 yards.
7 min...WS Carreiro low 25 yard freekick from left is deflected in crowd of players and goalie dives
to smother left of post.
9 min...OBD goalie smothers shot from 25 yards.
9 min...OBD Joshi shoots 25 yarder from right low and wide left of net.
12 min...WS Krzeminski low cross from 28 yards on left has defender cleared.
13 min...OBD player's cornerkick from left is headed out of box by OBD player on right.
15 min...OBD Joshi cornerkick from left is tapped to OBD Taylor McNamara and his cross into box is cleared.
15 min...WS player on left rolls pass too far forward and over end line.
17 min...WS Almeida shoots 25 yard freekick right wide left of net.
18 min...OBD Novak 28 yard cross from left has sliding OBD Vilela at 6 yards on right post shoots well behind net.
20 min...Taylor McNamara 40 yard freekck down middle hits football goalpost just behind and high of the soccer net.
21 min...WS Paredes-Procter freekick from 30 yards on left is cleared in box.
23 min...WS Paredes-Procter 40 yard freekick from right is cleared.
23 min...WS Krzeminski shot from 25 yards on far right has WS player have 6 yard shot blocked by defender.
24 min...WS Baldassarre gets pass at 25 yards but 1 on 3 and he rolls 20 yarder wide right of net.
25 min...WS Carreiro pushes through ball pass to WS Cavallini and his 12 yard low shot is saved by sliding goalie.
OBD defender clears deflection right.
27 min...WS goalie catches OBD James cross from 25 yards on left.
28 min...WS Paredes-Procter 65 yard freekick from right to WS Baldassarre but OBD goalie cuts over to catch
right of net.
29 min...WS Carreiro rush down right cuts to middle at 22 yards and low shot is just wide right of net.
31 min...WS Carreiro 25 yard freekick from left has goalie jump and punch two-fister away near left post between
crowd of players.
32 min...WS Carreiro low 30 yard shot up middle is bounced wide left of net.
33 min...OBD Taylor McNamara 50 yard shot up middle has OBD Connor McNamara get control and 12 yard shot
from left is saved by diving goalie.
36 min...OBD James long throw-in from left has ball popped around with heads and OBD James whiff on kick.
OBD Vilela finishes with 25 yard shot down middle that goalie catches.
40 min...OBD Taylor McNamara 40 yard freekick from left is headed away on edge of box.
41 min...OBD Santos low 18 yard blasts is saved by sprawling goalie, defender concedes cornerkick
to prevent tap-in.
41 min...OBD Hernandez cornerkick from left is over end line on right.
43 min...WS Paredes-Procter cross from 30 yards has defender in center of box head away.
44 min...OBD defender clears away cross into box.
45 min...OBD YELLOW card...Taylor McNamara earns it for knocking over OBD Peredes-Procter on sideline.
45 min...OBD Gallo 28 yard freekick from right has second line of defenders clear.
48 min...OBD goalie clears ball off WS Cavallini at 8 yards and ball deflects just wide left of post.
48 min...half ends 8:46pm.

Second Half:...starts 9:02pm.
halftime sub:...OBD Ellis replaces Young.
49 min...OBD Santos ends OBD pressure with cross from left that deflects for cornerkick.
50 min...OBD Gallo cornerkick fromn left is caught by goalie stepping into crowd in box.
51 min...WS Cordon pushes ball over OBD end line on right.
53 min...WS YELLOW card...Cordon earns it for tackle on OBD Taylor McNamara at WS 45 yard line.
It was a delayed call with card given after OBD rush fizzled out. Taylor McNamara is injured.
54 min...OBD Gallo 45 yard freekick from right has OBD Connor McNamara head ball from 15 yards
that goalie catches.
56 min...WS players cross from 28 yards on left has WS Baldassarre shot blocked at 15 yards and WS Issac
rebound from 15 yards is skied over net.
58 min...OBD sub...Ademolu replaces Santos.
59 min...OBD YELLOW card...Ademolu earns it for elbow on WS Krzeminski at OBD 45 yard line.
60 min...OBD Vilela can't control pass at WS 22 yard line.
62 min...OBD Taylor McNamara taps 28 yard freekick over to Connor McNamara who shoots down middle
and low ball is tipped wide left by defender.
62 min...OBD Taylor McNamara cornerkick from left is headed wide right through box by defender.
63 min...OBD Joshi long throw-in from right is partally cleared and OBD Novak blasts 28 yarder wide right.
64 min...WS sub...Johnston replaces Baldassarre.
66 min...OBD Ademolu flicks 20 yarder with back to net wide right of net from middle upon receiving cross
from left.
66 min...OBD goalie bats away shot from 15 yards and defender clears from box.
68 min...OBD Novak long run on left but shot from 12 yards blocked for throw-in.
69 min...OBD player long throw-in has defender head ball backwards onto top of own net.
70 min...OBD Ellis cornerkick from right is tap to OBD Taylor McNamara whose low cross is cleared by defender.
70 min...OBD Joshi long throw-in from right has OBD Ellis flick 10 yard header that goalie catches.
72 min...WS Paredes-Procter 40 yard freekick from left has goalie push wide right of top corner of net.
73 min...WS Paredes-Procter cornerkick from right wins another cornerkick.
73 min...WS Paredes-Procter cornerkick from right has defender head away for quick break.
74 min...OBD Joshi lont throw-in from right has OBD Ademolu flick 10 yard header back to net on right
and goalie dives left to smother.
77 min...OBD Novak dribbles in on left but is checked off ball.
79 min...OBD Ellis heads 15 yarder from right on long cross that WS Krzeminski heads away at 10 yards.
80 min...WS defenders now start time wasting with passing around to themselves!
81 min...OBD players now start doing the same!
The rest of the game involves the two teams passing amongst teammates in their own end with no more than
two offensive players in the defenders' half of the field. All action is between the 30 yard lines.
87 min...WS Krzeminski cramps up and WS play short for rest of the game although they could have subbed.
90 min...game ends 9:46pm.

Final Score:....Oakville Blue Devils...0...Woodbridge Strikers...0...

Attendance was about 75 on this mild night. The game had been preceded 
by a heavy downpour during the warmups which may have killed the walk 
up crowd. This stadium is used for late season and night games 
as Sheridan College doesn't have lights.  I realized I had been here 
before back around 2005 to see an OBD game. Over the years I've forgotten 
the 'Athletic' in the title and thought of what is actually 
the provincial park (from childhood picnics in the 1960s) and that 
the apartment buildings had taken over while watching L1O web feeds.

Referee Braeden Krampert gave out only three Yellow cards (two to OBD) 
in a game more of quick passing then sliding tackles which may have 
been tempting on the wet field turf.

This game was hard fought for the first 80 minutes.

The shutouts were earned by Matt George for OBD and Quillan Roberts 
for Strikers. Both had to be sharp on a few saves but they were greatly 
aided by their defenders. Matt George was the Strikers goalie last 
season and I asked him a month ago why the change and his answer was 
he lived a lot closer to Oakville than Woodbridge. He made the move 
well before Quillan Roberts was signed.

Oakville used a back line of Victor Gallo, Christian Young 
(then Khodi Ellis from halftime), Julian Connor McNamara, and Al James. 
Strikers played Stephen Almeida, Quante Abbott-Hill-Smith, Kyle Watson, 
and Michael Krzeminski in the back.

Best chances were at 18 minutes when OBD Anthony Novak sent 
in a 28 yard cross from the left and a sliding OBD Filipe Vilela 
at 6 yards on the right post shoot well behind the net. Two minutes 
later OBD captain Taylor McNamara took a 40 yard freekick down the 
middle that dipped and hit the football upright just above and behind 
the soccer net. 25 minutes had WS Dylan Carreiro push a through ball 
pass to WS Christian Cavallini and his 12 yard low shot was saved 
by the sliding goalie and a defender cleared the rebound. 31 minutes 
had Carreiro take a 25 yard freekick had the goalie jump and two-fisted 
punch the ball away near the left post between a crowd of players. 
Two minutes later Taylor McNamara took a 40 yard freekick down the middle 
that had his brother Connor McNamara get control and hs 12 yard shot 
from the left was saved by the diving goalie. 41 minutes had 
OBD Mathew Santos had a low 18 yard blast saved by the sprawling 
goalie and the defender conceded a cornerkick to prevent a tap-in. 
Extra time had the OBD goalie clear the ball off WS Cavallini 
at 8 yards and the ball deflected just wide of the post. 66 minutes 
had the OBD goalie bat away a shot from 15 yards.

OBD Hitesh Joshi has a catapult two arms for getting away long 
throw-ins up to the 25 yard line right into the center of the box. 
Best chances for that were two throw-ins from the right with 
Stephen Ademolu playing just right of goal and getting away headers 
where at 70 minutes Roberts had to catch under the bar and 
at 74 minutes when Roberts to dive to the left post.

After 80 minutes something strange happened as both teams suddenly 
started playing 'keep away' in their own zones so as not to lose 
possession and the game. This was the final game of the regular 
season for both teams. Oakville led the West by six points over 
Sigma FC who have two games in hand. Woodbridge was tied with 
Vaughan Azzurri in the East who had finished their schedule 
on the weekend. A tie would give both teams the Conference 
championships!

After six guys passing around behind their own 35 yard line with 
maybe one or two players challenging the ball was hoofed upfield 
and the other team would do the same.

I could hear OBD head coach Duncan Wilde yell "...back to the 
halfway line".

The fans attitude changed as well. Super Dad...(since I already 
used that name on a different father WS 'Mr Marshall' who was 
also here tonight waiting for his son Ronaldo or Isaiah Johnson 
whom he coached)...we'll call him 'Mr George' changed from earlier 
in the game taunting "He's got nothing" and "Where's the card?" 
from 80 minutes became "Keep the ball".  They cheered loudly
after the game ended. 

The players told the referee "We don't need any extra time". 
The ref stopped the game at exactly 90 minutes as he caught 
on to what was going on. I've seen 90 minute games this season 
to stop blowouts.

There was a rumour a week or so ago that if this was a nothing 
game (ie both teams had clinched) the coaches were talking 
about using their U21 rosters).

L1O officials seemed happy as they don't have to schedule any 
tie breakers to decide the final teams. Now these two teams 
meet in the Final.

Only folks I can't see happy with this are the Sigma FC 
and Vaughan Azzurri staff and players who still had a faint 
hope of tieing one of the teams. Also some keyboard warriors 
on the message boards who never get out to games anyway.

Hey I can say "I saw Oakville clinch the West and Woodbridge 
win the East in the same night!". I wasn't planning on being 
here but I expected this would be the last time I saw one 
of the finalists as the final is scheduled at the same day 
as the MLS Toronto FC vs Montreal Impact game (Sunday October 15) 
which will be the last TFC home game of the regular season 
and the presentation of the Shield for finishing first in the 
MLS regular season. L1O chairperson Dino Rossi told me they 
had scheduled the game for Saturday the 14 for Ontario Soccer 
Centre back in the spring but Toronto FC II bumped them 
as they have priority. That won't happen next year as TFC II 
will play their games at BMO Field and Lamport Stadium. 
[Late news less than 24 hours after tonight's game—the final 
has been moved to Friday October 20 at 7:30pm at the OSC].

This game was rescheduled from July 16 when it was rained 
out at half-time by a storm that lasted many hours. Strikers 
held a 1-0 lead on a goal by Emmanuel Issac. The game tonight 
was started from 0-0 and an entire 90 minutes was played 
(well OK 80 minutes of competition). The starting line ups 
that day were almost identical to today. I'd say that's one 
reason for the two teams success because they didn't have 
half their roster disappear for school. OBD has two of their 
strikers play for Southern Ontario colleges (not universities) 
and even played against each other a few weekends ago. Now the 
surprise that afternoon was I was at Vaughan Grove (Strikers 
home field) and was watching Ottawa SUF play Windsor TFC Stars 
(both teams were in the Toronto area that weekend to play 
GTA teams) ten hours apart so it was played here.

This is only the second League 1 Ontario game I've seen this 
season that was scoreless (57 games). I saw July 30th 
Woodbridge host Toronto FC III as 0-0.

I asked Roberts after the game about his tryouts in Nevada. 
He said he was trying out with USL 'Reno 1836'. It was after 
the transfer deadline so he is looking at being there for 
next season. I said he is always among the first in Can Prem 
fantasy drafts but for now he has to make a living and 
he agreed.

Both these teams have personnel here tonight from the departed 
Toronto Lynx. Peter Pinnozzotto (Woodbridge coach) was the 
first coach of the A-League team from 1977 to 2003 and 
Duncan Wilde (Oakville coach) 2004 and 2005 to 2014 including 
their switch over to the PDL league. Midfielder in the A-League 
days Shawn Faria introduced himself. He is a coach for the 
Blue Devils youth teams. I had thought TFC III's Jordan Faria 
was somehow related to him but he was a student of his as Shawn 
is a school teacher. Former Lynx defender Marco Reda holds 
a similar position with Woodbridge. If Shawn has looked 
at his Wikipedia page he'd see that over half the links 
reference back to my webpage from my game reports or cut 
and paste news reports on my site.

I also connected the dots and asked the OBD media guy 
Pierce Lang. From Oakville! Soccer follower! Piercing 
blue eyes! Related to a former national team player? 
Yes he said he's Kara's older brother.

For me it was a 2+ hour drive through rush hour traffic. 
That pretty well seals it that I won't be getting season 
tickets for the Hamilton franchise of the Canadian Premier 
League as I'd have to add another hour to leave enough time 
to get there for weeknight games.

Stevie Ademolu was a 58 minute sub for OBD and he has to drive 
five hours to get here as he lives in Windsor so don't feel 
sorry for me. He's age 34 and wants to go out a winner. 
Interesting that Strikers only sub was at 65 minutes when 15 year 
old Isaiah Johnston replaced Luca Baldassarre as a forward. 
Baldassarre wears a pair of 1950s style Clark Kent glasses off 
the field but on the field he plays in a sort of Clark Kent goggles.

Rossi also said the L1O winner WILL NOT be paired with the 
winner of the Quebec PLSQ--that is AS Blainville. I suspect 
that will mean those two teams will play NASL FC Edmonton and 
USL Ottawa Fury and the winners will play each other for the 
one semi-final spot against Toronto FC as the best of the 
three Canadian MLS teams.

This is the last game of the 22 game regular season for 
both teams.

Oakville Blue Devils finish with a record of 18 wins, 2 losses, 
and 2 ties for 56 points. They win the Western Conference. 
Sigma FC has two games to go but can't catch them.

Woodbridge Strikers finish with a record of 15 wins, 2 losses, 
and 5 ties for 50 points. They finish one point ahead 
of Vaughan Azzurri who have also finished their schedule.

Strikers finish with a goals allowed of 18 which is the best 
in the league. Oakville has allowed 22 goals which is third best 
in the league for now although Sigma has allowed only 20 but has 
two games to play. In most goals scored, Vaughan leads the 
league with 75.

Rocket Robin
robing@eol.ca
twitter @RocketRobin01

Oakville Blue Devils starters