June 22, 2018 League 1 Ontario--Preview of Men's L1 Cup Quarter Final Round (from League 1 Ontario)

PREVIEW: Men's L1 Cup Quarter Final Round
06/22/2018, 5:15pm EDT
By League1 Ontario staff

It all kicks off Friday June 22 in the 2018 L1 Cup Quarter-Final stage as Sigma FC hosts FC London 
on the men's side of the bracket, before FC London women get into action on Saturday June 23 with 
visitors Vaughan Azzurri in town. 

Sigma FC v FC London (9 p.m. kickoff @ Hershey Centre 1)

No love lost between these two teams as battle after battle has played out over the years in league play. 
Only three weeks ago the two teams met in league play, which Sigma will have fond memories of after 
a 3-0 final result in their favour.

Still, Sigma are likely still smarting after dropping points in London during a late 2017 season tilt 
that seriously dented Sigma's aspirations towards a first place finish in the west division conference 
and a berth in the League1 Ontario finals. 

Both sides have been buzzing through 2018 L1 Cup and league play alike; neither FC London (2-0 over Darby FC) 
or Sigma (4-0 over Sanjaxx SS) gave up a goal in their first round Cup matches. In Sigma's case, they have 
only given up one goal in five league games and their single Cup fixture combined. With respect to London, 
they have leaked goals at times (three conceded to Sigma and Darby), but have shown a great ability 
to outscore the competition in recent wins (6-0 over OSU; 5-3 over Darby). 

Sigma and FC London are currently tied in League1 play as well, sitting on 13 points a piece (although Sigma 
holds a game in hand), so this match sets up very nice for the neutral.

Key players: Sigma's Marcel Zajac was the Gatorade League1 Ontario Player Of The Month for May after 
an outstanding start that saw him score five goals in his first three league matches and two in the Cup. 
Zajac was injured a couple weeks ago though, so jury out on whether he will play, but Justin Stoddart had 
a brace in their last outing so could be the fix. 

For London, captain Randy Ribeiro has been scoring highlight goals aplenty of late with his ability to strike 
from distance, while youth product Connor Wilson has also grabbed headlines for his mobile attacking play 
and goalscoring abilities.

TFC III v Pro Stars FC (Saturday June 23 @ Victoria Park, 8:30 p.m.)

Pro Stars arrived in the quarters after an entertaining 3-2 win required a penalty kicks tiebreaker to get 
past a determined Aurora FC side. 

Toronto FC III has been on a high all season, bashing Windsor 4-1 in their first-round Cup match-up before 
really shellacking Windsor in their last league match, 10-0. 

The Junior Reds have been the class of the league this year, currently sitting six points clear of Sigma 
and London in second and with an undefeated record. 

TFC III's defensive record is well intact with only three goals conceded over seven league games; Pro Stars 
have only registered one win in seven matches and racked up 16 goals against. 

On the attacking end, TFC has 24 goals in their seven league matches while Pro Stars have five in seven. 

Key Players: Aleksander Zwierzynski is the Pro Stars stats leader with three goals in six appearances, 
though keeper Aaron Peters might be the one to watch here. His goalkeeping exploits have produced some 
outstanding moments in recent weeks, and demonstrate that Pro Stars have a #1 that can keep them in a 
game - provided they can find the offence to win it. 

On the TFC III side, Afram Gorgees (6), Shaan Hundal (4) and Daniel Bilousov (3) are the stats leaders 
in the team, but being the local MLS Academy's third team - this is a side packed with talent of course. 

Masters FA Saints v Oakville Blue Devils (Sunday June 24 @ Sheridan Trafalgar, 6 p.m.)

Masters nailed their Quarter-Final berth after smashing Unionville-Milliken (4-0) while Oakville took 
a comfortable win over Toronto Skillz (3-1). 

Blue Devils are coming off the disappointment of a loss in the first round qualifier of the Canadian 
Championship, and a loss in the league to Vaughan Azzurri to follow it up, so may be pinning serious 
hopes on this match to get their mojo back in place. 

After a very strong start to the season, Masters has had inconsistent form of late.

A 1-0 loss to table-toppers Toronto FC III was compounded by a late equalizer scored against them 
by Alliance United FC to draw 2-2. 

Very much a match of two teams looking to stay on track and define their 2018 trajectory from here 
- this should be a cracker. Stay tuned to league1ontario.com to watch this one on Livestream. 

Key Players: Masters' Jose De Sousa has been consistently on point with the goals since the start 
of the season, and currently tops the team stats chart. However, the team needs to keep their 
defensive focus so as not to drop points like in Matchweek 7 vs Alliance. The key piece here 
is Masters' defensive unit.

On the Oakville side, forward Anthony Novak has five league goals in six appearances while 
Filipe Vilela (3)and Brandon Duarte (3) are just two other proven goalscorers with multiple goals 
in their columns. Oakville is typically very resilient defensively and will need to be to keep out 
this attack-focused Masters' side. 

Woodbridge Strikers v Vaughan Azzurri (Sunday June 24 @ Vaughan Grove 1, 7 p.m.)

Always an intense battle when these two neighbours meet, and this L1 Cup Quarter should 
be no exception. 

Woodbridge are the defending L1 Cup champs and home pitch advantage is theirs for this round. 

Vaughan smashed North Miss (6-0) in the first round, while Woodbridge were comfortable in a 4-1 result 
over Ottawa South United. Eddie Lay and Steve Klousouniotis with a brace each for Vaughan, 
and Tyrell Rayne with one for Woodbridge.

Vaughan is currently fifth in the league table with a point on sixth place side, Woodbridge Strikers. 
Strikers have retained their characteristic defensive solidity in 2018 (only six goals in seven games 
is good enough for the third best record), but have added offensive power this season with 
their 20 GF giving them the second best attacking in the league as well.

Vaughan has struggled for consistency, but after coming off a convincing 5-2 win over 2017 Champions 
Oakville Blue Devils last week - the Azzurri just may be turning a corner on their season.  

Key Players: Emmanuel Issac leads the Strikers with goals (four in seven matches), while teammates 
Ignazio Muccilli and Joshua Parades-Procter (three in five matches) round out the list.

One needs to look quite far down the goalscoring ranks to find Vaughan players, with the top four 
scorers all level on two goals a piece - Jarek Whiteman, Dylan Sacramento, Jarred Phillips 
and Thomasz Skublak.

back to 2018 League 1 Ontario Men's index

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