June 16, 2024...League1 Ontario Woodbridge Strikers vs Guelph United game reportg (by Rocket Robin)
Result and details of the Sunday June 16, 2024 League1 Ontario Men's Premier Division game betweenFinal Score:......Woodbridge Strikers.......2.......Guelph United.......1.......
Attendance was about 90 on this mild and sunny evening. The game was over before it got dark. This was the only disappointment of the night as their last home game the new stands were full with 500 fans I estimated. I expect the last Euro game ended at just after 5:00pm so there should have been plenty of time for the locals to get here. It was England playing the last game of the day so that shouldn't have kept this historically Italian-Canadian fan base away? The other occasion was today was Father's Day so there may have been some big meals planned. The two offsetting Penalty kick calls evened themselves out although Guelph head coach Justin Springer certainly thought he deserved more. I couldn't tell if his opposite Peter Pinizzotto was yelling the same for his team. Referee Hussein Walji gave out only three Yellow cards (two to Woodbridge) in a close checking game with a lot of freekicks being given for knockdowns. Both goalies made some crucial saves. Surprise save was made by WS defender Elijah Viet Le who made a flying header across the box to clear a shot aimed for the right corner at 95 minutes and preserve the win. This was the last game of the weekend so the standings should hold up until Wednesday when there will be five games that night. Surprise with this weekend's results with Burlington SC losing their second game in a row earlier this afternoon, Woodbridge now grabs a share of first place and remains the only undefeated team in league play with a record now of 5 wins, 3 ties, 0 losses for 18 points. Burlington still is ranked first because of having one more win at 6 wins, 0 ties, 2 losses. Hey Woodbridge not bad for a team that was originally 'relegated' to the Championship (second tier) Division when the league split from 21 teams to a 12 team Premier Division, 10 team (with the addition of Toronto FC Academy) Championship Division and Woodbridge finishing thirteenth after a two year weighted result mechanism combining 2022 and 2023 results. 8 ties in 20 games for a 6-6-8 doomed the team. The folding of Electric City FC moved everyone up a spot. I still can't shake that feeling from last year that they gave up so many points in the final minutes of games. 4 wins, 4 ties, 0 losses was my mental headline for tonight after the Guelph goal. I heard some of Anthony Morano's interview after the game with the Woodbridge announcer who also does post game interviews for the team's YouTube channel. He was mentioning his time playing for their reserves team in the L2 Division (third tier of L1O). I looked it up on the League1 Canada App and see that this was his seventeenth game of the season already. Wow the Premier Division just finished their eighth round this weekend. It must be great to have all that energy at age 18! Also the App which starts most of its history from the start of this season does list Morano as being on the lineup for York United in 2023 for one game. Yeah that was the Pride game where he was an emergency call up as five guys chose to sit that one out. It appears he wasn't one of the substitutions used...a surprise 2-1 win over Atletico Ottawa...just like yesterday. Guelph's record falls to 2 wins, 0 ties, 6 losses for 6 points. The App shows that this was the fourth game in a row they've lost by a 2-1 score starting with their May 28th loss against Simcoe County Rovers that knocked them out of the L1O Cup. This poor form has dropped them down to a three way tie for eighth place with them ranking over the other two because they've won two games vs the others one win, three ties, four losses. Rocket Robinback to 2024 League1 Ontario menu
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