June 16, 2024...League1 Ontario Woodbridge Strikers vs Guelph United game reportg (by Rocket Robin)

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Result and details of the Sunday June 16, 2024 League1 Ontario Men's Premier Division game between
Woodbridge Strikers and Guelph United played at Vaughan Grove in Woodbridge at 7:00pm.

Woodbridge Strikers (all blue uniforms, white numbers)

..................1 Dante Ferraro
2 Luca Pinto...25 Keegan Wilson...18 Elijah Viet Le...3 Gianluca Condello...27 Sebastian Cochrane
.............8 Joe Mac...6 Jacob Spizzirri (cpt)...20 Exosse Kadiebue
.................9 Ronaldo Marshall...22 Santino De Bartolo

Subs:...76 Ezequiel Carrasco (gk)...4 Alex Meczarski...11 Franz Mella...12 Luka Vasic
...14 Santiago Almada...17 Gregory Moulopoulos...19 Abdul Hamad...21 Anthony Morano...23 Jordan Hendriks
team officials:...head coach Peter Pinizzotto...assistant coach Fabio Panetta...team manager John Scarlato
...goalkeeper coach Kelvin Friseiro...physiotherapist David Lisi

Guelph United (all white uniforms, black numbers)

...................1 Tristan Mitchell
.........4 Markus Pusztahegyi...14 Cole Fernandez...3 Luke Green
6 Anthony Ostrun...10 jack Sears...21 Gray Yates...19 Noah MacIntyre...11 Jacob Cabral
.......9 Jared Agyemang (cpt)...15 Frank-William Andreacchi

Subs:...20 Jake Findlay (gk)...2 Woody Bain...5 Harvey Marchant...8 Kyle Cordeiro
...12 Peyton Ferdinand...13 Nicholas Dunn...17 Yuki Ibie
team officials:...head coach Justin Springer...assistant coachess Andrew Agyare-Tabbi and Randy Ribeiro
...physiotherapist Dana Renfrew

Game officials:...referee Hussein Walji...referee's assistants Josue Tomas Cascales and Amanda Kwan
...fourth official Edward Bosioc...(red socks and shirts, black shorts)

First Half:...game starts 6:58pm...Woodbridge defends north end.
1 min...WS Mac cornerkick from left is short to WS Marshall in box is passed out but no shot when crossed outside box.
2 min...GU Ostrun cross along 10 yard line from right has GU Sears one-touch chip down middle that goalie catches wide left of post.
4 min...WS Viet Le goes down at WS 30 yard line for head injury and needs trainer.
6 min...WS De Bartolo and WS Pinto on give and go but Pinto is checked off ball on right side of box.
8 min...WS Mac cross from left hits GU player's face in box and ball is cleared.
8 min...WS Marshall 22 yard low shot from right is bounced wide left of net.
10 min...GU Agyemang long throw-in from right has defender head away on near post.
10 min...GU Andreacchi low 12 yard shot from left is smothered by goalie on near post.
12 min...WS Cochrane hard cross from 15 yards on left is through box and tipped for goalkick.
13 min...GU Agyemang 18 yard roller through players is smothered by goalie.
14 min...WS Cochrane long throw-in from left is headed away near edge of box.
15 min...GU goalie beats charging WS Wilson to grab through ball bouncer on right side of box.
18 min...GU Yates cornerkick from right is over players in box and out for throw-in.
19 min...GU Yates cornerkick from left is low and behind net.
20 min...WS YELLOW card...Pinto earns it for sliding tackle on GU Yates at WS 50 yard line.
22 min...WS Kadiebue runs to left 18 yard line and rolls centering pass but no one runs for it.
24 min...WS Kadiebue gets second chance at cross on left near end line and sends it into box.
25 min...WS Keegan Wilson wins a Penalty kick while turned away from Guelph goal to chest a ball down
on a short chip to 15 yards and he is pushed over from behind. Referee Hussein Walji made the call.
26 min...Woodbridge Ronaldo Marshall GOAL...Marshall blasts the Penalty kick low to center of goal
as sprawling goalie Tristan Mitchell had moved out of the way.
29 min...WS Marshall at 30 yards sends charging WS Pinto up right and he sends high cross along end line that goalie
catches overhead at 1 yard in center to prevent tap-in.
30 min...GU Sears high cross from 25 yard line on far right is wide left for goalkick.
31 min...GU Yates 25 yarder from slight left has flying goalaie catch on left.
32 min...GU Yates 50 yard freekick chip has ball headed around and out for cornerkick.
33 min...GU Yates cornerkick from left is high and GU Agyemang heads 8 yarder on right downward from 3 yards that goalie smothers.
34 min...WS De Bartolo wins cornerkick on left when defender slides to stop. WS win another cornerkick.
35 min...WS Mac high cornerkick on leflt has WS Wilson head down on right but GU defenders clear.
38 min...WS Mac high 25 yard freekick from left is cleared from right side of box.
40 min...WS Cochrane cornerkick from right iss high and headed away. WS Wilson can't redirect on bicycle kick try and GU players
get away on fast break.
46 min...half ends 7:44pm.

Halftime:...The subs on both teams stay out to warm up and sso does GU head coach Justin Springer and staff with magnet board
for a few minutes.

Second Half:...starts 7:59pm.
46 min...GU Green heads ball back to goalie to break up WS play.
49 min...GU Ostrun trying to break through edge of box, rolls ball to WS goalie.
51 min...WS Mac rolls pass to WS Pinto on right and Pinto rolls it over end line.
56 min...GU Yates cornerkick from right is kicked around and WS wins freekick.
57 min...GU sub...Cordeiro replaces Sears.
58 min...WS Mac 30 yard shot from slight left wins cornerkick on deflection.
58 min...WS Cochrane high cornerkick from right has WS Wilson in crowd of players on endline on left is not able to turn header.
59 min...WS sub...Hendriks replaces Kadiebue.
61 min...GU Ostrun rolls pass forward to GU Pusztahegyi on right end line but ball is out before he can cross.
62 min...WS De Bartolo wins cornerkick on slide for shot at 7 yards.
63 min...WS Cochrane high cornerkick on right is well over players in box.
64 min...WS player blasts centered pass up middle off bar from 20 yards in crowd of players.
64 min...WS Mac 22 yard blast between players has goalie fly to catch on left post.
65 min...GU goalie grabs bouncer between players on WS player's 25 yard shot.
65 min...WS YELLOW card...Hendriks earns it for tackle at GS 50 yard line.
67 min...GU Fernandez is injured in GU box breaking up WS pass play and wins freekick.
68 min...GU YELLOW card...Agyemang earns it for tackle at WS 40 yard line.
71 min...GU Agyemang run on left inside WS box. WS Condello deflects ball over end line.
71 min...GU Yates cornerkick from left has WS Marshall head ball away on near post.
73 min...WS sub...Morano replaces Marshall.
75 min...GU sub...Marchant replaces Andreacchi.
76 min...GU goalie is injured at GU 22 yard line andd needs trainer. Both teams come over for a water break and pep talk.
78 min...GU MacIntyre run on left and crosses along 6 yard line and retreating defender heads ball off bar!
79 min...WS De Bartolo is touched ball and 20 yard blast from slight left is well wide right of net.
80 min...WS Wilson is injured in face after getting ball away at WS 30 yard line.
81 min...WS sub...Vasic replaces De Bartolo.
82 min...WS Morano long run down right and rolls ball from 25 yards along 3 yard line and wins cornerkick.
83 min...WS Mac cornerkick from left has defender head away on near post. WS player chips down middle is high and wide left
from 20 yards.
84 min...WS Cochrane finished 3 way passing play with 22 yard shot from left that flying goalie saves at 6 yards.
87 min...GU Gray Yates has 18 yard shot has goalie Dante Ferraro fly to save but near right post
but rebound comes to GU Jared Agyemang near right end line. Ferraro crawls over to grab ball but
pulls down Agyemang for a Penalty kick call.
88 min...Guelph Gray Yates GOAL...Yates blasts Penalty kick low to left and just inside the post
beyond the reach of diving goalie.
91 min...Woodbridge Anthony Morano GOAL...WS Gianluca Condello sends pass from left that finds Morano
and his low 25 yard shot is to right side of net as the goalie dives to that post but the ball bounces
over him and into the right corner of net.
92 min...GU Pusztahegyi blasts rebound from 28 yards well over back fence.
96 min...WS Viet Le makes flying header to clear ball out right side of WS box.
97 min...game ends 8:51pm.

Final 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 Robin
robin.glover.1958@gmail.com
X @RocketRobin01

Woodbridge Strikers starters