August 24, 2024 League1 Ontario North Toronto vs Vaughan Azzurri game report (by Rocket Robin)
Result and details of the Saturday August 24, 2024 League1 Ontario Men's Premier Division game between North Toronto and Vaughan Azzurri played at Downsview Park in North York at 7:30pm. I will be posting pictures, logos, and more of a play-by-play about this game someday (ie. the offseason). 7 min...Vaughan Andy Baquero GOAL...VA Reshaun Walkes steals ball on right side of NT box and taps centering pass. A VA player has a 10 yard shot stopped by a sliding defender. Baquero gets to the rebound to the left and shoots low 8 yarder over fallen goalie Michael Bittner McPherson. 11 min...Vaughan Ryan Robinson GOAL...Robinson shoots low 15 yard shot from right to left corner of net. 17 min...Vaughan Ryan Robinson GOAL...VA Raheem Rose chips cross from 25 yards on left that Robinson heads 10 yarder from slight right over sprawling goalie into center of net. 20 min...Vaughan Reshaun Walkes GOAL...VA Andy Baquero takes freekick from right that's sent over by chip to 20 yards in middle. Walkes makes midair volley and blasts 20 yarder just under bar in center of net. (I've found my candidate for 'Goal of the Year'). 21 min...Vaughan Ryan Robinson GOAL...Robinson races in from 50 yards on break and goalie makes point blank save on his 18 yard shot. Robinson recovers ball first, steps around fallen goalie at 12 yards and rolls ball into empty net. 76 min...NT YELLOW card...Manvir Athwal draws it for injurying VA Faris Ibraheem running into left side of NT box. Referee Philip Benevides also awards Vaughan a Penalty kick. 77 min...Vaughan Reshaun Walkes GOAL...Walkes stutter steps his run up for Penalty kick and blasts shot into top right corner of net as goalie dives low to right. 82 min...Vaughan Reshaun Walkes GOAL...VA Raheem Rose has shot stopped by goalie at 15 yards but Walkes recovers ball and chips 20 yarder over retreating goalie into open net. 84 min...Vaughan Reshaun Walkes GOAL...Walkes steals ball off defender at 20 yards on right and takes low 12 yard shot into short corner of net past sliding goalie.Final Score:....North Toronto.......0........Vaughan Azzurri........8........
Attendance was about 80 people on this warm night. Reshaun Walkes scores four goals tonight with Ryan Robinson counting three. Both Walkes and Robinson were starters but Robinson was subbed out as part of a three in—three out swap at 57 minutes or who knows how many he might have gotten. I wasn't expecting a scoreline like tonight. North Toronto had only allowed 31 league goals in 20 league games coming into this fixture. Vaughan takes over the league lead tonight with 55 goals passing Scrosoppi FC who only scored two tonight (although Scrosoppi has two games in hand). Vaughan started today two points ahead of Scrosoppi 43 vs 41 but the Scrosoppi road game in Barrie against Simcoe County Rovers started at 6:00pm (90 minutes before ours) and on the L1 Canada app, which uses a live tracker, they took over first place by scoring both their goals in a 2-0 win by the 30 minute mark so they took over as league leaders until this game reached its 7 minute mark. Scrosoppi has two games in hand and three games to play by Labour Day...next Monday although I expect their schedule will be extended. Scrosoppi has home games scheduled against Alliance United this Wednesday and Saturday against ProStars FC. Last Sunday night's away game against Burlington SC was postponed with all the rain in the area. Vaughan has only Blue Devils FC to play on the road in Oakville next Sunday to finish their season. Vaughan also will play Tuesday night in the one game semi-final of the reinstated L1 Cup. Their opponents are ......North Toronto and the venue will be the same one as tonight! It must be tricky to play with a big lead so soon when you know you're playing the same team within days. Vaughan emptied their bench starting at 57 minutes while North Toronto started with a double swap at 25 minutes to shake things up. Good disipline except at 33 minutes when NT Sam Rankin smashed into Reshaun Walkes and the second minute of the second half when NT Zakaria Abdi kicked the VA goalie Alessio Carbone. Both plays earned North Toronto Yellow cards, Eventually they racked up five (to none for Vaughan) with the last being to Thomas Murzaku for a fall in the VA box at 87 minutes trying to draw a Penalty kick. Best North Toronto chance was at 73 minutes when VA goalie Alession Carbone was out to the 25 yard line playing as a sweeper and he cleared up the middle to Teo Ingram at 33 yards. Ingram easily chipped the goalie from there but missed the open net. Only benefit for Tuesday night is the scoreboard is reset as 0-0 and the winner of that game goes to the L1 Cup Final on Saturday September 7th against the winner of Wednesday night's semi-final between Blue Devils FC hosting Simcoe County Rovers at Burlington's home ground....tough to rent stadiums on short notice. It was the first time that I'd seen North Toronto's head coach Marko Milanovic since it was announced he'd be the first head coach of the AFC Toronto team in the new Northern Super League (Canada's professional soccer league for women starting play in 2025). The new team has some members of its ownership group closely linked with the North Toronto organization. Rocket Robinback to 2024 League1 Ontario menu
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