May 16, 2025...League1 Ontario North Toronto vs Simcoe County Rovers FC game report (by Rocket Robin)

I will be adding logos, pictures, lineups and more of a play-by-play in the days to come.

Result and details of the Friday May 16, 2025 League1 Ontario Men's Premier League game between North Toronto Nitros and Simcoe County Rovers FC played at Downsview Park in Downsview at 7:30pm.

11 min...SCR Lucas Correa GOAL...Correa makes long run up left and cutting towards goal shoots 12 yard roller from sharp left into right corner of net beyond goalie Ryan Tiltack.

16 min...SCR Keegan Wilson GOAL...SCR Sebastian Cochrane sends in high cornerkick from the right over crowd of players to the left and Wilson heads 6 yarder over goalie into top right of net.

24 min...SCR Shawn Claud Lawson GOAL...SCR Sebastian Cochrane cornerkick from right has Lawson head 8 yarder from left into top right corner of net.

28 min...NT Sufyan Fraj takes ball off SCR Trivine Esprit dribbling out of SCR box on left. Fraj turns to run to goal and Esprit turns to follow and trips him up in the box. Referee Adam Devenyi awards NT a Penalty kick.

29 min...NT Tadija Vukas GOAL...Vukas rolls his Penalty kick to the left side as goalie Peter Sheberstov dives left.

88 min...SCR Reshaun Walkes GOAL...Walkes bumps NT Liam Rowe off the ball and turns and rushes forward on the left and shoots 15 yard bender into right side of net.

Final Score:.....North Toronto Nitros.......1..........Simcoe County Rovers FC........4.......

Attendance started off slow but peaked at about 80 by halftime on this mild and humid evening. Downsview Park has three community soccer fields in front of the Toronto FC KIA Training Centre. The Hangar is still used as an indoor sports pavillion with multiple fields and floors. Something new in the distance is a huge aluminum seated stadium. It's known as the Rogers Stadium and from info I picked up it's only on a five year lease, and it has a capacity of 50000. So this is where the summer Oasis and Coldplay concerts will be held. It looks like scaffolding and I imagine fans jumping up and down in excitement for the bands and bolts popping off. I wonder how many tourists will show up at the Rogers Centre downtown by mistake?

The game started off with the play never seeming to leave the North Toronto end for most of the first 27 minutes then it evened out and it became North Toronto carrying much of the play in the second half until Reshaun Walkes could put the game away late.

I had read the linescore of the North Toronto game on Tuesday night—strange scheduling meaning tonight was their third game in six days—and Woodbridge Strikers broke the game open with four goals in eleven minutes (all scored by Ronaldo Marshall) in the first half in an eventual 5-1 loss. This game I thought would be worse for North Toronto the way it started.

Referee Adam Devenyi gave out five Yellow cards tonight (four to Rovers) as well as awarding the Penalty kick to North Toronto. The game had one dust up at 70 minutes in front of the player benches with a lot of pushing and acting but the officials consulted with each other to sort it out and settled it with just one Yellow to each team.

The Rovers players were most proud of 16 year old Lucas Correa who scored their first goal at just 11 minutes in his first start for the club. Just weeks earlier he was playing for their reserve team in League2 Ontario. Goalie Peter Sherverstov who is just 18 appears to have taken over as their number one keeper. I remember him from last year's Ll Cup final going to Penalty kicks. It appears Rimi Olatunji who had experience with Forge FC in previous years has moved on. Kevon Grant is their back up last night whose name sounded familiar because he was a goalie for North Toronto last year!

The compiling of an 'all-star' team was the image I had of the Rovers—collecting players from the other L1O teams is outdated. Yes they have picked up former CPL York United FC players Trivine Esprit (2024) and Aidan Hugo (2023) and Woodbridge Strikers players Jacob Spizzirri and Sebastian Cochrane and the topper—L1O 2024 leading scorer Reshaun Walkes from Vaughan Azzurri. I asked a player in the parking lot about Ijah Halley and he answered he's still with the Rovers but hasn't played this year...he is another former York United FC player.

How much of a boost of confidence is it to give young Lucas Correa the start over veteran Reshaun Walkes?

Rovers have lost 'The Cubans' Alejandro Portal and Orlendis Carlos Benitez Hernandez back to Vaughan.

Rovers have also had forward Javantae Layne move on as the first overall pick in the 2025 CPL-U Sports Draft by Valour FC. Cloey Uddenberg has left their Women's team to sign with AFC Toronto in the new Northern Super League. Valour was beating York United at the same time as this game out in Winnipeg...it looks like York United is failing at the moment going with the 'sign the all stars' method of team building.

The North Toronto roster is actually made up 75% by Toronto Metropolitan University students with coach Filip Prostran also coaching them on the school team too. They appear not to have alumni players still there like Alliance United do with their U of Toronto relationship.

North Toronto does have forward Cyrus Rollocks who was L1O Young Player of the Year way back on Toronto FC III and credited with scoring the first CPL goal ever for York 9 FC for all of three minutes until television replays revealed it was Ryan Telfer. He was plagued by injuries over the years. Goalie Dante Ferraro was with Woodbridge last season but now is on NTN and a student at TMU.

I hadn't been to a League1 Ontario game since their first week which was actually during their L1 Cup competition the April 11 to 13 weekend and of the two games I saw only one of the four teams was in the Premier Division. Now the league is into their fifth week of regular season play. I was pinned in covering NSL, CPL, and TFC II games at York Lions Stadium and it felt like they'd never leave town! I'm keeping my limit as three games a week maximum.

Rocket Robin
robin.glover.1958@gmail.com

Simcoe County Rovers FC head coach Doneil Henry during pre game warm ups.

Post game interview with Doneil Henry (6 min, 50 sec)
What are your thoughts on tonight's game?
What are your thoughts on the new players you've brought to the team?
How proud is your organization of pushing players on to other leagues like the CPL and NSL?
Is there still talk about turning this into a CPL team?
You are an investor in this club? Julian De Guzman too?
Do you still train in Aurora?

North Toronto Nitros head coach Filip Prostran during pre game warm ups.

Post game interview with Filip Prostran (6 min, 25 sec)
Your thoughts on tonight's game?
What's it like now being head coach as Marko Milanovic has moved on to AFC Toronto?
You are also still coaching at TMU university?
How many players are going to TMU as well as playing here?
What about players like Cyrus Rollocks now with your team?
How are you getting new players like goalie Dante Ferraro?

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