Sun October 2, 2016 League 1 Ontario--FC London vs Sigma FC (from League 1 Ontario website)

FC London Claims Men's West Division With 5-0 Win Over Sigma
10/03/2016, 5:00pm EDT
By League1 Ontario staff

FC London took men's west division title honours on Sunday night after dispatching 
visitors Sigma FC 5-0 at London's Marconi Club.

The score did not reflect an intense and well-matched contest between these two 
sides at the top of the west division, with FC London only adding three goals 
late in the game when Sigma pushed for the equalizing goals that would have been 
necessary for the Mississauga-based academy to claim the title honours.

"We know the quality of Sigma, and the coaches are amazing and what they produce 
in players is amazing," said FC London head coach, Mario Despotovic. 

"A lot of players have left their team at this time in the season, so it was 
a game we dominated but I would still say congratulations to them - I think their 
team plays amazing football." 

"I don't think five nil was indicative of the game itself," agreed Sigma head coach, 
Bobby Smyrniotis. "Our guys did a great job on the field in both halves, and at the 
end you have to open things up."

"We needed a tie or a win in this game and when you are down by two goals there 
is no need to sit there. It's either four or we are going to tie the game, and 
that's how it went. I thought London did a good job, they were very patient about 
the game, and they took their chances when they came, and that's football 
- sometimes the ball rolls very well for one team, and not the other."

FC London needed a win by more than one goal to clinch the west division title 
and team captain Mike Marcoccia (40', 70') led the way for London with a well 
taken brace to get the home side started. 

Mohammed Reza Nafar (76'), Alex Julia Franco (88') and Bill Vyfschaft (90') 
added singles late in the game, while the clean sheet was maintained 
by Anthony Sokalaski - his ninth clean sheet on the season.

"Obviously it feels really good," said Marcoccia. "A lot of work went into 
our preparation for tonight, and when it pays off it feels even better. 
We prepare for every game of course, but our coach put in some extra effort 
to make sure we were well prepared for tonight. He had an amazing plan and 
it was just up to us to execute it."  

"I thought I had a decent performance. We worked hard defensively tonight, 
which is not something that is the greatest strength in my game, but I had 
to do that job tonight and that was good. To score was just an added bonus." 

"They are obviously a really good team. We knew we could not relax because 
they are a team that could do anything at any moment. We knew it had 
to be ninety minutes of the same type of intensity if we wanted to get 
a result like that. There was really no resting."

The men's divisional title can be added to FC London's 2016 Women's 
Championship title earned only a couple weeks before, a team that Marcoccia 
coaches and that served to inspire the men on the day. In a fitting twist, 
the women were honoured with the presentation of Championship medals 
at half-time. 

"I think the women winning really inspired us, and for me in particular 
they really inspired me this year," said Marcoccia. "They are an amazing 
group and they changed my feeling about this game entirely. I was inspired 
tonight and we would like to repeat what the women did, that would 
be amazing for the club itself."

FC London must now prepare for the 2016 League1 Ontario Men's Championship 
Final on October 15 (2 p.m.) at the Ontario Soccer Centre versus the 
champions of the east division - Vaughan Azzurri. 

 "We have one more league game against Sanjaxx and then the final against 
 Vaughan," confirmed Despotovic. "They are a super strong team, and we are 
 not celebrating at this time."

"We have come so far and we want to keep everything open. If we can make 
one big step forward like this in the first year it would be amazing. 
Getting both women's and men's titles for our club would be exceptional."

"It's back to work now," Marcoccia added. "We know how good Vaughan 
is and if we don't work tirelessly every day it will be tough. We know 
we have to do that." 

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