June 3, 2023 League1 Ontario Men's Premier Division...North Toronto Nitros vs Woodbridge Strikers game report (by Rocket Robin)

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Result and details of the Saturday June 3, 2023 League1 Ontario Men's Premier game between North Toronto Nitros
and Woodbridge Strikers played at Downsview Park in North York at 8:00pm.

North Toronto Nitros (white socks and shirts, black shorts and numbers, green shoulders)

...........................12 Alexandre Lin
11 Jaylen Drummond...3 Gabriel Mikina...5 Christian Westlaken...2 Emmanuel Obiefuna
7 Luca Dimarco...13 Tadija Vukas...8 Juan Delgadillo (cpt)...19 Justin Santos
.................18 Asher Barnes...22 Bilal Reslan

Subs:...1 Quinn Stahmer (gk)...4 Brandon Barone...6 Tristian Marshall...9 Zakaria Abdi
...10 Ali El Zeir...15 Kkaosubh Bolla...16 Akeim Villous...17 Daniel Casa...20 Pablo Hempelmann-Perez
team officials:...team head coach Marko Milanovic...assistant coaches Filip Prostran and Rasih Pala
...manager Daiela Barillari...therapist Marwah Hashimi

Woodbridge Strikers (all blue uniforms, white numbers)

......................76 Daniel Clark
23 Uday Arora...4 Isaiah Noel...17 Gregory Moulopoulos...5 Luka Vasic
19 Dante Ruddock...21 Aidan Hugo...6 Jacob Spizzirri...25 Joseph Fini
.............9 Ronaldo Marshall (cpt)...24 Franco Digiovanni

Subs:...1 Alexander Pothemont (gk)...2 Luca Pinto...3 Gianluca Condello...7 Justin Cicchillo
...8 Navid Rahman...10 Ignazio Muccilli...15 Sean Costa...18 Paolo Migotto...20 Daniel Tareke
team officials:...team head coach Peter Pinizzotto...assistant coach Fabio Panetta...manager John Scarlato
...equipment manager Kelvin Friseiro...therapist David Lisi

Game oficials:...referee Roain Satarzadeh...referee's assistants Liam Tremblay and Daniel Jacob
...fourth official Ghassan Touati...(neon red socks and shirts, black shorts)

First Half:...game starts 8:00pm...NTN defends south end on a mild evening with the sun in the north west and a strong crossfield
breeze from the east.
1 min...NTN Delgadillo cornerkick from left is caught by goalie.
6 min...WS goalie catches 30 yard chip from right.
11 min...WS Moulopoulos cornerkick from left has NTN Mikina pop up header out right for throw-in.
12 min...WS Hugo cornerkick from right is low and nearest defender boots ball over side fence for throw-in.
14 min...WS Hugo intercepts pass and 55 yard shot up middle is wide left and dies in the box.
14 min...NTN Barnes cross from near right end line is over box and out right side.
15 min...NTN Dimarco cross from near right end line is over box and out right.
18 min...NTN Delgadillo wins cornerkick on deflection trying to get by defender.
18 min...NTN Delgadillo cornerkick from left hs WS Marshall on short side clearance. Delgadillo chips high cross from 25 yards
into box that's caught by leaping goalie in crowd of players in box.
19 min...WS Digiovanni 30 yard shot from left is caught by goalie.
21 min...WS YELLOW card...Digiovanni earns it for knocking over NTN Delgadillo injurying him.
22 min...NTN Santos rolls short freekick from 30 yards upfield which NTN Barnes tips wide right of net from 15 yards.
23 min...NTN goalie is out to edge box to beat WS Digiovanni to bouncer and catch.
27 min...NTN Delgadillo 50 yard freekick from left is caught by goalie charging to right beating crowd of players to ball.
31 min...NTN Delgadillo 35 yard freekick from slight right drops in crowd of players and is cleared from box.
31 min...NTN Drummond receives long pass on right and low 15 yarder is stopped by sliding goalie.
34 min...NTN Barnes cross from left end lline has goalie bat ball forward as he tangles with forward.
35 min...NTN Obiefuna long throw-in from left has defender pop up header and NTN player misses connecting on bicyle kick
in box.
35 min...WS Digiovanni rolls cross from right end line has defender step in front to clear from box.
36 min...WS goalie is out to right but misses catch. NTN Dimarco can't get away shot and defender clears.
38 min...NTN Santos cross from left on run is over charging NTN player and defender concedes cornerkick with header.
39 min...NTN Santos cornerkick from right has goalie punch ball through box. NTN Reslan cross from left has goalie catch.
40 min...NTN Obiefuna makes big header to clear cross into NTN box.
40 min...WS Hugo low 25 yarder up middle is batted away by flying goalie. WS Ruddock 20 yard rebound shot is low and defender
traps ball between legs.
41 min...WS Hugo bends 22 yard shot on run high and wide lelft of net.
43 min...NTN Delgadillo 45 yard freekick from left has defender clear.
43 min...NTN YELLOW card...Mikina earns it for grab on WS player at NTN 35 yard line.
45 min...WS Hugo 35 yard freekick is high wide right and over back fence.
46 min...half ends 8:46pm.

Halftime: The sun is not casting any shadows on the field any longer. The temperature is dropping quickly.

Second Half:...starts 9:01pm.
46 min...NTN Santos bends 35 yard freekick from right that goalie catches on left side of box.
48 min...WS Fini high cross from left has ball cleared from box.
50 min...NTN Barnes is centered pass and blasts 15 yarder wide right. The referee called out after WS players
and staff complained about 'hand ball' that it was 'hand to ball' when ball hit his hand and that's why he let play continue.
51 min...WS Digiovanni on run rolls 15 yarder into outside webbing of net.
52 min...WS player blasts shot over NTN net and back fence.
53 min...NTN Santos 35 yard freekick from slight right is bent to goalie to catch.
56 min...WS sub...Cicchillo replaces Ruddock.
...........WS sub...Muccilli replaces Digiovanni.
57 min...WS Moulopoulos cornerkick from left has defender head away to left.
58 min...NTN Barnes run to right endline and high cross has defender head away.
60 min...WS Spizzirri cross from left is clelared in box. WS Hugo is injured when he kicks at ball on edge of NTN box.
62 min...NTN YELLOW card...Vukas earns it for knock down on WS Arora at WS 25 yard line and needs trainer.
64 min...NTN sub...El Zeir replaces Vukas.
...........NTN sub...Villous replaces Reslan.
...........WS sub...Tareke replaces injured Arora.
68 min...NTN Dimarco drop pass back to NTN Drummond who has 12 yard shot from right that goalie punches out right side
of box on dive.
71 min...WS Hugo 50 yard freekick from left is cleared on edge of box.
72 min...NTN defender tips WS player's shot wide right of own net.
73 min...WS sub...Migotto replaces Marshall.
74 min...WS Hugo cornerkick from right is headed away by nearest player.
77 min...NTN sub...Casa replaces Drummond.
...........NTN sub...Abdi replaces Cicchillo.
78 min...WS Hugo 40 yard freekick from left is cleared in box by defender.
78 min...WS Moulopoulos 18 yard roller down middle has goalie smother.
81 min...NTN YELLOW card...Villous earns it for foul at NTN 35 yard line.
82 min...WS Hugo 35 yard freekick is down middle wide left of post.
83 min...WS Vasic makes big clearance of low cross into box from left.
83 min...NTN Obiefuna long throw-in from lefft has NTN Abdi flick 12 yard header that goalie catches.
85 min...Woodbine Ignazio Muccilli GOAL...WS Daniel Tareke crosses from 25 yards from right into box that Muccilli
flicks 10 yard header forward into right side of net beyond flying goalie Alexandre Lin.
86 min...WS YELLOW card...Fini earns it for bashing over NTN Delgadillo just outside top right of box.
87 min...North Toronto Ali El Zeir GOAL...NTN Justin Santos freekick from 22 yards on right has El Zeir in crowd
of players head 7 yarder past goalie Daniel Clark into top of net.
89 min...NTN sub...Hempelmann-Perez replaces Obiefuna.
89 min...WS Spizzirri can't draw Penalty kick on fell in box on soft dive.
93 min...WS Cicchillo soft fall but taps pass to WS Spizzirri who bends 15 yard high right of net.
94 min...game ends 9:50pm.

Final Score:...North Toronto Nitros......1......Woodbridge Strikers.......1.......

Attendance grew to about 100 people on this warm evening that cooled very fast after the sun set. The 'Poutine + More' truck was parked outside and did brisk business as the field had also hosted a L1O Women's Division game between these two teams with Woodbridge winning 2-1. That truck stopped coming to the Toronto FC II games after one game but still is at each York United FC game (both teams play at York Lions Stadium).

I had seen Woodbridge just one weekend earlier when they 'hosted' Vaughan Azzurri on Saturday afternoon just before the CPL game at York Lions Stadium. They used four different starters including switching goalies.

Referee Roain Satarzadeh gave out five Yellow cards that I counted (three to the Nitros) and didn't fall for any dives in the box. He couldn't please either coach so just called the game down the middle.

Woodbridge was always met with one last NTN defender to block a shot or stop a pass into the box and that proved frustrating.

Neither goal scorer was a starter today. Muccilli came in at 56 minutes and El Zeir entered at 64 minutes.

The Nitros coaching staff developed a great respect for goalie Daniel Clark with calls out to not cross it near to him when it was established that Clark would leap and catch any cross that was put into the box.

Nitros had a weapon in Emmanuel Obiefuna who played in defence but could catapult throw-ins directly into the Woodbridge box.

I'd limit the great chances in the first half to one each. 31 minutes had NTN Jaylen Drummond receive a long pass on the right and his low 15 yarder was stopped by the sliding goalie. 40 minutes had WS Aiden Hugo low 25 yard shot up the middle was batted away by the flying goalie. WS Dante Ruddock took a low 20 yard rebound that a defender trapped between his legs.

Second half had NTN Luca Dimarco drop a pass back for NTN Jaylen Drummond who took a 12 yard shot from the right that the goalie dove to push out the right side of the box. 83 minutes had NTN Obiefuna send in a long throw-in from the left that NTN Zakaria Abdi flicked a 12 yard header that the goalie caught. After the two goals, WS tried again to draw a Penalty kick with Jacob Spizzirri's soft dive at 89 minutes then 93 minutes had Justin Cicchillo had another soft fall in the box but he tapped a pass to Spizzirri who bent a 15 yard shot high right of the net.

Last year's reverse fixture was held on Wednesday August 17 at Vaughan Grove just before the last weekend of the regular season and finished 0-0 after having to be rescheduled from four weekends earlier because of lightning.

The result improves North Toronto's record to 4 wins, 2 losses, 2 ties for 14 points. This leaves them in tenth place in the twenty-one team league. Because of last year's good record, they have a 16.75 point lead over the thirteenth place team so should easily qualify for the Premier Division's Top 12 split for the start of 2024 but they are one point out of the current top six needed to qualify for the 2023 playoffs and winning that is required to earn the spot to be the League1 Ontario team in the Canadian Championships next year.

Woodbridge's record improves to 3 wins, 3 losses, 3 ties for 12 points. That puts them in eleventh in this year's standings. For the Top 12 split, they are 3.50 points above the thirteenth spot, somewhat uncomfortable.

There are still six teams to play on Sunday so places can still change and other teams can pass them. Interesting that while this game was on, the L1O match coordinator was receiving tweets of the American 'The World Championship of 7v7 Soccer' “The Tournament” $1 million winner take all. Raheem Rose, captain of Vaughan Azzurri scored to advance his team to to the final. Maybe this is the weekend that Vaughan lose their almost year and a half undefeated streak?

Rocket Robin
robin.glover.1958@gmail.com
twitter @RocketRobin01

North Toronto Nitros starters