June 24, 2023 League1 Ontario...North Toronto Nitros vs Burlington SC game report (by Rocket Robin)

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Result and details of the Saturday June 24, 2023 League1 Ontario Men's Premier Division game between
North Toronto Nitros and Burlington SC played at Downsview Park in North York at 8:00pm.

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

...........................1 Quinn Stahmer
..........3 Gabriel Mikina...20 Alex Meczarski...4 Brandon Barone
14 Kai Martin...13 Tadija Vukas...8 Juan Delgadillo (cpt)...22 Bilal Reslan...19 Justin Santos
....................7 Luca Dimarco...18 Asher Barnes

Subs:...12 Alexandre Lin (gk)...2 Emmanuel Obiefuna...5 Tristian Marshall...6 Luca Porfiris
...9 Zakaria Abdi...10 Ali El Zeir...11 Jaylen Drummond...16 Akeim Villous
...17 Daniel Casa
team officials: team head coach Marko Milanovic...assistant coaches Antonio Grego and Filip Prostran
...manager Daniela Barillari...therapist Marwah Hashimi

Burlington SC (yellow socks and shirts, blue shorts and numbers)

...........................1 Simon Grande
2 Milos Grahovac...13 Juan Jaramillo...5 Joseph Willingham-Murphy...3 Clinton Okeke
8 Keani Fairbanks...4 Mandela Singh-Sharpe...7 Lucas Raposo (cpt)...11 Kevin Espiro
...................10 Jace Kotsopoulos...15 Yordan Stoyanov

Subs:...23 Oliver Steinke (gk)...9 Augustus Oku...12 Samir Ghouli...14 Jake McConnery
...16 Benicio Marcella...17 James Arango...18 Christian Ferraro...19 Jameel Durhan
...20 Brandon Oracko
team officials: teamm head coach Darren Tilley...assistant coaches Michael Neptune and Neil Wilson
managers Oubaida Ikharbine and Perry Zorbas...therapis Daniel Gasbarri

Game officials:...referee Kevin McEleney...referee's assistants Duncan Chan and Martin Harrison
...fourth official Michalee Taylor...(red socks and shirts, black shorts)

First Half:...game starts 8:00pm...NTN defends north end on this humid evening with the setting sun in the north west.
1 min...NTN players can't win a Penalty kick call on the left side of the Burl box.
2 min...Burl Stoyanov mid air shot from 20 yards down middle is well over net.
6 min...Burlington Jace Kotsopoulos GOAL...An NTN defender heads away a ball so Burl Yordan Stoyanov can't get
to 15 yarder in middle. The header is picked up by Kotsopoulos whose 22 yard shot is into top center of net with goalie,
defender, and Stoyanov all stuck on the 15 yard line.
9 min...NTN goalie picks up roller sent in from far right.
9 min...Burlington Jace Kotsopoulos GOAL...Kotsopoulos makes a long run on the right and his low 30 yarder
has goalie Quinn Stahmer dive to stop but the ball spins over him and he can't swat it away while he's on the ground.
12 min...Burl Grahovac defender slides on left side of box to poke ball away and gets up to clear.
13 min...NTN Santos 40 yard chip from left has NTN Barnes just a step behind getting to ball on run down middle.
15 min...NTN Martin long throw-in from right cornerflag is cleared on left.
16 min...NTN Santos cornerkick from right has NTN player on left 15 yards head. Burl Grahovac on right post leaps post to head away.
17 min...Burl Kotsoupoulos 40 yard freekick from right is headed away at 20 yards. Burl Raposo chips 30 yard back into box.
18 min...NTN Martin cross from 28 yards has NTN Meczarski twist header forward just high of left corner of net.
22 min...NTN Reslan high cornerkick from left bends ball behind right end line for goalkick.
24 min...North Toronto Nitros Luca Dimarco GOAL...Dimarco wins battle on left against two defenders to get behind
them and shoot 20 yarder on tight angle beyond diving goalie Simon Grande and ball catches inside of right post
and banks in.
26 min...NTN Reslan cross from 30 yards on left has NTN Martin step around defender to head 7 yarder wide left of post.
29 min...A Burl defender steps in front of NTN Martin to head ball away.
31 min...NTN Martin cross from right edge of box has goalie fly forward to punch ball away with double fists.
35 min...NTN Santos 30 yard freekick from right has NTN Mikina take 10 yard shot from right that hits the right post.
An NTN player then crosses from right that's through box and out left side.
36 min...Burl Stoyanov long run down left and touch angle shot 15 yards along line has goalie save on near post and a defender clears.
41 min...NTN Vukas is injured at Burl 30 yard line when jumping for header. Burl Okeke is injured near him and both need trainers.
44 min...NTN Santos throw-in on left corner bounces in box and is cleared.
45 min...NTN Reslan high cross from left end line drifts behind end line to drop on right.
45 min...NTN Martin long throw-in from 20 yard line on right has NTN Delgadillo has knock ball down. NTN Barnes rolls 10 yard
shot wide left.
46 min...Burl Stoyanov is injured in center circle.
47 min...half ends 8:47pm.

Halftime: The Burl subs warm up right from the start of the break. The tents were taken down as the sun was low on the horizon.

Second Half:...starts 9:03pm.
Halftime sub:...NTN Lin replaces Stahmer in goal.
47 min...Burl Jaramillo 55 yard freekick bounces for goalie to catch wide right of net.
49 min...Burl Okeke long throw-in from left bounces behind end line.
52 min...NTN Delgadillo 45 yard freekick cleared on edge of box for NTN throw-in on right.
54 min...NTN Mikina high cross from 40 yards on left is caught by goalie.
57 min...NTN sub...Abdi replaces Reslan.
...........NTN sub...El Zeir replaces Vukas.
...........Burl sub...Arango replaces Espiro.
...........Burl sub...Ferraro replaces Raposo. Kotsopoulos becomes new captain.
58 min...NTN YELLOW card...Martin earns it grab on Burl player after has 1 on 2 rush stopped.
59 min...NTN El Zeir run down left and cross from 25 yards is cleared.
60 min...NTN Delgadillo cornerkick from left has defender head behind line on right.
61 min...NTN Santos cornerkick from right has NTN Abdi twist 8 yard header in crowd is wide left.
62 min...Burl YELLOW card...Grande earns it for time wasting on goalkick.
64 min...Burl sub...Oku replaces Kotsopoulos.
65 min...Burl Jaramillo bends 35 yard line freekick from right that Burl Oku shoots 18 yarder into crowd of players that goalie
stops on dive. Burl player kicks rebound into net that is called back offside.
66 min...NTN Barnes cuts in from left and wins cornerkick on deflection on 25 yard shot.
67 min...NTN Delgadillo cornerkick from left is well over box finds NTN players all alone for cross that's called offside.
69 min...Burl Fairbanks shoots rebound after Burl Oku has his shot is blocked.
70 min...Burl YELLOW card...Singh-Sharpe earns it for sliding takle on NTN Delgadillo at NTN 40 yard line.
72 min...Burlington Augustus Oku GOAL...Oku dribbles to middle of field from left and blasts low 25 yarder into right side
of net past diving goalie Alexandre Lin (second half goalie).
73 min...NTN sub...Villous replaces Delgadillo.
............NTN sub...Porfiris replaces Santos.
............NTN sub...Drummond replaces Meczarski.
76 min...NTN Martin long throw-in from right has NTN player heads on right wide right of net.
77 min...NTN Martin long throw-in from right has defenders clear in box.
79 min...NTN Dimarco wins freekick on defender's sliding tackle at top right side edge of box.
..........Burl YELLOW card...Okeke earns it for part in a pushing match.
..........NTN YELLOW card...Mikina earns it for part in a pushing match.
81 min...NTN Mikina chips 22 yard freekick has ball cleared on left side of box.
83 min...Burl sub...Marcella replaces Stoyanov.
84 min...Burl Willingham-Murphy is injured in Burl box and needs trainer.
86 min...NTN Porfiris 40 yard freekick from right is caught by goalie unpressured on left.
87 min...Burl goalie runs to dive on through ball at top right of box.
88 min...Burl YELLOW card...Ferraro earns it for tackle at Burl 30 yard line on right.
89 min...NTN Zakaria Abdi GOAL...NTN Luca Porfiris freekick from 35 yards on right has Abdi in crowd of players
lift leg to flick 5 yarder forward into right side of net.
91 min...NTN Porfiris chips 55 yarder from left that goalie catches on bounce wide of left of net.
92 min...NTN Drummond cross from 15 yard line on extreme left has defender head wide right.
92 min...NTN player's 30 yard freekick is cleared from box.
..........Burl YELLOW card...Grahovac earns it on last play (I thought it was given to Arango).
93 min...NTN Drummond low cornerkick from left is through box unplayed and out right side.
95 min...NTN Porfiris 65 yard freekick from right has defender head ball away for cornerkick.
96 min...NTN El Zeir cornerkick from left is cleared in box.
96 min...game ends 9:54pm.

Final Score:.......North Toronto Nitros......2........Burlington SC........3........

*The league website also shows that NTN Zakaria Abdi received a YELLOW card but I didn't notice).

Attendance grew to about 60 on this warm night with it still daylight by halftime.

This game was close until Burlington got their third goal with NTN finding success running up the right wing and sending crosses into the box. Kai Martin could send freekicks into the box and could catapult long throw-ins into the box as well.

Burlington has certainly stepped it up this season. Coming into tonight's game they already had 19 points (in 11 games) which matched their total from all of last season (21 games) and we're just passing the halfway point of the season. This season their head coach is Darren Tilley who I remember playing for the first half of the season for the inaugural year of the A-League Toronto Lynx in 1997 which featured a teenage Dwayne DeRosario and Paul Stalteri and was coached by Peter Pinizzotto who is coaching L1O Woodbridge Strikers and Tilley coached against him just last week.

Referee Kevin McEleney gave out seven* Yellow cards (5 to Burlington) once he got started at 58 minutes. There was a lot he could have called before that but he just gave warnings. The software that the league uses can't show a goalie getting a Yellow card but Burlington's Simon Grande earned one at 62 minutes for time wasting...being slow to take a goal kick. Maybe one deliberate foul throw with the ball thrown down the sideline but never coming onto the field but otherwise nothing until added time where running to the corner is encouraged as a strategy. *the league website also shows NTN Abdi receiving one (their software can't show a goaltender receiving one) but I didn't notice.

I saw McEleney referee last night in Whitby when Guelph beat Darby. Well that corrects my thought that they can't referee two L1O games within 24 hours. Martin Harrison was a referee's assistant in both those games.

The PA DJ had to compete his music with party music blasting in from some building which I figured was some room in The Hangar complex. Only sounded bad when the party was overpowering our field's 'O Canada'. The Nitros goal song is 'Fireball' by Pitbull which would have played well at the party.

Burlington results have improved from last season. There were a few players I recognized from last season but the new players I don't recognize aren't coming from any other L1O team except Jace Kotsopoulos who was with Guelph United the last two years including their championship year in 2021. He went to school at University of Guelph but Burlington is actually his home town. This year's captain is Lucas Raposo who's older brother is Ryan Raposo who was drafted and plays for MLS Vancouver Whitecaps. I used to watch Ryan play for Vaughan Azzurri but that is quite a long drive for games and practices. How convenient that the city of Burlington now has a L1O team (they joined the league in 2022).

I'm not including Burlington as one of those 'Mike's Mercenaries' teams collecting the best of L1O players from other teams to ensure they finish Top 12 to survive the division split in the top tier 'Premier Division'. Certainly being in the Premier next year will draw players like a magnet to the twelve teams with its expected spotlight.

The loss stalls North Toronto's pursuit of first place as team's were trading places this weekend by the hour. With all the games for tonight completed but one missing on the website, Nitros record falls to 7 wins, 3 losses, 2 ties for 23 points. That leaves them all alone in fifth place.

Burlington improves to 7 wins, 4 losses, 1 tie for 22 points and is good for seventh (well sixth but they've played one more game than Simcoe County so they're ranked behind them). Last year they were seventeenth at 4-10-7 (most ties in the league). More important is their current combined weighted point total for the two seasons is 36.25 which for tonight puts them in eleventh although Woodbridge could flip over them with a win tomorrow and Hamilton have 32.25 but a game tomorrow to keep the pace (currently they're the thirteenth team as of tonight).

My post game interview with Darren Tilley: (4 minutes, 33 seconds)
He promised me only 5 minutes so I am talking pretty fast!

Your thoughts on tonight's game?
Why is the team doing so much better this year?
What experience can Jace Kotsopoulos bring to this team?
How is Lucas Raposo doing now that he's captain?
Your recall of the 1997 Toronto Lynx?

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

North Toronto Nitros starters