Magic Continues for Wizards
Win over Olympians ends three year reign.
from the CPSL
--Sunday, October 7, 2001--The first-year Ottawa Wizards continue to amaze the soccer community in Ontario and Quebec with yet another key win, a 1-0 defeat of Toronto Olympians at the OZ Stadium here today to give the Capital city team the league title and their second major success in seven days.

The Wizards and Olympians went into their last regular league game of the season separated by just two points—it was a must win if second place Olympians were to take their fourth league title in as many years—while a win or tie would be enough for the Wizards.

The game was scoreless until the 87th minute when the league's leading scorer, Ottawa's Kevin Nelson, struck his 23rd of the season to give his team the league title. Nelson, who has represented his native Trinidad & Tobago at various age groups for seven years, has already won the CPSL's leading goalscorer title this season and has been nominated for both MVP and Rookie of the Year.

The win gives the Wizards two of the three trophies available to teams of the 12-team CPSL and ends the dominance of Toronto Olympians who built up a remarkable record of seven trophy wins from the nine available since the league launched in 1997.

Ottawa took the OZ Optics League Cup last Sunday with a 1-0 defeat of Toronto Supra and today's league title win confirms the resolve of Wizards' owner Omur Sezerman to establish professional soccer in Ottawa and eastern Ontario. Sezerman, who heads OZ Optics Ltd. in Carp, just west of the Capital, also owns the OZ Dome, a well-known local indoor soccer landmark.

Ottawa ends the regular season with a 16-3-3 W-L-T record for 51 points, that's five in front of Olympians with their 15-6-1 for 46 points. These two teams will resume their rivalry next weekend when the top four teams playoff for the Rogers Cup and the CPSL Championship at Club Roma in St. Catharines. The Wizards will play any one of four teams in the first semi-final at 1 p.m. on Saturday, while Olympians must also wait until mid-week to learn their opposition in the second game of the semi-final double-header at 3.

The Wizards and Toronto Olympians could well meet again in Sunday's Rogers Cup Final, a 2 o'clock start.

 

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