Friday, August 24, 2001
There were two games in
the CPSL tonight:
Toronto Croatia 1, Toronto Supra
1
Toronto Olympians 1, London City 0
SCARBOROUGH--Toronto
Olympians extended their lead to 31 points with a 1-0 win over London City
at Birchmount Stadium here tonight. Dave Mancini scored the winner in a
well-played contest that could have gone either way. Olympians improve to
10-5-1 W-L-T to be six points in front of second place St. Catharines Roma
Wolves with 25 points.
Toronto Croatia and Toronto Supra fought to a 1-1 tie in a chippy contest at Memorial Park in Mississauga, a game that resulted in four players being ejected. Ryan Gamble opened the scoring for Supra after 20 minutes and Vladimir Koval struck an equalizer for Croatia at the 46 minute mark. These two teams meet again on Sunday in the final preliminary game of the OZ Optics League Cup at Brockton Stadium in Toronto's west end.
Big Three Out
"Players just didn't follow the plan,"
says Ontario coach Danny Stewart
There has been much speculation about the dramatic elimination
from the medal competition of the three big provinces yesterday—just how
could the three most powerful teams, B.C., Ontario and Quebec fall prey to
Newfoundland, Alberta and Nova Scotia, respectively. For those just
catching up to the events of yesterday, Alberta edged Ontario 2-1 in
overtime, Nova Scotia nipped Quebec, 1-0, and the most surprising result
of all was the Newfoundland 2-1 overtime defeat of British Columbia. BC
was said to be the slight favourite for gold following their 1-0 win over
Ontario the previous day.
This morning, Alberta made it to the final by defeating Nova Scotia, 3-0 and Newfoundland will be the opposition following their 1-0 win over PEI. The Alberta vs. Newfoundland gold/silver final is at 11.30 am Saturday (live TSN) following the 9.00 am kickoff of the bronze medal game between Nova Scotia and PEI.
Some have said that too much soccer might have been Ontario's problem, referring to Monday's friendly against the CPSL's London City the night before important games against Manitoba and British Columbia. But Ontario coach Danny Stewart of Durham Flames dismissed that theory saying: "The players just did not follow the game plan losing 1-0 to BC and 2-1 to Alberta).
Newfoundland is a beneficiary of the unexpected results of Thursday and now in a position of earning at least the silver. Alberta will almost certainly win.
LONDON—Thursday, August 23—
Montreal Dynamites' players
prominent in Quebec bid for gold
DEL VASTO, FRONIMADIS SCORE IN 6-0 WIN
Midfielder
David Fronimadis of Montreal Dynamites played a big part in Quebec's 6-0
win over New Brunswick last night to earn a place in the quarter-finals of
the men's soccer competition, the highlight of which will be the
gold/silver final here in London on Saturday morning 11.30 am eastern (TSN
live). He was ever dangerous in front of the New Brunswick goal, to
eventually find the net in what proved to be a one-sided affair that may
put Quebec in medal contention. They certainly looked like a contender,
with another Dynamites player, Joseph Del Vasto, also scoring. The
Montreal team is well represented also with back-up goalkeeper Sergio
Guerra, a 17 year old originally from Guatemala, also in the roster.
Fronimadis, 19, a native of Laval who is getting back into the swing of
things following a knee injury, is no stranger to winning medals having
been a member of the Quebec under 15 and under 18 sides, picking up gold
and silver on the way. "I'm starting to feel good again," he said after
the win.
Quebec coach Italo Di Gioacchino was pleased with the 6-0 shutout, especially because it was achieved by a relatively young Quebec roster. "These players have the talent and that is making up for their lower maturity level," explained the Italian-born Di Gioacchino who guided the Quebec side to gold at the Canada Games in Brandon in 1997. Di Gioacchino also struck gold with Canada at the Francophone games in Madagascar in '97, also with the under 18s in Regina in 1998 and at Kelowna, B.C. in 1999.
ONTARIO
NIPPED
In another key game yesterday, B.C. handed Ontario a
1-0 setback before a full house at the Portuguese Club ground here, a
result that appeared to leave the Ontario team shell shocked. Ontario
looked like scoring on several occasions in the first half, but the late
second half goal by B.C.'s Andrew Corazza handed his team an easier route
to the final. Their next game is against lowly Newfoundland, while Ontario
must take on Alberta, both in the quarter-finals. North York Astros'
player Bill Androutsos looked strong for Ontario and had four shots on
goal, while Astros team-mate Angelo Pallastrone made one attempt. London
City's Ermal Murataj is in the Ontario roster. In goal for Ontario was
Pieter Meuleman, who was solid despite conceding the goal to a breakaway
Corazza who was allowed to go in all alone and making no mistake. Semir
Mesanovic of the CPSL's Toronto Croatia was the most dangerous forward on
the field and should score many gals in the future.
Ontario's coach Danny Stewart of the CPSL's Durham Flames still sees his team with a very good chance of reaching the final and matching their female counterparts who took the gold last week.
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