Oshawa Flames hosted St. Catharines Roma Wolves on Sunday evening at Civic Stadium and delighted the home crowd by quickly moving into a 3 - 0 lead within the first 20 minutes. First, David Kohek collected a through ball in the 10th. minute and calmly slot it past the St. Catharines keeper while the team appealed for off-side. In the 14th. minute, with St. Catharines again appealing for off-side, Flames Colin Bricknell lobbed the ball over the keeper and into the St. Catharines net for a goal and a 2 - 0 lead. Then in the 19th. minute, after a goal mouth scramble, the ball came out to Kashka Walker on the edge of the goal area and he had no trouble scoring to put his team ahead by a 3 - 0 score.
Although both teams had chances in the second half, it was not until the 70th. minute that we saw another goal. A shot by St. Catharines Gary McGuchan was blocked by the Flames keeper but rebounded to Pat Kelman who had no trouble scoring St. Catharines first goal. In the 75th. minute, St. Catharines had a great chance to pull within a goal when they were awarded a penalty for a hand ball in the area. Gary McGuchan's spot kick was blocked by the Oshawa keeper and a St. Catharines player going for the rebound was tripped and St. Catharines awarded a second penalty. This time Keith Moore took the kick but his shot was just wide of the post.
St. Catharines did get within a goal in the 81st. minute when Tony Carbonara got to a cross from the right wing and the headed the ball past the Flames keeper. However, Oshawa made sure of their win with a second goal from Kashka Walker in the 85th. minute.
In Sunday's other game, Toronto Croatia were visiting North York Astros at Esther Shiner Stadium. Croatia's striker Leo Marasovic was the star of the game with a natural hat-trick in the first half with goals in the 20th., 37th. and 40th. minutes to stake Croatia to a 3 - 0 half time lead. In the second half, it was the turn of 20-year old Kory Jazbec with two goals in the 63rd. and 77th. minutes to help Croatia to a 5 - 0 win.
The three points move Croatia into the fourth playoff position but Oshawa Flames are just one point behind with a game in hand.
This week sees the start of the League Cup competition. For those teams that didn't have a good start in the regular league competition, they can now set their sights on the League Cup as everyone starts again from scratch. The teams are drawn into two groups and play a round-robin competition within their group. The top two teams in each group advance to the semi-final stage.
The two groups are:
Group A
Group B
Toronto Olympians
St. Catharines Roma Wolves
Oshawa Flames
London City
North York Astros
Glen Shields Sun Devils
York Region Shooters
Toronto Croatia
Opening League Cup games on Wednesday are:
St. Catharines Roma Wolves v. Glen Shields Sun Devils
Toronto Croatia v. London City
York Region Shooters v. North York Astros