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Result of the Saturday September 27th, 2003 CPSL game between Metro Lions and St Catharines Romas Wolves played at Birchmount Stadium in Scarborough at 4:00pm.

Metro Lions (white socks and numbers, navy shorts and shirts)

................................25 Gregory Drakes
..............13 Anton Skerritt...16 O'Neil Brown...14 Kevin Ricketts
6 Marco Janjicek...15 Nikola Vignjevic...7 Caswain Mason...10 Hayden Fitzwilliams...9 Darryl Gomez
..............................11 Pop Gabriel Salustius...19 Craig Patten

Subs:...22/17 Christopher Clarke (gk/mid)...20 Maximelin Dorneval (mid)...12 Mishel Levkov (mid)
team officials:...coach Goran Miscevic...equipment manager Ken Mollineau...trainer Blagoef Bratic...administration manager Hugo Lugomirski

St Catharines Roma Wolves (white socks and shirts, black shorts and numbers)

..................................1 Claudio Perri
15 Adam Caruso...2 Ryan Foss...9 Joe Carbonara...13 Lucio Ianiero
...............11 Frank Delpriore...16 Lucas Klein...22 Gary McGuchan (cpt)
...............20 Mark Mullholland...18 Carlo Arghittu...8 Frank Zupano

Subs:...19 Dino Perri (mid)...6 John Kamendy (def)...7 Pat Kelman (fwd)...21 Pablo Nievas (mid)
team officials:...head coach Lucio Ianiero...assistant coach Paul O'Rourke...general manager Armand Difruscio...trainer Nick Riganelli...assistant trainer Angelo Pizzacalla

Game officials:...referee Angelo Gerzakis...referee's assistants Calin Pintea and John Biondich...fourth official Ganesh Shamuggan

1st Half:...game starts 4:11pm...Lions defend North end on this cool day with a wet field.
45 sec...Wolves Arghittu cross from right is caught by goalie.
4 min...Lions Fitzwilliams runs on right and 15 yard shot knocked out by sliding goalie for cornerkick.
7 min...Wolves YELLOW card...Klein for sliding tackle on Fitzwilliams on run at 30 yards on left wing.
8 min...Lions Gomez 30 yard freekick from left, ball hits defender's body in box and deflects to goalie.
10 min...Lions sub...Dorneval replaces injured Patten.
11 min...Wolves Mullholland runs down right, Lions Ricketts diving header knocks cross over end line.
11 min...Wolves McGuchan cornerkick from right is knocked down in box and ball cleared.
12 min...Lions Janjicek corss from right is bounced to goalie.
15 min...Lions Pop Gabriel Salustius GOAL...Lions Caswain Mason feeds through ball up left line and Salustius from 40 yards runs in cutting towards net and from 12 yards rolls shot into short left side of net beyond sliding goalie Claudio Perri.
19 min...Wolves Carlos Arghittu GOAL...Lions Darryl Gomez sends crossfield pass from right but Wolves Frank Zupano intercepts by heading ball and sprinting Arghittu runs in from 30 yards and slides 12 yard shot from right into left side of net beyond sprawling goalie Gregory Drakes.
23 min...Wolves Carbonara 30 yard freekick is tapped to center and another Wolves player has 30 yard blast palmed over bar by leaping goalie.
23 min...Wolves McGuchan cornerkick from right is headed by defender for partial clearance and Wolves player heads back.
24 min...Lions player cornerkick from right is over everyone in box.
25 min...Lions Ricketts 25 yard roller from left is smothered by goalie.
A bright sun now comes out.
27 min...Lions Salustius tips Wolves goalie's clearance kick and ball deflects back from 20 yards that retreating goalie dives to swat out.
29 min...Lions Fitzwilliams cornerkick from right is flick headed just wide left of top corner by leaping Lions Salustius.
32 min...Wolves Carbonara 30 yard freekick from right is too far ahead of charging Wolves player.
33 min...Lions Pop Gabriel Salustius GOAL...Lions Hayden Fitzwilliams stops Wolves goalie's clearance and from 30 yards feeds through ball to Salustius who chips goalie and ball banks off left post into net.
35 min...Lions Fitzwilliams cornerkick from right is palmed across box by leaping goalie.
36 min...Lions Fitzwilliams fed through ball on left behind goalie and cross from left through box, Lions Janjicek boots 20 yarder well over net.
37 min...Lions Vignjevic chips 25 yarder that deflects high off defender and goalie grabs ball with one hand.
38 min...Wolves goalie pushes Lions Salustius for kicking shot after offside whistle.
39 min...Wolves YELLOW card...Goalie Claudio Perri for still complaining after no card for Lions Salustius after play resumed.
41 min...Wolves goalie charges out to beat Lions Salustius to through ball 35 yards out.
42 min...Wolves YELLOW card...Foss for tackle on Lions Janjicek at Wolves 30 yard line.
46 min...Lions YELLOW card...Mason for grab on Wolves Caruso near center line.
46 min...half ends 4:57pm.

2nd Half:...starts 5:12pm.
46 min...Lions Mason cross from 40 yards on right into box just missing Lions Gomez on left side of box.
50 min...Lions Fitzwilliams fed cross on left and 20 yard shot is wide left.
51 min...Lions Mason 30 yard shot low through crowd and Lions Salustius gets foot to ball at 20 yards and deflects it high right.
52 min...Wolves Ianiero tackle in center circle injured Lions Fitzwilliams who needs to be helped from field.
56 min...Lions Dorneval cross over box from left misses Lions Janjicek.
58 min...Lions Gomez good dribbling but pass forward from 30 yards rolls to goalie.
60 min...Lions Vignjevic tips pass to Lions Fitzwilliams who takes 20 yard blast from left that's palmed over net by goalie.
62 min...Wolves goalie races 30 yards out to boot away through ball from Lions Salustius.
64 min...Lions Ricketts recovers ball after he's checked and sends 25 yard shot well over net.
64 min...Wolves sub...Dino Perri replaces Klein.
66 min...Lions YELLOW card...Salustius for tapping away ball after offside call.
67 min...Wolves Gary McGuchan GOAL...Wolves Carlos Arghittu runs on left and crosses from 12 yards, McGuchan walks ball into open net from 1 yard.
67 min...Lions sub...Levkov replaces Janjicek.
68 min...Wolves Mullholland on 2 on 1 chips ball over goalie with Wolves player on left ready for tap-in if he'd passed.
68 min...Lions Mason 20 yard shot over net from left.
69 min...Lions sub...Clarke replaces Dorneval.
70 min...Lions Salustius 25 yard freekick from right has flying leaping goalie palm ball onto cross bar and he has time to get back up and clear ball.
71 min...Wolves Delpriore rolls 25 yarder through players for easy save by goalie.
73 min...Wolves goalie caught on right well out of net and cross to Lions Salustius 20 yards in center who can't get away shot because of defenders.
74 min...Lions player gets dangerous cornerkick into box.
75 min...Lions cornerkick from right has defender head ball off own bar and another Wolves player clear.
76 min...Lions goalie picks up ball when Wolves Dino Perri tangles with Lions defender.
77 min...Wolves McGuchan 20 yard shot from right hits bar near left and Wolves Caruso 15 yard shot is over crowd of players.
79 min... Lions RED card...Nikola Vignjevic draws a direct Red card from referee Angelo Gertzakis for elbowing Carlos Arghittu in the face near center line with Arghittu behind his back. Retaliation would be the ruling. Arghittu was injured but recovered before play resumed. "You got your money", "Go back to the Lynx" were taunts from Wolves player. "Pussy" was Vignjevic's repeated reply. Vignjevic thought he'd watch the rest of the games from the stands but the officials would have none of that.
79 min...Wolves goalie makes diving save in player traffic on left side of box.
80 min...Lions Clarke blocks shot that deflects off his arm but no call made.
81 min...Wolves Dino Perri heads 10 yarder from left into Lions goalie's hands.
83 min...Lions Gomez (?) has good rush but rolls 20 yard shot to goalie.
85 min...Lions Mason clutched in box while on long rush but no call made.
I notice that Wolves Kamendy has replaced Foss some time ago.
86 min...Lions player feeds ball to left and Lions Mason has 20 yard shot shot pushed over by goalie sliding out.
87 min...Wolves goalie dives on ball on Lions cornerkick from left that's kicked around in box and saved on goalline!
88 min...Lions Mason 20 yard shot on left just wide of net.
89 min...Wolves Mullholland shot from right is caught by goalie.
89 min...Lions Caswain Mason GOAL...Lions Pop Gabriel Salustius of left 20 yards has pass to Mason who blasts 10 yarder through defenders into net.
91 min...Lions Salustius passes from middle to Lions Levkov on right and runs then crosses from right that's broken up.
93 min...Wolves McGuchan 15 yard shot on left is caught by goalie.
94 min...Lions goalie catches ball in front of foot Wolves Arghittu.
94 min...game ends 6:01pm.

Final Score:....................Metro Lions.........3............St Catharines Roma Wolves............2..............

Attendance was about 50 on this cool day with the field wet from a late morning storm. The grassy field was slippery but playing a few games on it would really tear it up.

Wolves could have wrapped up third place in the Eastern Conference with a win here today. Lions were just finishing out their schedule but looked good. They had to improvise their forward line when Craig Patten limped off the field at the 10 minute mark. "I thought I could go...I'll save it for the indoor (season)" he told a fan. Maximelin Dorneval took his place and played well. The Wolves were yelling at their teammates throughout the game as their defense was consistantly shredded with through balls and offside flags stopped only a percentage of them. Backup goalie Dino Perri came into the game at 64 minutes for the Wolves and didn't look out of place as a midfielder. Wolves also put through balls into the Lions defense.

I'll call this the most exciting game of the year for me to watch as a fan! While the London City vs Metro Lions Canada Open Cup final may have been the most 'important' game of the year so far it ended in a shootout after not enough chances and finishing, this one was a real nail biter with rush after rush upfield.

Wolves hold a one point advantage on Toronto Croatia for the final playoff spot but have finished their schedule. Toronto Croatia has one more game to play and it's a home game on Monday against...Metro Lions! Both Lions and Toronto Croatia are hot teams in the last six weeks of the season so that should be another good game. Officials from the second place Brampton Hitmen were at this game scouting their potential playoff match.

So after the game it was a drive home where I watched the Canada vs Japan game in the Women's World Cup in semi-fast forward on the VCR so I could get out to the pub and play NTN trivia. Now after walking to the pub I could watch the second half on tape-delay with my big Canadian flag along with the uninterested bar patrons. Playback music trivia found me finishing among the best in all of North America out of 9500 players! I can say I walked along Yonge Street in Toronto wearing my flag over my coat on my own one-man parade on my walk home. OK it wasn't the 'downtown' part of the street that's famous but my northern suburb.

Rocket Robin
robing@eol.ca

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