October 8, 2017 League 1 Ontario--Match Recap: Snajaxx Lions vs Toronto FC III (by Rocket Robin (from League 1 Ontario)

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Result and details of the Sunday October 8, 2017 League 1 Ontario between
Sanjaxx Lions and Toronto FC III played at Monarch Park in Toronto at 2:00pm.

Sanjaxx Lions (all navy, yellow numbers)

.....................1 Nuno Goncalves
4 Zain Azharuddin...16 Kemar Rowe (cpt)...5 Quinn Kirkendall...15 David James
11 Julio Carvalho...13 Tajani Fairclough...9 Dylan Udhesister...19 Jamal Sanca
.............22 Fabio Vilaca...8 Tomas Ondras

Subs:...21 Tayjon Campbell (gk)...12 Vince Rossi...14 Petro Kollias...17 James Carvalho
...7 Israel Perrin
team officials:...head coach Laza Lowe...team offcials: Nickie Bonafede, Devon Porter, and Remberto Luna

Toronto FC III (white socks and shirts, blue shorts, red numbers)

.....................1 Gianluca Catalano
23 Riley Ferrazzo...14 Noble Okello (cpt)...4 Brandon Onkony...3 Terique Mohammed
...........5 Rocco Romeo...7 Steffan Yeates...8 Christopher Castillo
..........11 Armando Caracciolo...17 Zakaria Abdi...6 Jordan Faria

*#4 was listed on the game sheet as both Brandon Onkony and Terique Mohammed (and no player as #3).
It's possible I've got guessed them wrong.

Subs:...9 Cyrus Rollocks...18 Olakunie Dada-Luke...13 Luca Petrasso...15 Steven Furlano
...16 Josh Moreira...19 Dante Campbell
team officials:...team head coach Danny Dichio...assistant coach Phil Boerger...therapist Fabian Casal

Game officials:...referee Adam Devenyi...referee's assistants Keith Yuen and Cyrus Eshafi
...fourth official Derrick Farwell...(yellow shirts, black shorts and socks)

First Half:...game starts 2:02pm. Sanjaxx defends west end on this mild and sunny afternoon.
4 min...SJ Julio Carvalho run on right and 28 yard shot is rolled for goalie to smother.
6 min...TFC Faria receives low centering cross from right and shoots 18 yarder down middle over bar.
7 to 13 min...There's now no action inside the 30 yard lines so nothing but midfield play.
14 min...SJ player's 30 yard freekick from left is blasted well over net.
15 min...TFC Caracciolo rush on right and 20 yard shot from right has goalie fly to push ball away
from left post at 6 yards.
16 min...TFC Okello pushes ball too far forward on edge of box and second defender clears at 12 yards.
18 min...TFC Faria has loose ball roll to him and shoots 25 yarder up middle over net.
22 min...TFC Faria cornerkick from left has ball headed over box and Sanjaxx players clear on right side.
23 min...TFC Mohammed rush to ball on left edge of box and retreating defender concedes cornerkick.
24 min...TFC Faria quick cornerkick from left finds TFC Mohammed and his 15 yard shot from left is just over bar.
27 min...TFC Faria low 30 yard shot up middle is wide left of post.
29 min...TFC Faria 25 yard freekick from left is over net.
32 min...SJ Vilaca is injured making clearance on edge of SJ box.
34 min...SJ Sanca 33 yard shot up middle is just wide left of post.
35 min...TFC Abdi 22 yard blast is caught by goalie near right post.
36 min...TFC Yeates receives short centering pass and 25 yard shot up middle is wide right.
38 min...TFC Yeates rush to center on diagonal and 25 yarder has goalie palm ball over bar.
38 min...TFC player's cornerkick from right s not completely cleared. TFC Onkony low 15 yard shot from
left has dvng goalie trap.
40 min...TFC Faria rolls cross from 20 yards on left into 6 yard box and goalie smothers.
41 min...SJ players are burned on offsides at least four times so far.
42 min...TFC Abdi turns and rolls 20 yarder down center wide left of net.
43 min...SJ goalie runs out to top left corner of box to beat TFC Yeates to through ball pass.
45 min...half ends 2:47pm with no added time.

Second Half:...starts 3:03pm.
46 min...SJ Fairclough picks up miscue and 15 yard blast in middle deflects off defender and off
outside of rght post for cornerkick.
47 min...SJ Julio Carvalho cornerkick from right has SJ Kirkendall in crowd of players head ball over net
at 8 yards.
48 min...TFC Faria cross from right endline near cornerflag has goalie catch overhead on left post
to prevent TFC Adbi tap-in.
51 min...TFC Faria 22 yard shot up middle between players is caught by goalie.
53 min...TFC Faria rush down right and low 15 yard shot/cross from near end line is wide left of net
with no TFC players in play.
54 min...TFC Zakaria Abdi GOAL...TFC Jordan Faria rushes down right and sends short centering pass
to TFC Riley Ferrazzo at 22 yards. He rolls pass into crowd of players and Abdi rolls in 8 yarder
from left side of goal is into left corner of net past goalie Nuno Goncalves.
56 min...SJ players rush is broken up on edge of TFC box after a few wasted tap arounds.
59 min...TFC sub...Petrasso replaces Faria.
61 min...SJ Sanca 35 yard freekick from slidght right is high and wide right of net.
62 min...TFC Mohammed gets to loose ball and blasts low 20 yarder from left that goalie dives to save.
TFC Petrasso skies 15 yard rebound from slght right well over net.
63 min...SJ Ondras 20 yard shot from left has goalie get piece of dive and ball spins over him and wide
left of post.
63 min...SJ Ondras cornerkick from left has SJ Vilaca nod 12 yard header on right wide right.
66 min...TFC sub...Campbell replaces Yeates.
.......SJ sub...Rossi replaces James.
67 min...TFC Caracciolo 18 yard shot from left has flying goalie push out right side of box.
69 min...TFC Campbell rolls forward pass from 30 yards up middle that hits charging TFC Ferrazzo on foot
and rolls to goalie.
70 min...SJ sub...Kollias replaces Ondras.
70 min...SJ Julio Carvalho run down right and cross from 20 yards on right has goalie catch in middle at 3 yards
to prevent tap-in.
73 min...TFC player's short cornerkick from right is worked out short and cross into crowd of players in box
has shot blocked at 6 yards on left post and ball is cleared.
74 min...TFC sub...Furlano replaces Ferrazzo.
........TFC sub...Rollocks replaces Abdi.
........SJ sub...James Carvalho replaces Julio Carvalho.
76 min...TFC Caracciolo cross from 22 yards on left has defender head ball away.
77 min...TFC Petrasso shot from 20 yards on right is wide left of net.
79 min...TFC Luca Petrasso GOAL...TFC Armando Caracciolo low cross from left from 22 yards has Petrasso
blast low one-touch from 18 yards on right into left side of net.
80 min...TFC Petrasso rush up right and low cross from 25 yards near end line has two TFC players miss inside
the 6 yard box with goalie fallen and defender clears.
82 min...TFC Petrasso high cross from 22 yards near right end line drifts wide left for goalkick.
83 min...SJ James Carvalho pulls down TFC Mohammed on edge of box.
83 min...TFC player's 20 yard freekick from left is wasted on tap arounds and TFC Furlano cross is cleared
from box.
84 min...TFC Petrasso low cross from 22 yards on right is through 6 yard box unplayed.
85 min...Sanjaxx sub...Tayjon Campbell replaces Nuno Goncalves in goal. No injury that I saw. These two
have platooned all year so I expect it was a celebration/reward for the season.
86 min...TFC Petrasso spins and rolls 22 yarder from left is wide right.
87 min...TFC Furlano on right from 18 yards rolls ball to 6 yard box but defenders clear.
88 min...TFC Mohammed rush on left and 30 yard shot around defender is saved.
89 min...TFC Rollocks is centered pass and 22 yard blast up middle has goalie fly to bat down on right side of net
and defender clears.
90 min...TFC Rollocks is given 70 yard chip down field and 10 yard shot from left is into outside webbing of net.
94 min...game ends 3:52pm. Most of the last minutes were played in the SJ end.

Final Score:...Sanjaxx Lions...0...Toronto FC III...2...

Attendance was about 40 on this mild and sunny day—a real 
surprise this late in the year.

Referee Adam Devenyi gave out one Yellow card to each team. 
I didn't see when they happened or hear an announcement. 
First thing I noticed in the hallway before the game is Devenyi 
was the referee and I said "You again?" because I had seen them 
last night in the same position at the Aurora vs Toronto Skillz 
game. "Isn't there a 24 hour rule?" I joked but he explained 
there was a rescheduling because today's referee was sick who was
the fourth official position last night. On the line was 
Cyrus Eshafi who was also on the line for the Masters vs Durham 
game yesterday afternoon.

I was surprised that Sanjaxx had another good effort two weeks 
in a row—this one even better. Last Sunday they took a Red card 
at the 2 minute mark and held off what turned out to the 
Western Conference winner, Oakville Blue Devils and held them 
to one goal for the first 70 minutes. I had notes about action 
today between 6 and 14 minutes where neither team were inside 
each other's 30 yard lines.

Lions listed five subs available and made four during the game 
including the goalie. I don't know if he was scratched off this 
list at the last minute but they never brought in Israel Perrin 
who was the player Red carded last week. [the MLS had a fiasco 
between Orlando and Dallas within the last two weeks regarding 
an ineligible player].  

Lions have only scored 18 goals this season which is second worst 
in the league. 'Goals against' they are fifth worst but I feel it's 
the lack of scoring that was their greatest limitation this season. 
Sanjaxx forwards were burned about four times in the first half 
on offsides.

Most of the last minutes of the game were played in the Sanjaxx 
end and sometimes that is the best strategy for preserving a lead.

Gianluca Catalano earned the shutout for TFC. I credited him with 
two key saves. At 63 minutes SJ Tomas Ondras took a 20 yard shot 
from the left that had the goalie dive to the left and get a piece 
of and the ball spun over him but wide left of the post. 70 minutes 
had SJ Julio Carvalho runs down the right and cross from 20 yards 
and Catalano caught the ball in the middle of the box at 3 yards 
to prevent a tap-in on the left post. At the time a slip up would 
have tied the game for Sanjaxx.

I made sure after the game I congratulated TFC defender Noble Okello 
who was one of three TFC III players signed to the TFC II (USL) team 
last month. He made his debut as a substitute at the 70 minute mark 
on Friday night against Bethlehem Steel FC as a defender. Today 
he played the whole 90 minutes as captain on what I drew as defence 
on my initial lineup (which I sketch during the first ten minutes 
of every game) but I noticed he moved up and was all the way 
up to forward during part of the game. The other guys signed 
on September 15 were Rocco Romeo who played the whole 90 minutes 
today and Julian Dunn-Johnson who has ingrained himself as a starting 
defender on TFC II replacing high MLS draft choice Brandon Aubrey. 
Only potential problem I can see is Okello and Dunn-Johnson are both 
tall defenders and may be too similar—a criticism I've heard about 
TFC forwards Tosaint Ricketts and Jordan Hamilton rather than 
my joke about not playing two Canadian forwards at once.

I asked a TFC official before the game what happened on Thursday 
night when they were dismantled by Sigma FC 5-0 with all goals 
scored in the first half. He said Sigma jumped on them fast and 
that this could do the team some good for overconfidence.

Wednesday night had Oakville and Woodbridge play to a 'convenient' 
0-0 tie thus insuring both teams would finish first in their 
conference. Sigma with two games to go could not make up the 
seven points. I think they took out their rage by thumping TFC 
then yesterday crushed Windsor TFC Stars 10-0 (well partially 
explained by Windsor bringing a roster of only 12 players 
to the GTA).

All the time I've been coming to this stadium I assumed Monarch Park 
was named after the royal family but the man videoing the game 
for the league—long time neighbourhood friend of mine and Voyageur 
Dave Bailey said it may be because of the butterflies in the area. 
Sure enough what I thought were orange coloured leaves falling off 
the trees for the season were the Monarch butterflies. Also if you 
listen to the games here it's like every five minutes there's a train 
going past behind the stadium. Dave could name whether it was a GO 
or VIA train without turning around by the engine noise.

This was the final game of the season for both games (22 league 
games). The field was taken over by women's teams as today was also 
the last game for the L1O Women. Sanjaxx and Aurora played 
to a 1-1 tie.

Sanjaxx record falls to 4 wins, 15 losses, 3 ties for 15 points. 
They finish seventh place out of eight teams in the Western Conference.

TFC III improves their record to 14 wins, 5 losses, 
3 ties for 45 points. That was third in the West behind Oakville 
and Sigma.

So that's the end of the regular season. I expected this was 
my last game of the season because of scheduling conflict for the 
league championship final but that game has now been moved to Friday 
October 20 at the Ontario Soccer Centre at 7:30pm. If I can make that 
it will make it 62 L1O games I've attended this season!

Rocket Robin
robing@eol.ca
twitter @RocketRobin01

Sanjaxx Lions starters