June 13, 2008

The Vaughan Italia Shooters were on the road this past weekend looking to increase their lead atop the league standings. The Shooters first match was Friday night versus London City. The two teams had previously met this season, with the Shooters coming out on top 4-0. With five starters out of the line-up, the Shooters would once again have to rely on the depth of their bench.

          The game started with little flourish, as both teams attempted to adjust to the rainy conditions and slower playing surface. The Shooters tried to play the ball around and connect passes, but were unsuccessful and even looked sloppy at times. The combination of the unfavourable weather conditions and a new line-up were not allowing the Shooters to play their possession style soccer. Nonetheless, the team from Vaughan dictated the pace of the game, and although it was not the style of soccer in which they would normally prefer, the Shooters took away London’s home field advantage with a goal at the 22 minute mark by Frank Jonke. As the game progressed the Shooters were slowly getting into a rhythm, but could still not find their form. Although the Shooters were not playing up to their usual standards, London City side could not use this to their advantage, as the side from London could muster little in terms of attack. Looking to put the game out of reach before the half, the Shooters increased their pressure on the London goal, leading to the team’s second goal by forward Marco Terminesi at the 38^th minute. With a couple minutes left in the half the Shooters were satisfied to go into the half time break with a comfortable 2-0 lead. Although, with three minutes left to the break London City played a long ball into the Shooter penalty area, were a mix-up between the Shooter goalie and defender led to a London City goal. Conceding a goal before the half is unacceptable in any game, but is even harder to swallow when the goal was the opposition’s first attempt on goal. Obviously disappointed, the Shooter team quickly responded, scoring right from the kick-off at the 45^th minute of the game. With a 3-1 lead, the Shooters made two second half substitutions looking to keep the pressure on the London team. The game plan was executed perfectly, as one minute into the half Shooter forward Marco Terminesi scored his second of the evening. At 4-1, the Shooters made 4 more substitutions with the intention of resting some players for their next game that they would be play in less then 48 hours on Sunday afternoon. One of the substitutes, Kadian Lecky was too tough to handle, as the Shooter winger continually used his speed to his advantage running by London defenders at will.  At the 80^th minute Lecky beat two defenders and the goalie, and then sent the ball to teammate Stalin Cardenas for the easy tap-in. Five minutes from time, another substitute Jalanni Smith scored the sixth and final goal for the Shooters. Final score 6-1 in favour of the Shooters, who, although won the game knew that they would have a much tougher opponent on Sunday and would have to be on top of their game.

June 15, 2008

Coming into Sunday afternoon’s game versus the Brampton Lions, the Vaughan Italia Shooters would have to quickly regroup and focus on playing a much better game then they had on Friday night. Although the Shooters were victorious against London City, the team did not play up to their own standards. This match-up was sure to please, as these two teams have met previously in the CSL championship final with Brampton winning by a score of 1-0. The game began intensely, as both teams wanted to dictate the pace of the game and take control early on. With the game primarily being a midfield battle, a Brampton Lion midfielder broke free and hammered a shot at the Shooter goal, forcing goal keeper Adam Orologio to make a sprawling save. Although stopping the initial effort, Orologio could not control the rebound, which fell to a wide open Lion forward for an easy tap-in at the 10 minute mark. The Shooters quickly responded and in the 17^th minute forward Frank Jonke headed in his team-leading 6^th goal of the season. With two goals in the opening 20 minutes of play, the game was shaping up to be an exciting offensive affair. Within minutes of the Shooters tying the game, Brampton was on the offensive once again and were rewarded with a goal in the 23^rd minute, as a Shooter defender attempted to head the ball out of danger, but unfortunately it deflected into his own goal. Five minutes after conceding a second goal, the Shooters almost tied the game at two, but were denied two glorious opportunities by the Brampton net minder. Still not playing to their potential, the Shooters were again broken down and exploited by the Lion players, this time by Lion winger Daniel Nascimento, who let a rocket shot go from about 25 yards out into the top left corner of the net in the 34^th minute; the half ended 3-1 in favour if the Lions. The start of the second half was the same as the first, with the lion share of the game played in the midfield. Both teams generated some opportunities at goal, but neither created any clear cut scoring chances. As the half wore on, the Shooters began to pressure the Lion backline, causing numerous turnovers in the Brampton defensive end. With this pressure mounting, the Shooter’s must have thought a goal was sure to follow. Although, with 14 minutes left in the game the Lions executed a counter attack and caught only one Shooter defender back. The Lions scored their fourth goal of the game and with that were surely a victory. With the game all but done, the Lions netted a fifth goal to with 10 minutes left in the game. Shooter forward Desi Humphrey neatly put away a second goal for the Shooters in the 86^th minute; final score 5-2 in favour of Brampton Lions. The Shooters now have a two week break, with their next game scheduled for Tuesday July 1^st at 1:30 pm, where they host Portugal FC.