Friday July 25 2008

The Vaughan Italia Shooters came into Friday night’s game versus Toronto Croatia knowing that a win against their division rivals would see the team take over first place in the overall league standings. This is the second match-up between these two sides, with Toronto Croatia beating the Shooters earlier this year in a tight game 3-2. The extremely vocal Croatian crowd set the stage for a classic encounter. The Shooters looked to score early in this match, and eliminate the Croatians home field advantage early and they did just that. Defender Franco Ruscetta opened the scoring for the Shooters in the 10^th minute, beating two Croatian defenders and heading in a free-kick from the left wing. The home side looked deflated after giving up such an early goal, and clearly were shaken-up as the Toronto side could not get the ball out of their own end. With that being said, Toronto Croatia absorbed the Shooters pressure and the game began to become more evenly balanced. At the 25^th minute mark, with their first attempt on the Shooter goal, Toronto Croatia tied the game after midfielder Mario Pupic knocked the ball after a scramble in front of the Shooter goal. The remainder of the half was played in the middle of the field, with both teams enjoying some good possession, although the Shooters generated more quality scoring chances. With the half drawing to a close Toronto Croatia was given a questionable penalty kick, which was converted by Mario Pupic for his second of the evening. Half-time score 2-1 in favour of Croatia. The start of the second half saw the Shooters come out of the dressing room on fire, as they applied persistent pressure from the whistle, and almost scored an equalizer within the first minute. Within five minutes the Shooters pressure paid dividends, as forward Jason De Thomasis tied the game at two, finishing off a brilliant spell of possession by the Vaughan team. The next 25 minutes of the game was played at an extreme pace and at times extremely rough. The referee of the match had his work cut out for him, as he gave out a total of eight yellow cards, and a red card in the 80^th minute to a Croatian defender who maliciously tripped Shooter forward Frank Jonke from behind when the Shooter player was alone on a breakaway. The Shooters looked keen to score with the numerical advantage, but could not beat the Croatian keeper. In the 87^th minute Croatia punished the Shooters for failing to score on their chances, as mid-fielder Hayden Fitzwilliams scored the home sides third of the evening. With the home team and their fans thinking the game was all but over, Shooter substitute Chris Turner scored in the 90^th minute surely earning his team a point for the draw. But in the third minute of injury time Shooter defender Franco Ruscetta scored his second of the evening and gave his team a much deserved victory. With this win the Shooters now atop the CSL standings with a 9-3-1 WLT record with 28 points.