Toronto Croatia midfielder Ante Zivkovic scored a hat-trick to lead his team to a 3-1 victory over North York Astros, York Region Shooters won their twelfth of the season, a 4-1 win over Burlington SC to extend the unbeaten streak to 15 games, and Brampton City Utd improved their playoff chances with a 3-0 victory over Niagara United, three games in the SCL First Division Sunday.
Zivkovic struck his first goal after just three minutes into the game at Esther Shiner Stadium, heading home a free kick taken by Halburto Harris at the three minute mark, and the midfielder made it 2-0 at 35 minutes for a Toronto Croatia lead at the interval.
North York struck back immediately following the break when Jose De Sousa beat Toronto Croatia goalkeeper Antonio Ilic at 46 minutes, reducing the lead to 2-1 for Toronto Croatia.
Toronto Croatia was reduced to 10 men at 68 minutes when defender Ainsley Deer was shown the red card by referee Marco Jaramillo after issuing the player a second caution.
Zivkovic completed his hat-trick at 84 minutes, finding the net past Astros’ goalkeeper Jason Lopes for a 3-1 lead, the score at the final whistle.
It was Toronto Croatia’s tenth win of the season for a 10-3-2 WLT record for 32 points to take the 2012 CSL champions within seven points of league-leading York Region Shooters with three games remaining in the regular season.
North York Astros now have a 6-5-4 record for 22 points and still in third position with three games remaining, also.
Midfielder Mario Orestano opened the scoring just three minutes into the game for York Region Shooters at Nelson Stadium in Burlington and Ryan Dummett made it 2-0 five minutes later.
Richard Edwards increased the lead to 3-0 at 43 minutes for the visitors, the score at half-time and it was Edwards’ fifth of the season.
Richard West struck his sixth goal of the season when he put the ball past Burlington goalkeeper Vladimir Vujasinovic at 52 minutes for a 4-0 Shooters lead
Marco Machado found the net past York Region goalkeeper Camilo Benzi at 72 minutes for the lone Burlington goal and it was 4-1 at the final whistle.
York Region Shooters now have a 12-0-3 record for 39 points with three games remaining, while Burlington SC has a 6-8-2 record for 20 points and two games remaining.
Brampton City Utd led 2-0 at half-time against visiting Niagara United at the Terry Fox Stadium in Chingacousy Park, Brampton, on goals by forward Peter Niles at 21 minutes and Juber Quinteros two minutes later.
Niles drove the ball past Niagara goalkeeper Matthew Greco after taking a cross from the right wing, and Quinteros found the net from close in.
Jean Tshimpaka completed the scoring for the home side at 68 minutes for a 3-0 score at the final whistle.
Brampton improve to a 5-8-3 record for 18 points for seventh position in the standings, while Niagara United are at 2-11-2 for eight points at the foot of the table.
There were two games in the CSL Second division with Niagara United B defeating Brampton city Utd B, 4-0, and Burlington SC B tied 3-3 with visiting York Region Shooters B.
