Canadian Soccer League

Attak, Serbia, Italia and North York secure playoff spots.........Astros defeat Shooters 2-1, it was Serbia 1, Croatia 1 and TFC Academy keep playoff hopes alive with a 3-2 defeat of Brampton Lions........On Saturday, Trois- Rivieres blitz Border Stars 9-0

2008-09-14

It's Serbian White Eagles at home to Croatia on Sunday...a Toronto Croatia poster

North York Astros forward Go Nagaoka smashed the ball from 7 yards inside the right post to beat Italia Shooters 'keeper Camilo Benzi late in the game at Esther Shiner Stadium Sunday afternoon and the goal proved to be one of the most important of the Astros' highly satisfactory season. The 87th minute strike by Nagaoka was the winning goal in North York's 2-1 victory, it assured the north Toronto team a spot in the playoffs and it provided some encouragement that the Rafael Carbajal-coached side can achieve one of the favoured top four spots in the eight teams to enter the playoffs early October. While Italia Shooters lost that game they, along with top teams Trois-Rivieres Attak and Serbian White Eagles, also clinched playoff berths over the weekend. Serbian White Eagles fought to a 1-1 tie in a rain-drenched game with Toronto Croatia at Lamport Stadium Sunday night, while top team Trois-Rivieres Attak scored their biggest win ever, a 9-0 drubbing of Windsor Border Stars on Saturday. TFC Academy came out on top of a well played game at Victoria Park in Brampton in the third game played Sunday, they defeated Brampton Lions 3-2 to keep the academy team's playoff hopes alive with four games remaining in the regular season. A fourth game scheduled for Sunday, St. Catharines Wolves vs. London City, was postponed until Wednesday, October 1 due to a wet ground following heavy rain. Trois-Rivieres Attak forward Pierre-Rudolph Mayard led the way with four goals as the Quebec team blitzed a depleted Windsor Border Stars 9-0 before 1,308 fans at the University of Quebec Trois-Rivieres, the only game played in the Canadian Soccer League Saturday. On Friday night, Serbian White Eagles were held to a 3-3 tie by Portugal FC in a see-saw struggle at Lamport Stadium and in a second CSL game, played at The Hershey Centre in Mississauga, Toronto Croatia scored a 3-1 victory over London City. FOR A FULL ACCOUNT OF THE WEEKEND ACTION AND A COMPLETE PLAYOFF CHART........................

Selvin Lammie opened the scoring for North York Astros, a goal after just two minutes, his 13th of the CSL season.

Midfielder Luca Zucal tied the game for Italia Shooters at the 20th minute mark, before Nagaoke struck the winner.

Toronto Italia lost two players in the game, Richard Asante was ordered off at 45 minutes and defender Gerard Ladiyou was shown the red card at the 89th minute mark.

Brampton Lions opened the scoring after just three minutes against TFC Academy on Sunday when Daniel Nascimento improved his bid for the scoring title by striking his 15th of the season. TFC Academy's Junior Ellis tied the game 1-1 at 51 minutes, Ashtone Morgan put TFC ahead 2-1 two minutes later and Lloyg Grist increased the lead to 3-1 for the academy team at the 66th minute mark. Midfielder Andrew Da Silva scored for the Lions at 78 minutes for a 3-2 TFC victory.

Sasa Viciknez opened the scoring for Serbian White Eagles after 18 minutes at Lamport Stadium when he made no mistake from the penalty spot after being pulled down just inside the box by Croatia defender Robert Fran. It was the Serbian striker's 9th of the current campaign. In an end-to-end even encounter played at times in difficult conditions with wind and rain, Toronto Croatia tied the game when Tihomir Maletic collected a ball just past the half way line to close in and score at 62 minutes, his second goal of the weekend for a 1-1 final score.

Playing with several key players missing through injuries, the Border Stars were no match for the high-flying Attak on Saturday afternoon.

Attak's Mayard struck at 7, 11, 30 and 39 minutes, while other Trois-Rivieres goals were scored by Hector Contreras, 27 and 44 minutes, Jean-Phillip Etienne at 38 minutes Serge Vinnkota at 45 minutes and Massimo Di Ioia at 54 minutes.

Wigor Gomes struck at 8 minutes to open the scoring for Portugal FC in their game against Serbia on Friday, a game that went back and forth throughout and making it difficult to predict eventual winner.

Darryl Gomez tied the score 1-1 for Serbian White Eagles at 14 minutes when Portugal failed to clear the ball and the Serbia striker hit the net from 10 yards. Portugal put themselves in more trouble
at 31 minutes when Kevin McIntosh put the ball into his own net while attempting to clear, the own-goal giving Serbia a 2-1 lead.

Portugal's Ilailson Da Silva made it 2-2 at 65 minutes and Portugal took a 3-2 lead three minutes later when Ramon Bailey drove the ball into the corner of the net from 20 yards.

Serbia tied the score at 86 minutes when Caswain Mason was struck by a clearance by Portugal 'keeper Mike Silva and Mason promptly collected the ball and drove it from 38 yards into the Portugal net, a 3-3 final score.

London City scored the opening goal against Toronto Croatia on Friday night when Brian Abidakun headed the ball home at the 9 minute mark and it wasn't until 40 minutes that Toronto Croatia levelled the score when Hayden Fitzwilliams scored from the penalty spot following a foul on Croatia forward Tihomir Maletic.

It was Maletic who scored the go-ahead goal at 53 minutes and Ante Brkic increased the Croatia lead to 3-1 at 62 minutes, a score that held to the end.

The overall standings following the weekend games:

Place	Team	G	Points
1	* Trois-Rivieres Attak	19	40
2	* Serbian White Eagles	20	38
3	* Italia Shooters	18	35
4	* North York Astros	19	32
5	Toronto Croatia	18	29
6	Portugal FC	17	26
7	Brampton Lions	19	23
8	Windsor Border Stars	19	21
9	St. Catharines Wolves	17	20
10	TFC Academy	18	19
11	London City	18	2