Stan Adamson

VORKUTA BIDS FOR CHAMPIONSHIP DOUBLE FOLLOWING SATURDAY SEMIFINAL VICTORIES

FC Vorkuta is bidding for the CSL double following a clean sweep of the two semifinals played Saturday.

Vorkuta defeated SC Waterloo in the CSL Championship semifinal at The Soccer Centre in Vaughan Saturday night, a thriller tied 1-1 at 90 minutes, it was 2-2 following 30 minutes of overtime, and Vorkuta advanced on penalty kicks. Vorkuta will meet the winner of the second semifinal between FC Ukraine United and Scarborough SC set for 2 pm at Centennial Stadium, Etobicoke Sunday.

Vorkuta B scored a 3-1 victory over Brantford Galaxy B in the afternoon Second Division semifinal encounter at the St. Robert Field in Vaughan and will meet the winner of the Halton United B vs Scarborough SC B being played at the Norton Field at Burlington on Tuesday, October 9, a 9 pm kickoff.

Both championship finals will be played at Centennial Stadium in Etobicoke on Saturday, October 13 – the CSL Second Division Championship Final at 1 pm and the CSL Championship Final at 3 pm.

In the afternoon game, Vorkuta B took a 1-0 lead in the Second Division semifinal with a goal at eight minutes by Kristijan Kezic who found the net after taking a pass from Denys Diachenko.

Brantford Galaxy B levelled the score at the 17th minute mark following a quick counter-attack, a goal by Donare Beqere, and Kezic struck his second goal to put Vorkuta B 2-1 up before the interval. It was 2-1 at the break. The game was quick and physical during the second half as Brantford B pressed for an equalizer, but Vorkuta B increased its score at 90 minutes, a goal by Kyrylo Antonenko for a 3-1 result in favour of the home side.
SC Waterloo took the initiative in the early stages of the CSL Championship semifinal, a well played, physical first half with few goalscoring opportunities until Waterloo broke away on a counter attack to score at 42 minutes. Miodrag Kovacevic closed in on Vorkuta goalkeeper Oleksandr Musiienko and the Waterloo midfielder slotted the ball into the net.

Vorkuta tied the game three minutes later, a cross by Volodymyr Bidlovskyi who found Vadym Gostiev on the far post to put the ball into the Waterloo net. The goal came at 45 minutes and it was 1-1 at the break.

Vorkuta came close to scoring late in the second half when at 87 minutes Gostiev drove a hard low pass to the far post for midfielder Serhii Ursulenko to smash the ball against the crossbar. It was 1-1 at the end of regulation time.

Waterloo took a 2-1 lead in extra time, a free kick found Sven Arapovic on the 6-yard line to tap the ball into the net and the visitors held the lead until 117 minutes when Vorkuta was awarded a penalty kick for a foul on defender Oleksandr Volchkov. Waterloo goalkeeper Marko Jelic made the save from the penalty taken by captain Oleh Ivliev, but Serhii Ursulenko took the rebound and found the net to equalize 2-2, a score which held until the final whistle. Vorkuta won on penalty kicks, a 4-3 score.

CSL CHAMPIONSHIP UPDATE

Quarterfinals
SC Waterloo 2, Serbian White Eagles 1
Scarborough SC 4, Hamilton City 1
FC Ukraine United 0, Brantford Galaxy 0 (after extra time) FC Ukraine United won 8-7 on penalty kicks
FC Vorkuta 2, Real Mississauga 1

Semifinals
FC Vorkuta 2, SC Waterloo 2 (after extra time) Vorkuta won 4-3 on penalty kicks
FC Ukraine United vs Scarborough SC game to be played Sunday October 7 at 2pm Centennial Stadium Etobicoke.

CSL SECOND DIVISION CHAMPIONSHIP

Semifinals
FC Vorkuta B 3, Brantford Galaxy B 1
Halton United B vs Scarborough SC B to be played on Tuesday October 9 at 9 pm Norton Field, Burlington

The CSL Second Division Championship Final will be played at Centennial Stadium in Etobicoke on Saturday, October 13 at 1 pm, to be followed by the CSL Championship Final at 3 pm.

WATERLOO AND SCARBOROUGH ADVANCE IN CSL CHAMPIONSHIP PLAYOFFS

SC Waterloo scored a late winner in extra time to defeat Serbian White Eagles 2-1 and Scarborough SC also advanced with a 4-1 victory over Hamilton City, two CSL Championship quarterfinal playoff games in the Canadian Soccer League played Saturday.

Midfielder Miodrag Kovacevic opened the scoring for Waterloo at 19 minutes and defender Zoran Pesic found the net for a late second half equalizer for Serbian White Eagles in a well-played encounter, tied at 90 minutes to then go into 15 minutes each way extra time at RIM Park, Waterloo.

The outcome was in doubt to the end when Vladimir Zelenbaba struck from the penalty spot for Waterloo. The winning goal came with just three minutes to the final whistle, to advance the home side into the semifinals.

In the earlier game at Birchmount Stadium, defender Angel Angelov opened the scoring at 33 minutes for Scarborough SC in the quarterfinal match against Hamilton City and Atif Hammud Ali made it 2-0 for the home side at the 42nd minute mark.

Hamilton City struck back just four minutes later when Peter Aleksic found the net past Scarborough goalkeeper John Trye, a 2-1 score at the break.
Scarborough’s Zoran Knezevic increased the lead to 3-1 with a picture goal at the 60th minute mark, a powerful volley from 27 yards that caught the top corner out of reach of Hamilton goalkeeper Stefan Avramovic. Midfielder Neven Radakovic completed the scoring for Scarborough at 70 minutes and it was 4-1 at the final whistle.

Waterloo will meet the winner of the FC Vorkuta vs Real Mississauga quarterfinal clash being played Sunday, September 30 and Scarborough will take on the winner of the FC Ukraine United vs Brantford Galaxy quarterfinal encounter being played the same day.

In the Second Division playoff semifinals for the CSL Second Division Championship, FC Vorkuta B will be at home to Brantford Galaxy B and Halton United B will host Scarborough SC B.

All semifinal venues will be announced early the week October 1, the games to be completed by Sunday, October 7.
The CSL Second Division Championship Final at 1 pm and the CSL Championship Final at 3 pm will be played at Centennial Stadium in Etobicoke Saturday, October 13.

FRIDAY VICTORIES FOR SC WATERLOO AND CSC MISSISSAUGA

SC Waterloo defeated Serbian White Eagles 3-1 and CSC Mississauga won the local derby against rivals Real Mississauga by a 2-1 score, two games in the CSL First Division Friday night.

Midfielder Emilio Estervez opened the scoring for visiting SC Waterloo almost immediately following the kickoff in windy conditions at Centennial Stadium. The 1-0 lead held up most of the remainder of the first half until Waterloo defender Sven Arapovic made it 2-0 at 45 minutes, his third goal of the season. It was 2-0 at half-time.

Serbian White Eagles’ defender Goran Kamber reduced the lead to 2-1 at 55 minutes, beating Waterloo goalkeeper Marko Jelic with a header off a Milos Scepanovic free kick.

Adis Hasecic struck the third goal for Waterloo at 89 minutes, a well-taken drive from 30 yards that caught the net just inside the far right post and the 3-1 score held until the final whistle. It was Hasecic’s fifth goal of the campaign.

Waterloo finished the game with 10 men after defender Vladimir Zelenbaba was shown the red card for Violent Conduct by referee Marcos Jaramillo.

Waterloo improve to 7-5-2 WLT for 23 points in fourth position in the standings following the victory, while Serbian White Eagles remain in 6 th  place with a 5-5-4 record for 19 points.

CSC Mississauga forward Pero Menalo opened the scoring at 33 minutes for a 1-0 lead against local rivals Real Mississauga at the Hershey Centre and it was 1-0 at the break.

Mauricio Konjic made it 2-0 for CSC Mississauga at 60 minutes and Real Mississauga player-coach Krum Bibishikov cut the lead to 2-1 with a drive from 35 yards that found the corner. It was a 2-1 score at the final whistle and a first win for CSC Mississauga in its inaugural CSL season.

CSC Mississauga has a 1-12-2 record for 5 points and ninth in the standings, while Real Mississauga is at 3-10-2 for 11 points in seventh position in the table.

There are four First Division matches scheduled for Sunday when Serbian White Eagles travel to RIM Park for a clash with SC Waterloo at 7 pm, Hamilton City is at home at the Heritage Field against Brantford Galaxy also at 7, Ukraine United will play their final regular season match and wanting to win by a margin of four or more goals in a First Division title decider against CSC Mississauga at Centennial Stadium, that’s at 7 pm and Real Mississauga will host Scarborough SC at the Hershey Centre, kickoff is 8.30 pm