A hat-trick by Scarborough substitute striker Gonzalo Matias led his team to a 6-4 victory to capture the regular season Canadian Soccer League title in the opening match of three at the Paramount Stadium Saturday September 16. The intense, highly attractive clash with Serbian White Eagles was followed by an 8-0 drubbing of a struggling Hamilton City side by Toronto Falcons and in another high-scoring encounter due mostly to the prolific Ivliev Sergii scoring four goals, Dynamo Toronto thrashed Ooty Black Pearl 7-1 in the late game.
Defender Marko Johansen’s header opened the scoring for Scarborough at the 7th minute mark and the Toronto east side team went up 2-0 two minutes later when Jordan Web collected a left wing cross to find the net from close in. Forward Devroy Decardova Grey scored the other goal for Scarborough. Matias scored his winning hat-trick after entering the field as a substitute at 60 minutes.
Two goals by Marko Stajic, and singles by Adrian Cann and Vladimir Strizovic allowed Serbian White Eagles to keep pace until the last few minutes, but the Scarborough side held a lead most of the game and near the end increased to a two goal margin at the final whistle.
Scarborough won the regular season league title in 2020 and has been prominent in the playoffs by reaching the last six CSL Championship finals, winning the CSL Championship in 2019 and 2021. Serbian White Eagles won the CSL Championship in 2016 and were regular season league title winners in 2015 and 2022.
A depleted Hamilton City, playing without several players selected for the starting line-up but held up in traffic en route, struggled against an improving Toronto Falcons most of the 90 minutes when the goals came with frequency and with ease. A drive from 15 yards by Artem Nazarenko opened the scoring for Toronto Falcons just five minutes into the game and the midfielder struck a second five minutes later. Singles came from Kyrylo Antonenko and Yazoslav Nidzelskyi, while Nemo Shelia and forward Sviatoslav Dziadykevych each also scored twice.Toronto Falcons ended the season with an 8-3-1WLT for 25 points in third position in the table, while Hamilton City ended in fifth position with a 5-6-1 record for 16 points.
With four goals by Sergii, two by forward Mykola Temniuk and one by Mykyta Pishchulin, Dynamo Toronto dominated the late game 7-1 to lift the winning side into a clear fourth position in the standings. Dario found the net past Dynamo goalkeeper Mosbah Ezzalden for the loan Ooty Black Pearl goal scored at 14 minutes of the first half. Sergii ended the season the 2023 leading goal scorer with a total of 13 and his team registered 6-5-1 for 19 points.
The three games concludes the 2023 season following an announcement that the CSL Championship playoffs will not be played due to financial and venue considerations and that the league will in the coming weeks begin its interviews with organizations considering membership application as expansion teams for 2024.
