Serbian White Eagles B clinched the final playoff berth in the Second Division with a 3-1 victory over Toronto Croatia B at Centennial Stadium in Etobicoke Thursday.
The Mississauga-based side join reserve teams SC Waterloo B, York Region Shooters B, Milton SC B, Burlington SC B, Brantford Galaxy B, Toronto Atomic FC B, and Niagara United B.
SC Waterloo B has already won the Second Division.
Thursday’s night’s game was an even contest in the first half with midfielder Hrvoje Jerkovic opening the scoring for Toronto Croatia reserves with a goal at 27 minutes. Milos Ljubenovic equalized for Serbian White Eagles reserves with a goal from the penalty spot at 43 minutes and Ljubenovic found the net a second time to make it 2-1 for the home side at the 60th minute mark.
Serbian White Eagles took control as the second half progressed and Miroslav Jovanovic increased the lead to 3-1 at 71 minutes, the score at the final whistle.
The playoffs will get underway with the four quarterfinal games in both the First Division and the Second Division during the Thanksgiving Day weekend, October 9 – 12 and the quarterfinals will be followed by the semifinals the weekend October 16 -18. The finals will be played at Warrior Field, Waterloo – hosted by SC Waterloo – on Sunday, October 25.
Five First Division teams having secured playoff spots and they are Serbian White Eagles, Toronto Croatia, SC Waterloo, York Region Shooters and Toronto Atomic FC. The three remaining spots will be taken by three of the following teams: London City, Scarborough SC, Burlington SC, Milton SC and Brantford Galaxy.
The four top teams in each division have home advantage in the quarter finals and the home advantage carries through to the semifinals. By following the position in the regular season final standing, the quarterfinal games are arranged 1 vs 8, 2 vs 7, 3 vs 6 and 4 vs 5.
For playoff matches that are tied at the end of regular time, there will be two periods of 15 minutes extra time and if still tied, the game will be decided by penalty kicks in keeping with FIFA rules.
