PICTURE: Shooters remain on top following 1-1 tie with Scarborough
York Region Shooters scored a penalty kick equalizer to tie 1-1 with Scarborough in Sunday’s opening game at Centennial Stadium, BGHC 1 tied 2-2 with Toronto Falcons and Serbian White Eagles defeated Continentals FC 2-1.
Scarborough took the lead at six minutes on a goal by forward Gonzalo Matias Cabrera Celis who tipped a corner kick inside the right post out of reach of York Region Shooters goalkeeper Gieson Njehia. A trip in the box resulted in a penalty kick for the Shooters and Sebastien Lopez drove the ball inside the left post for a 1-1 equalizer at the 24th minute mark, the score at the break.
Scarborough held an edge in the play for most of the second half with good chances to score. There were near misses, including at 70 minutes when Moussa Limane took a pass 18 yards out and the drive was saved by Shooters’ goalkeeper Njehia. Another opportunity came at 83 minutes when substitute forward Kiril Dimitrov collected a pass on the right wing with a cross to Limane closing in but saved again by Niehia. Another winning goal opportunity came at 87 minutes, but the drive by Scarborough defender Odain Omaro Simpson went just wide for a 1-1 draw at the final whistle. York Region Shooters continue to hold top position in the standings with a 3-1-2 WLT record for 11 points.
Petar Djordjevic opened the scoring for BGHC 1 against Toronto Falcons in the second game, a drive from 30 yards to beat Falcons’ goalkeeper Vasyl Shpuk. The Toronto side tied the score immediately following the re-start at 13 minutes with a goal by midfielder Clayton Brown. Diordievic struck a second goal for BGHC for a 2-1 lead at the 44th minute mark, the score at the interval, and defender Vadym Gostiev tied the game for Toronto Falcons at 86 minutes, 2-2 at the final whistle.
Continentals FC had a slight edge in the early stages of the game with Serbian White Eagles, but failed to find the net in a well played late game scoreless first half. Serbian White Eagles eventually scored at 67 minutes when forward Vladimir Strizovic took a pass, then won a one-on-one encounter with Continentals’ goalkeeper Anatolii Starushchenko to slide the ball in for a 1-0 lead. Forward Adam Abouali made it 2-0 for the White Eagles at 80 minutes and Continentals reduced the lead with a goal by Bogdan Borovskyi at 84 minutes for a 2-1 score at the final whistle in favour of Serbian White Eagles, now unbeaten since June 5 and second in the standings with a 2-1-3 WLT record for nine points.