Late goals denied victories in all three opening games in the Canadian Soccer League Sunday.
CSL champions Scarborough were held to a 3-3 draw by York Regions Shooters in the opener, Toronto Falcons struck a second half equalizer for a 1-1 tie with BGHC 1, and Serbian White Eagles salvaged a 2-2 result with a goal in the last minute of play against Continentals FC.
The opening day triple header at Centennial Stadium in the Toronto west-end kicked off a five-month season to be the longest in three years following two abbreviated seasons in 2020 and 2021 during COVID 19 restrictions.
York Region Shooters returned for the first time since 2017 after 14 years in the CSL to surprise CSL current champions Scarborough. York Region took a a 2-0 lead on goals by forward Jacob Yankey finding the net past Scarborough goalkeeper Daniel Gosciniak at eight minutes, and this was followed by a goal by Shooters’ defender Abubahar Hussein at the 19th minute mark. Scarborough midfielder Lukas Risto cut the lead to 2-1 at 27 minutes but York Region went ahead 3-1 on a second goal by Hussein at the 36 minutes, the score at the break.
Risto scored a second goal for Scarborough at 65 minutes and Camaal Reid struck the equalizer three minutes later for a 3-3 tie that held to the final whistle.
BGHC 1, the combination of Brantford Galaxy and Hamilton City, took a 1-0 lead at 23 minutes in the second game when midfielder Nebojsa Cetkovic collected a loose ball in the box to drive it inside the left post, beating Falcons’ goalkeeper Allessandro Ciampaglia from 10 yards. It was 1-0 at the interval. Rinat Kasymgereev struck the equalizer for Toronto Falcons at 74 minutes, a 1-1 final score.
Following a scoreless first half, Serbian White Eagles took a 1-0 lead at 56 minutes in the evening third game of the CSL season opener when Adam Waithe collected a through ball 10 yards out to drive past Continentals’ goalkeeper Olrksandr Musiienko. Continentals’ forward Oleksii Boiko tied the game 1-1 at 67 minutes, deflecting a free kick taken by Sergii Tvliev and leaving White Eagles’ goalkeeper Nikola Postic with no chance.
Serhii Ursulenko put Continentals FC 2-1 up with a goal at 79 minutes, a strong drive from the edge of the box inside the right post and Serbian White Eagles’ midfielder Nikola Durkovic volleyed from 15 yards to tie the game 2-2 at 92 minutes to be followed by the final whistle.
Continentals’ defender Mykyta Trachev was shown the red card by referee Craig Williams for dissent just before the final whistle.
Next games are at Centennial Stadium Sunday, June 5
2 PM – Toronto Falcons vs Scarborough SC
4 PM – BGHC 1 vs Continentals FC
6 PM – York Region Shooters vs Serbian White Eagles
Stan Adamson