League1 Canada Men’s Review – Week 15

Although their female counterparts have begun wrapping up their seasons as we approach next weekend’s Inter-Provincial Championship in Hamilton, Ontario, the Men’s divisions of League1 Canada still have a few weeks to go of entertaining soccer, and week 15 was no different!

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This article takes a look back at all of the matches on the men’s side. For the League1 Canada women’s review written by my colleague David Parkes, be sure to read that linked here.

League1 BC: Rovers Repeat

TSS Rovers FC 3 – 2 Altitude FC

It was a battle of firsts for both sides: for the hosts, the Rovers were looking to be the first-ever repeat champions of the League1 BC men’s division, having previously won the league in 2022. For their North Vancouver rivals, Altitude FC were in their first ever playoffs – and thus finals – appearance and were looking to beat the odds and bring home a piece of hardware.

The Rovers got off to a dream start as Massud Habibullah found mesh in the opening 45 seconds of play, setting a new league record for fastest goal. L1BC Defender of the Year Nikolas White would then chip in off of a Michael Hennessy corner as white came soaring in to head it past Luca Ortu.

Come the second half, Ambrose Tinmouth gave his North Shore side a lifeline as the lead was cut in half and Altitude regained life. Then came the series of three penalty kick’s that defined the rest of the match.

83′: Stazi Ahayo is brought down in the corner of the box by Kian Proctor and calmly converts the PK to tie up the game.

86′: Erik Edwardson is taken down from behind near the top of the penalty area by Hauke Tippe in a controversial call. A quick head glance sends Ortu the wrong way and Edwardson puts his Rovers side back in front.

88′: Tippe is then yanked to the ground himself in the Rovers area thanks to offender Kian Proctor again, but luckily for Proctor and co., Ahayo send this one sky-high to keep the scoreline in favour of the hosts.

Ultimately, come the final three whistle blows at the end of added time, the TSS Rovers reclaimed their L1BC title as both the Regular Season and Playoff Champions. Their next match will come in 2025 as they rejoin Canada’s best in the 2025 Voyageurs Cup.

League1 Ontario: End of The Road

L1 Cup

This past matchweek hosted the last quarter-finals meeting as Master’s FA visited North Toronto Nitros. Fadi Salback’s brace carried his side through to victory as he struck for glory in the 36′ and 86′ to outdo Masters’ one goal in the 89′. The Nitros will now face off against Vaughan Azzurri in late August while oppositely, the Blue Devils will host the Simcoe County Rovers in their Semi-Final.

League1 Ontario – Premiership

Scrosoppi FC 1 – 0 Hamilton United

Burlington SC 0 – 1 Blue Devils FC

Scrosoppi FC 4 – 0 Sigma FC

Hamilton United 0 – 3 Simcoe County Rovers FC

Woodbridge Strikers 1 – 1 Alliance United FC

Vaughan Azzurri 1 – 0 ProStars FC

Guelph United 1 – 2 North Toronto Nitros

Scrosoppi opened their two-game week on a high note as they took down the last-placed Hamilton United. In what was quite the testy affair with seven bookings, Daniel Rafisamii’s 10-minute goal is what ultimately played the winner for Scrosoppi to stay ahead of the pack at the top of the table.

In the run up to their L1 Cup meeting with SCR, the Blue Devils edged just a bit closer to them in the divisional table with their one-nil win over their mid-table brethren the Burlington Bayhawks. While the first half was devoid of any threatening attempts, Sam Ghouli’s goal just four minutes into the second half would define the match and claim all three points for his Oakville side.

Scrosoppi returned to the pitch later in the week and followed up their opening victory with a trashing of Sigma FC on Saturday. With Dedomincis, Ammari, Borutskie, and Skublak all lining the referees wallet book in the ‘goals’ box, it was a perfect display of this side’s prowess and their depth found in the Milton side’s lineup.

The Simcoe County Rovers, not to be outdone, also capitalized on their meeting this week with Hamilton United as they continued their five-game points streak. With one goal in the first and two in the second, Hernandez, Karagiannakos, and Dasilva played the heroes while on the road in The Hammer to stay in fifth place.

While hoping to climb into second with a win on Sunday, the Woodbridge Strikers had to settle for a one-point game as they failed to get the edge over Alliance United. Michael Maslanka’s 50′ goal nearly sank the hosting Strikers, but a last-minute cross in Sebastien Cochrane went off Mehdi Essoussi to tie up the game to the delight of the home crowd. See above!

Former York United trialist Reshaun Walkes continued the stellar season he’s had so far in 2024 this past weekend as his Azzurri side hosted ProStars FC. Notching his ninth goal of the campaign at the 19′, that is all that would be needed to send ProStars home packing, putting Vaughan just one win away from the top spot of the league, with five games left to go this campaign.

Despite a strong start by Justin Springer’s United Front, going behind come the 44′ was probably not how his side envisioned as they stave off a place in the relegation play-off. Come the 50′ there was hope as Kyle Corrdeiro found mesh to break North Toronto’s lead. Sadly, Fadi Salbeck would claim all three points for NTN as he snuck the ball past Guelph’s Carter Robart in the 63′, closing out the came 2-1.

League1 Ontario – Championship

Darby FC 1 – 4 St. Catharines Roma Wolves

BVB IA Waterloo 5 – 1 Unionville Milliken SC

Pickering FC 2 – 4 North Mississauga SC

Master’s FA 2 – 0 Windsor City FC

FC London 0 – 2 TFC Academy

With the news of TFC Academy’s departure from the L1 system, the season has changed for the Roma Wolves. With their 4-1 win over Darby on Friday, so long as they maintain in second or third place, they will qualify for a direct promotion or for a promotional play-off spot. So shoutouts are due to Solomon, Ragagnin, Forner, and Homenszki for carrying their side to a victory.

Waterloo’s Black and Yellow won a surprise victory at home against the fourth-placed Unionville Milliken on Friday as well. Currently looking to avoid relegation, following UMSC’s 22′ goal, BVB IA netted five goals unanswered with Logan Rieck leading the charge with a hat trick to boot. You can see his beautiful third goal in the clip below.

Despite being up 2-1 over the North Miss. Panthers by the half break, Adrian Field’s Pickering FC would proceed to give up three goals including a penalty between the 50′ and the 78′ for their 10th loss of the season. The side will need a quick resurgence for their final two games if they wish to stay in the Championship division come 2025.

Both Master’s and Windsor are on the cusp of relegation alongside their colleagues in Pickering, thus their meeting on Saturday presented crucial points for both sides. With both sides presenting well for the first 70 minutes, a string of chances for the Scarborough-based Master’s FA would grant them two goals in the 73′ and 78′ thanks to Igbinobaro and Miranda, granting them those critical three points.

Although a chance at promotion to the Premiership is all but confirmed for FC London, they need whatever points to can muster to make that a direct promotion and not a place in the playoffs. Nonetheless, it was probably not too thrilling for their side when they let in two – including one own goal – in the 65′ and 66′ to give TFC Academy sixth-straight win.

League2 Ontario

(Southwest) BVB IA Waterloo II 1 – 0 St. Catharines Roma Wolves II

(Southwest) Scrosoppi FC II 3 – 0 Windsor City FC II

(Southwest) Hamilton United II 2 – 0 FC London II

(Southwest) Rush Canada Academy 2 – 1 Guelph United FC II

(Northeast) Vaughan Azzurri II 2 – 2 Master’s FA II

(Northeast) Darby FC II 7 – 2 Pickering FC II

(Northeast) Alliance United FC II 8 – 2 SC Rovers FC II

(Northeast) Unionville Milliken SC II 0 – 4 Sudbury Cyclones

(Northeast) Vaughan Azzurri II 3 – 2 Darby FC II

(Central) Blue Devils FC II 6 – 0 ProStars FC II

(Central) Sigma FC II 2 – 0 The Borough FC

(Central) Woodbridge Strikers II 4 – 0 North Mississauga SC II

(Central) North Toronto Nitros II 3 – 1 Burlington SC II

Despite ending their season on a high with goals by Barta and Istocki, this 2-1 victory over the Royal City’s ‘B’ team was not enough to clinch first in their division due to the ten-point gap with Scrosoppi FC II. Nonetheless, Head Coach Bogdan Brasoveanu has a lot to be proud of with his boys in their first season as a first team.

Two points is all that separated Sudbury from first place in their conference, but they refused to relent. Thus even after Isaac Ajani missed a penalty to put his side up 2-nil by the 43′, his side rallied behind him to net three more against UMSC II with Devos, Setters, and Harrop chipping in to end a remarkable first season for L1O’s northern-most club.

Andrew Ornoch’s first season with The Borough FC probably did not go as he expected with the side going 4W-3D-7L for a total of 15pts and 6th in the conference. Unlucky for them that it all ended with a two-nil defeat at the hands of Sigma FC II. Going scoreless in the first, Sigma’s Hodzic opened the scoring in the 55′ Followed by Halicki-Porter in the 69′ to sink TBFC.

Ligue1 Quebec: Surprise, Surprise!

Celtix du Haut-Richelieu 1 – 0 CS St-Hubert

OSU Atlético 2 – 0 CS Longueuil

AS Laval 2 – 2 CS Saint-Laurent

Académie du CF Montréal 2 – 1 FC Laval

CS Mont-Royal Outremont 1 – 1 AS Blainville

With teams averaging four games left in the 2024 season, it’s an all out race to the finish to determine the Ligue1 Quebec representative in next year’s Canadian Championship as well as placing for this year’s playoffs. Here’s how the teams faired going into matchweek 15:

The Celtix brought home a surprise win Friday against the third-place St-Hubert Spatiale. Thanks to a marvelous play by Guy-Baronet Tchahou-Tchonou to get one past the Spatiale keeper, he was able to keep his side alive in the playoff race with one game in hand over both OSU Atlético and AS Laval.

For Northern Tribune’s full match coverage of OSU Atletico vs CS Longueuil, click here!

Speaking of AS Laval they failed to climb back up the leaderboard this past week thanks to their draw with CS Saint-Laurent. Despite taking an early lead in the 17′, CSSL goals in the 56′ and 86′ by Yves-Wesley Djomze and Aylan Khenoussi respectively put the visitors in front. AS Laval’s sole point was saved in stoppage time by Dany Usengimana when his strike flew pasta keeper Kosta Maniatis to level it up.

League-leading FC Laval gave up surprise points to the mid-table Académie du CF Montréal on Saturday. Nael Lamine-Kane and Marc-Alexandre Happi-Emaga rallied together to net two for the Montréalais to out-due Adrian Vranjkovic’s 38′ strike.

Fighting for a place in the top four of the league, both AS Blainville and the CSMRO Griffons sought a win on Sunday to jump over the other. It was nearly a confirmed win for the hosting Griffons as Kevin Le Nour’s 55′ goal put them ahead, but credit to Blainville’s Pierre Rudolph Mayard as his 85′ strike tied the game up to save his side from a downward table movement.

Header Image Credit: Bob Twidle / League1 Ontario