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Photo Credit: Martin Bazyl
PSL Canada Men’s Review: Week 3
By There was a lot more football at the Premier Soccer Leagues Canada level last week as Ontario commenced its first round of league play. That now sees three provinces fully in the thick of it.
From late goals to unbelievable comebacks, the men’s matches across the country were no short of drama. Here is a look back at everything that took place. For the women’s recap, you can find that here.
BC Premier League: Rovers, Burnaby Find a Way Through
Things kicked off in BC, with Tuesday’s clash ending 3-2 in the Vancouver Whitecaps Academy’s favour over Nanaimo United. In what was a dramatic game, Nanaimo, who led twice, failed to convert two penalties, including in stoppage time. Chris Album did make the most of the Whitecaps’ spot kick, which also occurred in additional time, to get the win.
It was not all bad news for Nanaimo, however, as they did claim a 2-0 victory against Kamloops United on Saturday. Charlie Smith got both goals for the home side in their first success of the campaign.
Sunday saw both winning sides prevail 3-1. TSS Rovers got the job done at Altitude, with former CPLer Matteo Schiavoni among the goals for the visitors. Burnaby FC was the other victor, scoring thrice in the first half to come out on top against Unity.
TSS Rovers currently has top spot after the first three weeks of play, though Langley United – who did not have a match last week – and the Whitecaps are also undefeated thus far. Unity and Kamloops are looking for their first wins of the year.
It will be a huge match on Wednesday as TSS Rovers and Langley square off in a battle between the top two finishers of last year. Friday’s two games see the Whitecaps face Burnaby and Kamloops take on Altitude. Unity welcomes Langley on Saturday, before TSS Rovers hosts Nanaimo on Sunday to wrap up the week.
Ontario Premier League: New League Season Kicks Off
The Ontario Premier League commenced with league play, primarily across the top two divisions. There is already one match in contention for game of the year, given how it ended.
Here is how things went at the PSL level in Ontario.
Ontario Premier League 1: Strikers Start Title Defence With Win
The first week of the OPL1 saw all 12 teams take the pitch last weekend, with the biggest winner being new side International FC. They had no problems in a 4-1 defeat of the Sudbury Cyclones. George Akpabio scored in each half as the hosts converted two penalties in their victory.
Saturday’s other games saw last year’s runner ups Scrosoppi beat St. Catharines Roma Wolves 2-0 away, Oakville SC edge North Toronto Nitros 1-0, and Sigma draw 1-1 at home against the 2025 OPL2 champions Unionville Milliken. You can read the report for the last game here.
Burlington and Simcoe County Rovers played to an exciting 2-2 draw at Corpus Christi, where both sides had the lead in the match. However, neither were able to get the go-ahead goal towards the end.
On Sunday, the defending champion Woodbridge Strikers got their campaign off the right way by defeating Vaughan Azzurri 2-1. Luca Pinto and Alexander Santillian were among the goals for the home side, who held off a late push from Vaughan to claim all three points.
Among next week’s matches, which will all take place over the weekend, Oakville will battle Woodbridge in an important early season clash. As for International, they will look to make it two wins from two on the road at Unionville.
Ontario Premier League 2: The Borough Produces Stunning Comeback
The second division in Ontario saw one of the most unbelievable matches on Friday, as The Borough erased a 3-0 deficit late on to get past Hamilton United Elite 4-3. Hamilton, who went down a man late on, conceded twice in stoppage time through Jourdan Spence and Abdul Babawale to go from three points to zero.
Also on Friday, Windsor City scored thrice in the first half against North Mississauga, running away with a 4-0 success. Two of the goals came from Ciaran O’Connor to send the home side into the break three to the good. Songmafolo Coulibaly netted a fourth near the end to complete the result.
Friday’s other two matches saw Waterloo United edge Guelph United 2-1, and Pickering FC got past Whitby FC 3-0. On Saturday, Cambridge United drew 1-1 against Inter Toronto II at home, where the former failed to convert a penalty when they were trailing. The round closed on Sunday with an FC London 2-1 win against Master’s FA.
The second week will have just five games, kicking off with a Friday night clash between Hamilton and Windsor. Waterloo will be among the teams playing on Saturday as they head to Whitby, while Pickering hosts Cambridge.
Ontario Premier League 3: Pickering With Narrow Win
In the OPL3, four games got the season off and running. The Southwest Conference saw Amro Hlail score a 90th minute equalizer for Windsor B in a 2-2 stalemate with London B on Monday.
Also on Monday, North Toronto B prevailed 6-0 over Sigma B, while Vaughan B and Scrosoppi B played to a 0-0 draw. In the Northeast Conference, Pickering B kicked things off with a 2-1 defeat of Unionville B. Nathan Mussie scored both goals for the visitors to give them all three points.
Next week will see most of the sides involved in the action. Richmond Hill’s first league game will be on Friday at home to Master’s B. The next day will have the Kingston Sentinels also take the pitch for the first time in league play, facing International B. Rush Canada has their opening contest on Wednesday at North Mississauga B, and Railway City has their match on Saturday versus Waterloo B.
LS PRO Quebec: Coupe Soon to Start
There was plenty of football in Quebec this past week as all three divisions had games. There were a few high-scoring matches among the bunch as well.
But before getting to that, the Coupe du Quebec commences next week with a few games to pay attention to. Tuesday’s sole match, which will kick off the competition, has CF L’International de Quebec meeting facing Optimum Victoriaville.
Five matches are on Wednesday: Royal Beauport has CS Haute-St-Charles, AS Laval meets NDGSA, CS St-Hubert welcomes AS Brossard, CS Boucherville will be AS Saint-Lambert’s first opponent of the season, and CSRDP will battle interprovincial side CSMHM.
As a reminder, there are a total of 52 teams involved, split into 13 groups of four. The top two finishers plus the six best third place teams will qualify for the knockout stage.
Here is what took place last week in LS PRO play.
Ligue 1 Quebec: Celtix, Ottawa Score Four in Wins
All 12 clubs in Ligue 1 Quebec saw the field last week, in a round full of goals. Friday night saw seven of them, with Celtix Haut-Richelieu edging CS St-Hubert 4-3 thanks in part to Elliot Viel’s double. Three goals in the second period were enough for CHR to claim all three points.
Saturday’s trio of games saw CS Longueuil get the better of AS Gatineau 2-1, while goalless draws occurred between CS St-Laurent and AS Blainville, as well as in Laval, where AS Laval and CS LaSalle cancelled each other out. LaSalle remains unbeaten at the LS PRO level, stretching back to last season.
FC Laval won 2-1 at Royal Beauport on Sunday, while Ottawa South United cruised to a 4-1 success over CS Mont-Royal Outremont. Abdulazeez Hammood Lazam netted a hat-trick for the side from the national capital as they claimed a solid victory.
Longueuil’s win puts them top after three weeks of play. Celtix and Ottawa are a point behind them, while Blainville, St-Laurent, and LaSalle are still unbeaten thus far.
Heading into next week’s play, Celtix faces St-Laurent on Friday in an interesting clash involving last year’s winners. Ottawa will look to stay top in a local matchup with AS Gatineau on Saturday, before Sunday will end the week with Blainville facing CSMRO.
Ligue 2 Quebec: Lakeshore Takes Thriller
A full round also occurred in Ligue 2 Quebec, with the six games taking place on Saturday. Lakeshore SC and CS St-Lazare Hudson had the most exciting game, with the former coming out on top 3-2 at Benevoles Park. Adam Libera netted the winner for Lakeshore minutes after conceding for the second time, as they held on for the final quarter of the game to prevail.
There were 1-0 victories for CS Roussillon (over AS Chaudiere-Ouest) and Mistrale de Sherbrooke (at CS Trident), while CF L’International de Quebec and Revolution FC could not score in their 0-0 draw. CS Montreal Centre and CSRDP also had a stalemate with two goals in quick succession coming in a 1-1 tie
Ending the day was Union Lanaudiere Sud, who took down Panellinios St-Michel 2-1. Younes Aziz Habboub netted a 93rd minute winner for the home side to get their first victory of the campaign.
Group A has Mistral de Sherbrooke and Roussillon level on points at the top after two games, while Revolution FC has top spot in Group B. Montreal Centre and L’International de Quebec are also among the unbeaten teams.
Week 3 has all-Saturday matches once more. Mistral de Sherbrooke looks to stay undefeated when they welcome CSRDP. Revolution meets Union Lanaudiere Sud, and Roussillon has the tricky clash against Lakeshore.
Ligue 3 Quebec: Cosmos With Two Weekend Wins
A busy week of Ligue 3 Quebec transpired with 12 matches in the third tier. Wednesday night had half of the games, which included a 7-0 result for Victoriaville over Chevailers NDMC. Zachary Binette got a hattrick as part of the goals for the hosts in a commanding victory.
There was late drama for Soccer Pointe Claire, but not the type they wanted, as they fell 3-2 at home to AS St-Leonard. Despite leading twice, the hosts conceded in the 87th minute and in the 100th minute to suffer a late collapse in their opener.
In Wednesday’s other games, Boreal FC defeat Dollard des Ormaux 2-0 away, St-Jerome topped FS Salaberry 3-0, CS Boucherville got the better of AS Montis 3-1, and CS Titans and AS Brossard were involved in a scoreless contest.
On Saturday, four matches took place. Among them was Cosmos de Granby, who opened their weekend with a 2-0 defeat of Venturi de Sanguenay. Boreal d’Alma edged CS Trois-Rivieres 1-0, while CS Fury de Rimouski scored twice at the very end to stun CS Haute-St-Charles 2-1. Kekoro Konate got his team’s winner in the 94th minute. CS Levis-Est won the other game 1-0 over Phenix des Rivieres.
Sunday’s two matches saw Cosmos complete a weekend sweep with another 2-0 win – this time over Boreal d’Alma. As for West Ottawa SC, they scored and scored often in a 10-0 beating of NDGSA. Seven of the goals came in the second half for the new side, was as three different players posted braces in the win.
Next week features 10 games in the division. Two of the matches will feature Vallee Blizz’Or as they open their season away to Soccer Pointe Claire and at CS Titans. West Ottawa will look to continue with the goalscoring on the road as St-Leonard, while Dollard heads to FS Salaberry.
Header Image Photo Credit: Martin Bazyl
