June 15, 2016 · 0 Comments
By Jake Courtepatte
A late penalty kick allowed Toronto Skillz to earn their first point of the men’s Ontario League 1 season on Saturday at Sheppard’s Bush, playing to a 3 – 3 tie with Aurora United FC.
The 0 – 5 Toronto squad leaped out of the gate, beating keeper Youseff Mahrady after a nicely threaded pass at the 31-minute mark, followed in the final minute of the half by a chip shot over Mahrady’s head.
“We let ourselves down with two long balls over the top and they walked in and capitalized on both opportunities,” said Aurora head coach Jimmy Brennan.
The momentum quickly swung to the home side’s advantage, however, when the lead was cut to one just before the halftime whistle on a penalty by Simon Adjei.
Zakariae Mahrady tied the match at twos at the 73-minute mark, followed by Adjei’s second of the match three minutes later to take Aurora’s first lead.
Toronto was only able to gain a point from the contest after a late hand ball in the box, making no mistake on the ensuing penalty kick.
“Our guys did well to fight back and eventually took the lead, and that’s where you look to finish things off and win the game,” said Brennan. “But we’re not there yet as a team. We’re still learning some things, but overall it was a good performance by our guys.”
“They are a good little team and just like us – a new team and getting it together. We just want to pick up points at this stage, and with every one the boys will pick up confidence.”
Adjei has emerged as the offensive leader of the group in its first semi-professional season, notching four of Aurora’s six goals so far.
Aurora (1-5-1) returns to Sheppard’s Bush at 7 p.m. Saturday in a tough matchup with the league leading Sigma FC (7-0-0) of Mississauga.
The Aurora women faced an undefeated team in their own table on Saturday, visiting FC London.
The powerhouse London squad took the lead just sixteen minutes in, a lead that would stand until the 57th minute when Sarah Stratigakis drew the Aurora side level.
London pressured for three more goals, however, in the final thirty minutes of play to secure a 4 – 1 win.
Startigakis’ fourth goal of the season ties her for the team lead with Meghan Reynolds, combining for eight of the team’s nine goals this year.
“We did well to work it out of the back, I got a nice ball from my teammate and finished it,” said Stratagakis.
“It was an unfortunate result, but we are an expansion team so we are just trying to get together. We expect some tough losses until we begin to gel, that’s all part of it.”
“We lost to a very good team, first in the table,” said Aurora head coach, Ramin Mohammadi. “I think we came up short for the last twenty minutes, but were good before. We scored a goal early in the second half and kept the pressure on them for the first twenty and had opportunities but sometimes they don’t go in. We had a second one in to take the lead, but was called back for offside. I thought the girls did what they could do, they listened to the coaching advice, and at the end of the day we dipped physically in the end.”
Aurora (1-3-3) hosts the Woodbridge Strikers (3-0-3) at Sheppard’s Bush on Saturday at 4 p.m.
“We were short on the bench and had a player carrying an injury. But London is a very good team, and great atmosphere here. We’re looking forward to next week.”