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Trophy in front of women's team

Reserve Finals: Preview

By League1 Ontario staff, 08/04/22, 8:15AM EDT

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There are two L1O Reserve Division finals scheduled across Thursday and Friday; we've previewed both games.

Women's team behind trophy

North Toronto Nitros B vs Unionville Milliken B – Women’s Reserve Final on Thursday, August 4

These two teams finished the regular season first and second in the Women’s Reserve North East Division, with the Nitros beating Unionville to the top spot by three points.

The North Toronto side have shown how to win in style this year. Eight of their nine victories in the regular season were by margins of at least two goals, led by top scorer Kaia Rice who has six finishes to her name.

They defeated the West Division winners Guelph Union B 2-0 in the playoff semifinals, and Unionville Milliken needed penalties to overcome Woodbridge Strikers C – the championship favourites on paper after dropping just two points all season.

Melanie Sureshkumar has been a standout performer for Unionville from start to finish in the regular season, playing almost 1,000 minutes across 11 games. Esther Park has also featured in just as many games this season, often impacting from the bench.

While this is the Nitros’ first Women’s Reserve Final, Unionville have now reached this stage in consecutive seasons. Thursday night presents an opportunity to banish any pain from last year’s trophy-game defeat to Vaughan Azzurri on penalties.

Please click here to download the matchday program for the Women's Reserve Final.

Head-to-head

It was the Nitros who came out on top in the meeting with these two sides in the regular season. Goals from Sara Escallon and Amelia Salewicz were enough to secure the three points, nulling Jaspreet Dev’s strike for Unionville.

The final sees the North East Division’s best attack face the best defence; Unionville netted 39 times this season, while Nitros conceded just 10 goals in 12 games and lost just once in 2022, against FC Durham.

Simcoe County Rovers U21 vs Scrosoppi U21 – Men’s U21 Reserve Final on Friday, August 5

The Men’s U21 Reserve Final sees the champions of the North Division, Simcoe County Rovers, take on a Scrosoppi side that finished top of the Central Division.

Both teams entered this reserve competition for the first time this year and both went the whole season unbeaten; Scrosoppi winning 10 games to Rovers’ 11 – the later maintaining a 100 per cent record.

The Rovers defeated East Division champions North Toronto Nitros 3-1 to reach this stage and Scrosoppi downed Tecumseh 2-1. It’s the first time either club has reached a final in any competition after they were both established in the last two years.

Gianluca Scurti proved himself as a menace in front of goal for Scrosoppi in the regular season, bagging 11 goals from nine games. Meanwhile, Simcoe’s Andrew Paolucci netted 12 goals – a tally bettered only by Mitchell-Carlton Speechley-Price of Tecumseh who scored 19.

Download the Match Programme here

 

Head-to-head

As these two teams hail from different conferences, the final will be the first time they have met each other at this level. 

The Rovers have scored 15 more times than their final opponents in 2022 and conceded two fewer goals, but both have stormed their respective divisions, each finishing top with an eight-point margin.