Friday-night double

After substitute Christopher Badibengi netted a double for Darby to give his side three points over Hamilton United yesterday, the Men's Premier Division weekend kicks off tonight with Alliance United visiting Guelph United and Woodbridge Strikers on the road to North Mississauga.

Alliance United got their season under way in perfect fashion last time out with a 3-0 victory over St Catharines Roma Wolves. Guelph United may pose a tougher test, however, as they too made a solid start to their campaign with a tie against last season’s runners-up, Blue Devils, who scored late to snatch their share of the spoils.

Both Woodbridge Strikers and North Mississauga come into their Friday-night match-up looking to get their first points on the board. The teams played out a five-goal thriller when they met in 2022, so expect an exciting game once again.

Two wins from two

Eight Men's Premier Division teams will take to the field on Saturday with four of them looking to win their second game on the bounce in 2023.

ProStars and Sigma get the day started having both registered wins in Week One. The latter’s Kevaughn Tavernier is the one to watch after his impressive hat-trick against Hamilton United.

Looking for their first win of the season are North Toronto Nitros as they travel to Fleming College to face Electric City. The Nitros showed potential in their 2-2 draw with Vaughan Azzurri last time out; meanwhile the hosts narrowly lost their first game to Scrosoppi.

Our Game of the Week features Scrosoppi as they host champions Vaughan Azzurri on Saturday evening. Can Scrosoppi cause an upset and give the Azzurri their first L1O regular-season defeat since 2019? You can watch the match live on the L1O YouTube channel with kick-off at 6pm ET, and predict the result on the @L1OMens Twitter page.

Simcoe County Rovers and Master’s FA are the final two teams to face off on Saturday, with the latter looking to score their first goals of the campaign. Playoff hopefuls Simcoe were victorious in this fixture in 2022, with a goal in the fifth minute of injury time giving them a 3-2 win.  

FC London kickstart their season

FC London had a bye in Week One so will be taking to the field for the first time this season on Sunday. They travel to St Catharines Roma Wolves who are looking to recover from their opening-weekend defeat.

Elsewhere, Burlington and Unionville Milliken will take on each other at Corpus Christi CSS, aiming to stay in the top six and continue their positive starts to the season. At the same time, Blue Devils come up against Windsor City with both teams looking for their first win of 2023.

Women’s Premier Division returns

If you haven’t already, check out our Women’s Premier Division season preview as the league kicks off tonight with two games – the latter featuring 2022 champions NDC Ontario.

The Women’s Premier Division Game of the Week is Hamilton United’s clash with Electric City on Saturday, meaning you can watch the match live on the L1O YouTube channel straight after the Men’s Premier Division stream and predict the game’s result on the @L1OWomens Twitter page.