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Strikers Put An End To FC London Streak With 2-0 Result

By League1 Ontario staff, 07/04/16, 6:15PM EDT

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Woodbridge Strikers put on a sparkling performance on Sunday night, dropping the previously unbeaten FC London team 2-0 after finishes from Vladanka Gurovski (6') and Alyscha Mottershead (11'). Keeper Hope Sabadash kept the clean sheet.

"I thought today was amazing," said Woodbridge head coach, Joe Parolini. "We decided we would go at them hard, in spite of missing four starters, but our '99 girls stepped up and played amazing."

"I think it shows that our program of training our '99's and League1 teams together is working, you couldn't even tell tonight who was in which squad. I thought it was amazing."

Both teams settled into their signature passing games early, but Woodbridge appeared to have an extra sizzle to their step and were rewarded early on after Lisa Pecheresky earned a penalty (dispatched by Gurovsky), and Mottershead finished off a nice team move - all within the first eleven minutes.

"We've watched their game film, and I think tactically we were prepared," said Parolini. "We were both playing a 4-3-3 and we did our tactical thing and we came out on top today. I think our backline was solid and we limited the league top-scorer, Jade [Kovacevic], to a couple shots. I think overall our gameplan worked."

Woodbridge brought were missing a few starters, and took the opportunity to showcase the depth of their program, including freshly minted Canada U17 player, Mikayla Dayes. 

"You can really see the maturity of the young players we have coming through, and let's just hope Mikayla Dayes is the first of many in our group to be selected for the junior national team," said Parolini. 

"Having her called up is obviously phenomenal for the program, and our goal is to try and put the club on the map so having a U17 national team player come out of the team is amazing."

FC London head coach Mike Marcoccia was aware his team were in for a tough afternoon, after playing the previous day against Kingston, and up against their closest rivals in the table.  

"At this level, it is a lot of strain on athletes to play two days in a row but that was the situation we were in and we had to deal with it," he said. "I think fatigue could play a factor, but there are a hundred other factors that you could blame in a situation like this." 

"I'm still happy though," he added. "It wasn't the most consistent performance for us, but we're in first place right now and they're in second and we knew from watching their match video that this was a very good team and they would be hard to beat." 

"We have a goal this year to execute a certain playing style and whether we win or we lose we're not looking to flip-flop our style, we'll come back the next match and look to execute the same way that we've tried to before."

FC London will play North Mississauga Panthers on July 10 (6 p.m.) at Hershey Centre. 

Woodbridge Strikers will play another top team in Durham United FA on July 10 (7 p.m.) at Vaughan Grove, Woodbridge.