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Early Season League1 Men's Leaders Take Shape

By Johnny Stancati, 05/19/17, 4:45PM EDT

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League1 Ontario enters Matchweek Four of its fourth ever season this weekend, and there are plenty of early story-lines that have emerged in the Men’s division, with the addition of new talent across the league and a brand new team – OSU Force.

Twenty-four games have been played to this point combining for 85 goals – which works out to be over 3.5 goals a game! - while four teams remain undefeated in Sigma FC, Woodbridge Strikers, OSU Force and Vaughan Azzurri.

Sigma FC (the only undefeated team in the West) held on for a narrow 2-1 victory on opening weekend vs Oakville Blue Devils before convincing 4-1 victories over TFC III and Pro Stars FC.

Having returned from Swope Park Rangers in the USL, Jonathan Grant has got off to a rapid start registering three goals so far in a slightly more advanced role than he's used to.

Looking ahead, Sigma will continue on the road with visits to Sanjaxx Lions and Windsor TFC, and an L1 Cup meeting vs TFC III sandwiched in-between, before their home opener on June 3rd vs cross-town rivals North Mississauga SC.


Dylan Carriero, Woodbridge Strikers (Photo: Martin Bazyl)

Woodbridge is 4-0-0 on the season including their nail-biting shootout victory in the L1 Cup vs Sanjaxx.

They have had arguably the most exciting fixtures of any team recording last minute victories vs Master’s and North Toronto Nitros with four of their five league goals coming past the 80' minute of play.

Canadian internationals Quillan Roberts and Dylan Carreiro have proved to be valuable additions to the squad, with Roberts recording a MOTM performance in their first match, and Carreiro providing the lone goal of the game with a superb free-kick vs Durham.

Following a visit to Aurora they face tough tests vs OSU and Vaughan that will really shape up the East Division.

Entering the season, many did not know what to expect from newcomers OSU Force.

One of the largest clubs in the country with approximately 7,000 members, OSU have started the season 3-0-0 boasting the greatest goal differential in the league with +9.

OSU began on the road with wins over Aurora and Masters followed by a convincing home win vs Toronto Skillz.

With the help of team leading goal scorer Gabriel Bitar, OSU will look to amass maximum points entering a difficult run of fixtures vs Durham, Vaughan, Woodbridge, North Toronto and Oakville Blue Devils.

Having been held to a 0-0 score line to Durham on opening weekend, defending champions Vaughan Azzurri have registered back-to-back wins vs Toronto Skillz and Master's in the league, along with a dominant 8-2 victory in the L1 Cup over Skillz.

Vaughan had had seven different goal scorers across all competitions (the most in the league) and have benefitted from the addition of ex-TFC player Chris Mannella to provide stability in the midfield.

Vaughan's next three games will be on the road vs North Toronto, OSU, and Aurora before the derby vs Woodbridge.