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PREVIEW: Men's L1 Cup Quarter Final Round

By League1 Ontario staff, 06/22/18, 5:15PM EDT

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It all kicks off Friday June 22 in the 2018 L1 Cup Quarter-Final stage as Sigma FC hosts FC London on the men's side of the bracket, before FC London women get into action on Saturday June 23 with visitors Vaughan Azzurri in town. 

Keep your eyes peeled for the women's Quarter-Final preview on Saturday morning, while we delve into the men's Quarter-Final bracket below. 

Sigma FC v FC London (9 p.m. kickoff @ Hershey Centre 1)

No love lost between these two teams as battle after battle has played out over the years in league play. Only three weeks ago the two teams met in league play, which Sigma will have fond memories of after a 3-0 final result in their favour.

Still, Sigma are likely still smarting after dropping points in London during a late 2017 season tilt that seriously dented Sigma's aspirations towards a first place finish in the west division conference and a berth in the League1 Ontario finals. 

Both sides have been buzzing through 2018 L1 Cup and league play alike; neither FC London (2-0 over Darby FC) or Sigma (4-0 over Sanjaxx SS) gave up a goal in their first round Cup matches. In Sigma's case, they have only given up one goal in five league games and their single Cup fixture combined. With respect to London, they have leaked goals at times (three conceded to Sigma and Darby), but have shown a great ability to outscore the competition in recent wins (6-0 over OSU; 5-3 over Darby). 

Sigma and FC London are currently tied in League1 play as well, sitting on 13 points a piece (although Sigma holds a game in hand), so this match sets up very nice for the neutral.

Key players: Sigma's Marcel Zajac was the Gatorade League1 Ontario Player Of The Month for May after an outstanding start that saw him score five goals in his first three league matches and two in the Cup. Zajac was injured a couple weeks ago though, so jury out on whether he will play, but Justin Stoddart had a brace in their last outing so could be the fix. 

For London, captain Randy Ribeiro has been scoring highlight goals aplenty of late with his ability to strike from distance, while youth product Connor Wilson has also grabbed headlines for his mobile attacking play and goalscoring abilities.

TFC III v Pro Stars FC (Saturday June 23 @ Victoria Park, 8:30 p.m.)

Pro Stars arrived in the quarters after an entertaining 3-2 win required a penalty kicks tiebreaker to get past a determined Aurora FC side. 

Toronto FC III has been on a high all season, bashing Windsor 4-1 in their first-round Cup match-up before really shellacking Windsor in their last league match, 10-0. 

The Junior Reds have been the class of the league this year, currently sitting six points clear of Sigma and London in second and with an undefeated record. 

TFC III's defensive record is well intact with only three goals conceded over seven league games; Pro Stars have only registered one win in seven matches and racked up 16 goals against. 

On the attacking end, TFC has 24 goals in their seven league matches while Pro Stars have five in seven. 

Key Players: Aleksander Zwierzynski is the Pro Stars stats leader with three goals in six appearances, though keeper Aaron Peters might be the one to watch here. His goalkeeping exploits have produced some outstanding moments in recent weeks, and demonstrate that Pro Stars have a #1 that can keep them in a game - provided they can find the offence to win it. 

On the TFC III side, Afram Gorgees (6), Shaan Hundal (4) and Daniel Bilousov (3) are the stats leaders in the team, but being the local MLS Academy's third team - this is a side packed with talent of course. 

Masters FA Saints v Oakville Blue Devils (Sunday June 24 @ Sheridan Trafalgar, 6 p.m.)

Masters nailed their Quarter-Final berth after smashing Unionville-Milliken (4-0) while Oakville took a comfortable win over Toronto Skillz (3-1). 

Blue Devils are coming off the disappointment of a loss in the first round qualifier of the Canadian Championship, and a loss in the league to Vaughan Azzurri to follow it up, so may be pinning serious hopes on this match to get their mojo back in place. 

After a very strong start to the season, Masters has had inconsistent form of late.

A 1-0 loss to table-toppers Toronto FC III was compounded by a late equalizer scored against them by Alliance United FC to draw 2-2. 

Very much a match of two teams looking to stay on track and define their 2018 trajectory from here - this should be a cracker. Stay tuned to league1ontario.com to watch this one on Livestream. 

Key Players: Masters' Jose De Sousa has been consistently on point with the goals since the start of the season, and currently tops the team stats chart. However, the team needs to keep their defensive focus so as not to drop points like in Matchweek 7 vs Alliance. The key piece here is Masters' defensive unit.

On the Oakville side, forward Anthony Novak has five league goals in six appearances while Filipe Vilela (3)and Brandon Duarte (3) are just two other proven goalscorers with multiple goals in their columns. Oakville is typically very resilient defensively and will need to be to keep out this attack-focused Masters' side. 

Woodbridge Strikers v Vaughan Azzurri (Sunday June 24 @ Vaughan Grove 1, 7 p.m.)

Always an intense battle when these two neighbours meet, and this L1 Cup Quarter should be no exception. 

Woodbridge are the defending L1 Cup champs and home pitch advantage is theirs for this round. 

Vaughan smashed North Miss (6-0) in the first round, while Woodbridge were comfortable in a 4-1 result over Ottawa South United. Eddie Lay and Steve Klousouniotis with a brace each for Vaughan, and Tyrell Rayne with one for Woodbridge.

Vaughan is currently fifth in the league table with a point on sixth place side, Woodbridge Strikers. Strikers have retained their characteristic defensive solidity in 2018 (only six goals in seven games is good enough for the third best record), but have added offensive power this season with their 20 GF giving them the second best attacking in the league as well.

Vaughan has struggled for consistency, but after coming off a convincing 5-2 win over 2017 Champions Oakville Blue Devils last week - the Azzurri just may be turning a corner on their season.  

Key Players: Emmanuel Issac leads the Strikers with goals (four in seven matches), while teammates Ignazio Muccilli and Joshua Parades-Procter (three in five matches) round out the list.

One needs to look quite far down the goalscoring ranks to find Vaughan players, with the top four scorers all level on two goals a piece - Jarek Whiteman, Dylan Sacramento, Jarred Phillips and Thomasz Skublak.