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PREVIEW: Women's L1 Cup Quarter Final Round

By League1 Ontario staff, 06/23/18, 10:30AM 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. 

Click here for the men's Quarter-Final preview, while we delve into the women's Quarter-Final bracket below. 

FC London v Vaughan Azzurri (Saturday June 23 @ Marconi Club, London, noon k.o.)

A real juggernaut of a match to get the women's quarter-final round going, this one pits the current L1 Cup holders - FC London - against third place league side, Vaughan Azzurri. 

Two very skilled teams with the league's top attack (FC London, 18 goals for) up against the league's second best attack (Vaughan Azzurri, 17 goals for), this one may come down to who can keep their defensive integrity the longest. 

In this case, London has the joint-best defence in the league (only 5 goals conceded in 7 matches) while Vaughan's record is good for mid-table defence at best (11 goals conceded over 7 matches). 

The 2018 head-to-head record of these two teams goes marginally to London as well, with the defending champs having got the better of visitors Vaughan Azzurri on June 9 (3-2 final). 

London is undefeated in this season and is carrying a 27 game long unbeaten streak into the match, which is three matches shy of a London team's undefeated run in an Ontario league - in any sport! Apparently way back in 2005 the OHL London Knights managed a 31 game run, so the FC London women are gunning to break that stat. 

Key Players: FC London centre-forward and captain Jade Kovacevic is always the first name on any all-time League1 first XI sheet as her goalscoring exploits seems to have no end. Vaughan will need to find a way to shut out Kovacevic if they are to unlock London. 

On the Vaughan side, former Canadian University Rookie of the Year and Player of the Year, Nour Ghoneim, is always a threat to watch out for. She scored early in the June 9 meeting between these two and Vaughan will need to be firing on all cylinders to put London away.   

Toronto Blizzard v Unionville Milliken SC (Sunday June 24 @ Azzurri Village, 3 p.m. k.o.)

Unionville Milliken returns to the quarter-final stage for the second year in a row - last year dropping out in this round following a narrow 3-2 loss to finalists, Woodbridge Strikers - while Toronto Azzurri Blizzard's quarter-final berth represents their furthest run in the competition thus far. 

Unionville is currently joint-third in the league while Toronto Azzurri Blizzard take up 13th spot, so for both sides a solid run in the Cup would be much appreciated. 

Unionville arrives in the quarter-final stage after a first round bye, while the Blizzard took down Darby FC 3-1 to book their spot. 

Key Players: Toronto Azzurri Blizzard's Alicia Pallister scored a hat-trick against Darby in the first round of the Cup to guide the team through. Look to see if she can become a Cup standout with another big run of goals. The Blizzard haven't scored any other goals in league play, so they'll need to change that quickly to move on in the Cup. 

On the Unionville side, the team is joint-second in defensive record across the league (5 goals against) and joint-fourth in the attack dept. (12 goals for) so look for team top scorer Natasha Klasios to do the business up top while Canadian youth national keeper Marissa Zucchetto will need to lock it up in the back. 

North Miss v De Ro United (Sunday June 24 @ Hershey Centre 2, 3 p.m. k.o.)

North Miss play out their first L1 Cup 2018 match here after a first-round bye, while De Ro United play out their second ever Cup match, following a 3-1 defeat of West Ottawa in their debut season Cup competition. 

De Ro and North Miss met in the league on May 12 with De Ro getting the upper hand in a 3-0 result at home. This marks DeRo's last win in the league, with a loss and two draws showing some inconsistency of form. 

North Miss currently sits ninth in the league, three points off De Ro in seventh, and has started to stitch together some form in recent weeks - two wins (Oakville, Darby) and one loss (West Ottawa) represent a team looking to get a firm foothold on their season. 

With both teams in a similar position in the table, and looking back to their last meeting as the point when everything changed in their respective records, expect something of a grudge match here to determine who gets a semi-final berth. 

Key players: Carla Portillo, Julia Crnjac and Sara Traynor are on two goals a piece at the top of the North Miss scoring table, with Jackson Bennett and Carla Briscoe not far behind. Keeper Deanna Persico has shown her abilities of late, making highlight reel saves for North Miss. 

On the De Ro side, Alexis Kirton, Cassandra Sribny and Kodee Williams sit on two goals a piece. Canadian international Deanne Rose is an x-factor in this side of course, although she has only appeared for 90 minutes thus far this season.  

Woodbridge Strikers v Aurora FC (Sunday June 24 @ Vaughan Grove, 3:45 p.m. k.o.) 

Eleventh place Aurora will visit Vaughan Grove - the home of joint-fourth place side Woodbridge Strikers - on Sunday, in the hopes of reversing a narrow 3-2 loss to the hosts in the league just two weeks ago. 

Aurora has struggled for form this season with four losses in the last four games marring their recent record, while Woodbridge is unbeaten this season and coming off a 2-0 win over their derby rivals, Vaughan Azzurri, last week. 

Both teams earned their quarter-final spot with first round wins, Aurora taking out Oakville (2-1) while Woodbridge dropped Durham (4-0).

2017 finalists, Woodbridge will be gunning for a return to the big show this season. 

Key Players: Keeper Vanessa Fiore has been key in Woodbridge's defensive solidity (joint-second in the league) while Canadian youth international, Jessica Lisi, is the team top scorer with two goals. Keep an eye out for former CWNT player Diamond Simpson, whose highlight reel goal from 35 yards out just may be the current goal of the season. 

For Aurora, goals have been in short supply but Markela Bejleri has scored one third of the team total, with Samantha Murphy and Cloey Uttenberg not far behind her. Keeper Meaghan Phillips has been a strong presence in net for the black and yellow, she'll need to be on top form to keep out the Woodbridge threat.