King U14 Royals advance in CSL Cup tournament

August 2, 2017 · 0 Comments

The U14 King City Royals boys’ soccer team had a very busy July as they reached the half-way mark of their outdoor campaign in the Central Soccer League (CSL), as well as winning their opening round match of the CSL Cup Tournament.

Cup Action

The CSL Cup opened on July 29 under clear blue skies and sunny conditions as the Royals played at Country Day School against Whitby. The opening half was evenly played as both clubs had few opportunities as the majority of the half was played in the midfield. The game was scoreless at the break.
Five minutes into the second half, striker Marco LaVerde took a shot from at least 25 yards out and picked the top right hand corner with a bullet shot to give the Royals a 1-0 lead. Unfortunately that lead was short-lived as Whitby scored five minutes later off a turnover when a Whitby player took a though ball pass and split the King City defence to score the tying goal.
Both teams had many good chances to score throughout the second half but just could not find the net. Whitby had the best chance with under five minutes to go when they hit a crossbar from just outside the 18 yard box. The score was tied 1-1 after regulation.
CSL Cup games go straight to penalty kicks if tied after regulation and King City chose to kick first. Mario Fratto scored first, followed by the Whitby player who went bar down to make it 1-1 after the first shooters. Miguel Parra was second and scored as goalkeeper Zishan Tejpar saved the second Whitby shooter to make it 2-1 after two rounds. Both teams scored in the next two rounds (Mason Dalakis and Jacob Snelgrove were the King City scorers) to make it 4-3 heading into the fifth round. Marco LaVerde was the final penalty taker for King City and he calmly scored to give King City the 1-1 (5-3 pen) victory. The Royals next CSL Cup game will be the quarter finals when they play East York at a date still to be determined.

League Play

In league play, the Royals played that same Whitby team on the road on July 26 as they defeated the opposition 7-1 in dominating fashion. After missing many opportunities early on and trailing 1-0 ten minutes in, the Royals dominated play thereafter taking a 3-1 lead at the half and finishing the game off by scoring seven unanswered goals in the win. Gianpaolo Luiciani (with his second of the year), Giovanni Scuilli (with his first), Zack Donsky, with a pair (five on the year), and Mario Fratto, who scored his first three goals of the year via a hat-trick, were the goal scorers in that game.
On July 19, the Royals snapped a two game losing streak by winning a nail biter 1-0 against Glen Shields. Zishan Tejpar picked up the clean sheet as Mason Dalakis scored the game’s lone goal, his fourth of the campaign.
King City also played on July 5 against Toronto’s Sporting CP and lost 4-1 as Kahyl Jadavji scored the team’s only goal, his second of the year.
King City are now in 10th place out of 18 teams in the CSL with a 5-4-0 record (15 points) as they continue to fight to stay in the top 11 of the league standings to avoid relegation. Their next league game is on Aug. 9 when they travel away to face North Toronto, who are currently in fourth place.