Sluggish Guelph United blanked by Blue Devils
GUELPH – Guelph United just couldn’t seem to get on track Sunday night in League1 Ontario Men’s Premier Soccer play at Alumni Stadium.
Blue Devils FC of Oakville scored a pair of goals 20 minutes apart in the second half to hand United a 2-0 setback.
Blue Devils FC 2 Guelph United 0
“It took us a long time to find a way into the match and the last five minutes was at our level, our style of play, what we want and how we want to go out and how we want to attack teams,” said United’s associate head coach Justin Springer. “By then, it was just way too late which is unfortunate.”
With neither team scoring in the first half, United did press a little at the beginning of the second half before the Blue Devils regained control of the match.
“It certainly didn’t last,” Springer said of the early second-half pressure.
Brandon Duarte in the 57th minute and Matthew Santos in the 77th accounted for the goals for the Blue Devils while Lucas Birnstingl had the clean sheet.
The Blue Devils might have had a little extra incentive in the match against United as they had dropped last year’s league final 3-1 to the Guelph side. The Oakville side also wanted to stay unbeaten at Alumni Stadium as the Blue Devils had won there 1-0 in United’s final home game last season. United had also dropped the Blue Devils 5-0 in league play in Oakville earlier in the season.
However, this year’s season is bound to be more difficult than last year. In 2021, United played each of its seven West Division opponents twice in the regular season. This year all 22 of the league’s teams are in a single division and they’re to play each other once apiece during the regular season.
Last year there were a total of eight opponents in United’s season – the seven other members of the Western Division in the regular season (played each one twice) and their semifinal opponents, Master’s FC. United faced the Blue Devils in the final after the Oakville squad posted a upset over Vaughan Azzurri in the other semifinal to make the final an all-Western Division affair.
“It’s a completely different season than last year,” Springer said. “We’re coming up against opposition that we never got the opportunity to play last year including North Toronto, your Woodbridge, your Simcoe County Rovers, your Electric City. Everything the league has done to grow and bring in other groups and other organizations and continue to grow the game absolutely makes it a lot more of a difficult season than what anybody has ever come up against or come across inside of League1.”
While United won’t be pleased with Sunday’s result, they’re not about to just walk away not think about it.
“Every single game you’ve got to come away with some key learnings from it,” Springer said. “I think we learned a lot tonight about intensity, effort, organization, game management. We learn from this and now it’s all about preparing for our next one Saturday against North Toronto, which is again another very, very, very good side.”
United is tied for eighth with a 3-2-1 record while the Blue Devils are fifth at 3-0-4, one of two teams that remain undefeated. Third-place Vaughan Azzurri (4-0-2) is the other.
After a pair of home games, United is to hit the road for a game against league-leading North Toronto Nitros (5-1-1) Saturday at Downsview Park. Game time is 8 p.m.
After that game, they’re to be back at Alumni Stadium for three consecutive games as they’re to host Unionville Milliken FC (3-3-1) June 10 at 7:30 p.m., Sigma FC (2-3-1) June 14 at 8 p.m. and Pickering FC (3-4-0) June 17 at 7:30 p.m.
- Guelph Sports Journal
Sluggish Guelph United blanked by Blue Devils
GUELPH – Guelph United just couldn’t seem to get on track Sunday night in League1 Ontario Men’s Premier Soccer play at Alumni Stadium.
Blue Devils FC of Oakville scored a pair of goals 20 minutes apart in the second half to hand United a 2-0 setback.
Blue Devils FC 2
Guelph United 0
“It took us a long time to find a way into the match and the last five minutes was at our level, our style of play, what we want and how we want to go out and how we want to attack teams,” said United’s associate head coach Justin Springer. “By then, it was just way too late which is unfortunate.”
With neither team scoring in the first half, United did press a little at the beginning of the second half before the Blue Devils regained control of the match.
“It certainly didn’t last,” Springer said of the early second-half pressure.
Brandon Duarte in the 57th minute and Matthew Santos in the 77th accounted for the goals for the Blue Devils while Lucas Birnstingl had the clean sheet.
The Blue Devils might have had a little extra incentive in the match against United as they had dropped last year’s league final 3-1 to the Guelph side. The Oakville side also wanted to stay unbeaten at Alumni Stadium as the Blue Devils had won there 1-0 in United’s final home game last season. United had also dropped the Blue Devils 5-0 in league play in Oakville earlier in the season.
However, this year’s season is bound to be more difficult than last year. In 2021, United played each of its seven West Division opponents twice in the regular season. This year all 22 of the league’s teams are in a single division and they’re to play each other once apiece during the regular season.
Last year there were a total of eight opponents in United’s season – the seven other members of the Western Division in the regular season (played each one twice) and their semifinal opponents, Master’s FC. United faced the Blue Devils in the final after the Oakville squad posted a upset over Vaughan Azzurri in the other semifinal to make the final an all-Western Division affair.
“It’s a completely different season than last year,” Springer said. “We’re coming up against opposition that we never got the opportunity to play last year including North Toronto, your Woodbridge, your Simcoe County Rovers, your Electric City. Everything the league has done to grow and bring in other groups and other organizations and continue to grow the game absolutely makes it a lot more of a difficult season than what anybody has ever come up against or come across inside of League1.”
While United won’t be pleased with Sunday’s result, they’re not about to just walk away not think about it.
“Every single game you’ve got to come away with some key learnings from it,” Springer said. “I think we learned a lot tonight about intensity, effort, organization, game management. We learn from this and now it’s all about preparing for our next one Saturday against North Toronto, which is again another very, very, very good side.”
United is tied for eighth with a 3-2-1 record while the Blue Devils are fifth at 3-0-4, one of two teams that remain undefeated. Third-place Vaughan Azzurri (4-0-2) is the other.
After a pair of home games, United is to hit the road for a game against league-leading North Toronto Nitros (5-1-1) Saturday at Downsview Park. Game time is 8 p.m.
After that game, they’re to be back at Alumni Stadium for three consecutive games as they’re to host Unionville Milliken FC (3-3-1) June 10 at 7:30 p.m., Sigma FC (2-3-1) June 14 at 8 p.m. and Pickering FC (3-4-0) June 17 at 7:30 p.m.
- Guelph Sports Journal