2021 League1 Ontario season

Season2021

DatesJuly 29 – November 7, 2021

Regular Season ChampionsVaughan Azzurri

League1 Ontario
*Men's Division*
Season	2021
Dates	July 29 – November 7, 2021
Champions	Guelph United F.C.
Regular Season Champions	Vaughan Azzurri
Matches	90
Goals	374 (4.16 per match)
Top goalscorer	Jace Kotsopoulos (15)
Best goalkeeper	Christian Calabro (1.03 GAA)
← ~~2020~~ 2022 →

The 2021 Men's League1 Ontario season was the seventh season of play (the 2020 season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic) for League1 Ontario, a Division 3 men's soccer league in the Canadian soccer pyramid and the highest level of soccer based in the Canadian province of Ontario.

After the 2020 League1 Ontario season was cancelled, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the league was optimistic that the 2021 season would be able to proceed. The league initially announced a projected start date of July 2, 2021, also announcing a 'drop-dead date' of June 7, 2021 that will confirm the start of the season on that date depending on restrictions in the province, otherwise the season would be cancelled.^[1]^[2] In mid-June, the league start date was later revised to July 29, 2021, in accordance with the local re-opening plans.^[3]

Format

The league was divided into two divisions with the East Division having seven teams and the West division having eight teams. Each team played 12 games against teams in their own divisions (East played each opponent home and away, while West played five of the teams twice, and the remaining two teams once). The top two teams from each division advanced to the playoff semi-finals, with the winner of the championship final in November qualifying for the 2022 Canadian Championship.^[4]

Because the season began three months later than normal and with very short notice, some clubs have opted to delay their return to Premier Division competition until the 2022 season. As a large portion of the L1O player pool consisted of university and college student athletes, some sides would have limited squads after Labour Day. To combat these challenges, the league created a short-season ‘Summer Championship Series’ for 2021, which will conclude by Labour Day.^[4]

In addition, the Reserve Division will return, following a similar format to the Premier Division, featuring 21 teams in three division playing 12 matches, with the top teams advancing to the playoffs and featuring Championship Finals weekend on November 6-7.^[4]

Clubs

Team	City	Principal stadium	Main Division	Summer Championship	Reserve Division
1812 FC Barrie	Barrie / Brampton^{[note 1]}	Terry Fox Stadium (Brampton)	Participating	Did not enter	Withdrew
Alliance United FC	Toronto	Mount Joy	Withdrew	Participating	Participating
Blue Devils FC	Oakville	Bronte Park	Participating	Participating	Participating
Darby FC	Whitby	Whitby Soccer Centre	Participating	Did not enter	Participating
Guelph United F.C.	Guelph	Alumni Stadium	Participating	Did not enter	Participating
Hamilton United	Hamilton	Redeemer Sports Complex	Withdrew	Did not enter	Participating
FC London	London	Hellenic Community Centre	Participating	Did not enter	Participating
Master's Futbol	Toronto	L'Amoreaux Park	Participating	Did not enter	Participating (2 teams)
North Mississauga SC	Mississauga	Paramount Fine Foods Centre	Participating	Did not enter	Participating
North Toronto Nitros	Toronto	Downsview Turf 1	Participating	Did not enter	Withdrew
Pickering FC	Pickering	Kinsmen Park	Withdrew	Did not enter	Withdrew
ProStars FC	Brampton	Victoria Park Stadium	Participating	Participating	Participating
Scrosoppi FC	Milton	Bishop Reding Catholic Secondary School	Participating	Did not enter	Withdrew
Sigma FC	Mississauga	Paramount Fine Foods Centre	Participating	Did not enter	Participating
St. Catharines Roma Wolves	St. Catharines	Club Roma Stadium	Withdrew	Participating	Participating
Toronto Skillz FC	Toronto	Birchmount Stadium	Withdrew	Participating	Withdrew
Unionville Milliken SC	Markham	Bill Crothers Turf	Participating	Did not enter	Participating (2 teams)
Vaughan Azzurri	Vaughan	North Maple Regional Park	Participating	Participating	Participating
Waterloo United	Waterloo	RIM Park	Withdrew	Participating	Withdrew
Windsor TFC	Windsor	Libro Centre	Participating	Did not enter	Withdrew
Woodbridge Strikers	Vaughan	Vaughan Grove	Participating	Did not enter	Participating

Team	City	Principal stadium	Main Division	Summer Championship	Reserve Division
Tecumseh SC	Tecumseh	University of Windsor Stadium	N/a	Participating	Participating
Athlete Institute	Orangeville	The Hill Academy	N/a	N/a	Participating
Toronto FC III (U19)	Toronto	BMO Training Ground	N/a	Participating	N/a
Toronto FC IV (U17)	Toronto	BMO Training Ground	N/a	Participating	N/a
Whitecaps London	London	North London Stadium	N/a	Participating	N/a
FC Durham Academy	Oshawa	Vaso Field	N/a	N/a	Participating
Richmond Hill SC	Richmond Hill	Richmond Green	N/a	N/a	Participating
Rush Canada Academy	Oakville	Bronte Athletic Park	N/a	N/a	Participating

Premier Division

East Division

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Vaughan Azzurri	12	11	1	0	41	11	+30	34	Advance to playoffs
2	Master's Futbol	12	6	3	3	28	22	+6	21	Advance to playoffs
3	Woodbridge Strikers	12	6	1	5	27	23	+4	19
4	Unionville Milliken SC	12	5	2	5	19	22	−3	17
5	1812 FC Barrie	12	4	1	7	25	32	−7	13
6	Darby FC	12	3	3	6	19	26	−7	12
7	North Toronto Nitros	12	1	1	10	16	39	−23	4

Source: Standings

West Division

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Guelph United FC (O)	12	10	0	2	42	15	+27	30	Advance to playoffs
2	Blue Devils FC	12	9	2	1	29	13	+16	29	Advance to playoffs
3	FC London	12	8	0	4	30	20	+10	24
4	Scrosoppi FC	12	6	1	5	34	22	+12	19
5	Sigma FC	12	4	3	5	24	32	−8	15
6	ProStars FC	12	4	2	6	22	31	−9	14
7	North Mississauga SC	12	1	2	9	10	32	−22	5
8	Windsor TFC	12	0	2	10	8	34	−26	2

Updated to match(es) played on compete. Source: Standings
(O) Play-off winners

Playoffs

Semifinals			Championship Game

W1	Guelph United FC	2 (9)

E2	Master's Futbol	2 (8)
			W1	Guelph United FC	3

			W2	Blue Devils FC	1
E1	Vaughan Azzurri	1

W2	Blue Devils FC	2

Semifinals

October 30, 2021	Guelph United FC	2–2 (9–8 p)	Master's FA	Guelph, Ontario
5:00 PM	Doros 25' Kotsopoulos 70'	Report	Phillip 43', 45'	Stadium: Alumni Stadium Referee: Filip Dujic
	Penalties
	Doros Skublak Kotsopoulos Steriotis Sears Walker Vidovich Marchant Dick Oakley Artemenko		Agard Wishart Phillip Shahwan Dabire Spencer Cortez Nikolic Wright Meikle Koskinas

October 31, 2021	Vaughan Azzurri	1–2	Blue Devils FC	Vaughan, Ontario
2:00 PM	Carreiro 73'	Report	Allen 14', 26'	Stadium: North Maple Regional Park Referee: Hassane Rifai

Final

November 7, 2021	Guelph United FC	3–1	Blue Devils FC	Vaughan, Ontario
4:00 PM	Kotsopoulous 19', 80' (pen.) Skublak 26'	Report	Allen 90+4'	Stadium: Ontario Soccer Centre Referee: Scott Bowman

Statistics

Top goalscorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Jace Kotsopoulos	Guelph United	15
2	Ethan Gopaul	FC London	11
2	Reshon Phillip	Master's FA	11
4	Tomasz Skublak	Guelph United	10
5	Johnson Amoo	1812 FC Barrie	8
	Kadiebue Kadiebue	Woodbridge Strikers
	Alexander Zis	Guelph United
8	Leaford Allen	Blue Devils FC	7
	Jevontae Layne	ProStars FC
	Raheem Rose	Vaughan Azzurri
	Jason Squeo	Sigma FC

Updated to matches played on October 28, 2021. Source:

Top goalkeepers

Rank	Player	Club	Minutes	GAA
1	Christian Calabro	Vaughan Azzurri	788	1.03
2	Lucas Birnstingl	Blue Devils FC	810	1.22
3	Svyatik Artemenko	Guelph United	1080	1.25
4	Spiridon Koskinas	Master's FA	636	1.27
5	Alexander Pothemont	Woodbridge Strikers	810	1.33

Updated to matches played on October 28, 2021. Minimum 450 minutes played. Source:

Honours

The following awards and nominations were awarded for the 2021 season.^[6]

Awards

East Division

Award	Player	Team
Most Valuable Player	Reshon Phillip	Master's FA
Coach of the Year	Patrice Gheisar	Vaughan Azzurri
Top Goalkeeper	Quillan Roberts	1812 FC Barrie
Top Defender	Terrell Spencer	Master's FA
Top Midfielder	Francis Ameyaw	Master's FA

West Division

Award	Player	Team
Most Valuable Player	Jace Kotsopoulos	Guelph United F.C.
Coach of the Year	Keith Mason & Justin Springer	Guelph United F.C.
Top Goalkeeper	Svyatoslav Artemenko	Guelph United F.C.
Top Defender	Amardo Oakley	Guelph United F.C.
Top Midfielder	Alex Zis	Guelph United F.C.

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