Woodbridge Strikers & Durham Celtic battle it out for 2017 Ontario Cup

The 102nd Ontario Cup Final will feature two Ontario Soccer League clubs, the Woodbridge Strikers and Durham Celtic. The match will kick off on Sunday, Sept. 10 2017 at 5:30 p.m at the Ontario Soccer Centre.

The Ontario Cup has a long and historic history that has seen some of the countries best players and clubs showcase their talents.

The first Ontario Cup was awarded to the legendary Canadian club, Galt Football Club in 1901. Galt would go on to win the next two finals and into the Canadian soccer history books.

Hamilton Westinghouse sit on top as the winningest club in the cups history, having won the competition a record six times.

Ottawa Gloucester Celtic are the reigning champions, and have won two of the last five cup finals. However they were eliminated in the second round by fellow Ottawa club, Internationals SC MP.

The road to the 2017 Ontario Cup final has been a long one for both Woodbridge and Durham, who have had to go through three hard fought matches to get to where they are today.

For Woodbridge, their journey started against fellow OSL club Mississauga HNNK Zagreb. The Strikers were able to edge out Zagreb 1-0 and move on to take on another Mississauga OSL club by the name of Portofino.

The Strikers would go on to take a commanding 3-1 win over Portofino and another 1-0 victory over HRVAT St. Catharines. Their semi-final matchup with Panathinaikos Toronto was set.

On the other side of the tournament tree, Durham began their cup run by outscoring both Toronto Golden Eagles and Scarborough Wexford Hi Profile by a combined nine goals to nil. 

Their quarter final matchup with Scarborough G.S United saw them give up their first goal of the tournament, but Durham were able to go on and win 4-1 and move into a semi-final matchup with Vaughan Azzurri.

The semi-finals were now set, with the four team's remaining all participating in the OSL and competing in the leagues highest senior level.

Durham Celtic have become a well known name in the OSL, finishing in the top half of their division for the past few seasons. They currently sit in third in the provincial elite standings with a 6W-3L-1T record. However, they were ousted out of the Alf Beese Cup in the second round by Caledon FC.

When it came time to take on fellow powerhouse Vaughan Azzurri, Durham knew they needed to continue their dominating form and play smart.

The match ended just like the previous ones for Durham, a shutout and a 3-0 victory.

For Woodbridge, they currently sit in last place in the provincial elite division and have been seen as underdogs this whole season.

When it came time for their semi-final matchup, Woodbridge already knew who they would be facing in the cup final and needed to put together a much better showing compared to their last encounter with Panathinaikos, in which they lost 2-0.

After the 90 minutes were played, the Strikers were able to put on their best showing so far in the cup, coming out on top with a 5-2 win.

On Sunday, both teams will have one thing in mind; winning the Ontario Cup and being able to represent the province in Surrey, B.C at the National Championships. 

The game will be live streamed on the Ontario Soccer livestream channel here. 

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