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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