The 1-0 lead ignited Woodbridge as they looked to add to their lead, but St. Catharines was able to keep the deficit at one.
St. Catharines settled down after the opening minutes and started to ask a few questions of the Woodbridge defence, but they defended well when they were pressed.
Woodbridge’s solid defending lead to counterattacking, and in the 38th minute Tony Greco gave chase to a ball, beating a St. Catharines defender and volleying over the goalkeeper to make it 2-0.
The teams went into halftime with the score at 2-0 in favour of the Woodbridge Strikers.
St. Catharines had work to do in the second half, and they put together good spells of attacking soccer, but were not rewarded early in the half.
On the contrary, Woodbridge was able to counterattack and scored their third goal, which resembled the second one.
This time it was #2 Rene De Zorzi who struck in the 67th minute, beating a St. Catharines defender on a bouncing ball, and volleying past the goalkeeper.
St. Catharines got onto the scoresheet in the 75th minute through Carlos Williams, giving the Gunners some time to stage a potential comeback.
But Woodbridge’s #18 Michael Holder killed that optimism in the 85th minute by scoring Woodbridge’s fourth goal.
Two minutes later, #15 Casper Rej-Kleczek silenced the Gunners for good and with their 5-1 victory, the Woodbridge Strikers were crowned Ontario Cup Champions.
Reported by Rob Ferrari / OSA
Photo & Video by Wolf Ruck / OSA
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