It’s playoff time! GUFC visits Vaughan tonight, for round 1
After a one year absence, your Guelph United men’s team is back in the League1 Ontario playoffs.
We are facing Vaughan Azzurri tonight, in the quarter finals, in a matchup of the last 2 League1 Ontario champions. The game kicks off at 8 PM, in Vaughan, at the North Maple Regional Park.
For Guelph fans who want to make the trip to Vaughan and support our team, tickets are not available online, but can be purchased at the venue for $10.
At the end of a rollercoaster of a season that saw our team be involved in a tense, exciting fight for the 6 playoff spots, Guelph waited until the literal last kick of the regular season to clinch. It was Colin Gander’s 97th minute free kick on Sunday, against a pesky ProStars FC team, that made tonight’s match possible.
And what a playoff debut we have.
Vaughan Azzurri is the most successful team since the start of League1 Ontario, and the only team who managed to win the title 3 times in the 8 years since L1O was born. They have won the title in 2022, as well as the regular season in 2021 - when they lost in the playoff semifinals in a year which would become Guelph’s incredible inaugural season title win.
“ Vaughan are a very impressive team who are very well coached, organized, and have a high quality roster with lots of depth. We will need to execute our plan flawlessly as Vaughan is a strong caliber side that only need one chance throughout the match to hurt you. We will need to remain well disciplined, have a high work rate, make good decisions, and take care of the ball tonight in order to get the result we want. ”
Coached by Sergio De Luca, and featuring a roster led by League1 Ontario’s 2nd-best scorer Christopher Campoli, Vaughan finished the regular season in 3rd place, after a surprising home loss to Burlington SC over the weekend saw them lose out on the top 2 bye spots for round 1.
In the only match between Guelph and Vaughan this season, our team obtained a hard-fought 1-0 win, after a memorable performance from Carter Robart. Let’s hope we can carry that momentum in tonight’s game.