2022 League1 Ontario season

This article is about the men's season. For the women's season, see 2022 Women's League1 Ontario season.

League1 Ontario
Men's Division

Season	2022
Dates	April 21 – August 21 [lower-alpha 1] (regular season) August 24 – September 3 (playoffs)
Champions	Vaughan Azzurri
Regular season champions	Vaughan Azzurri
Matches played	231
Goals scored	830 (3.59 per match)
Top goalscorer	Massimo Ferrin Miles Green (23 goals each)
← 2021 2023 → One match was played on August 27

The 2022 Men's League1 Ontario season was the eighth season of play 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.

Vaughan Azzurri defeated Blue Devils FC in the final to win the league championship and qualified for the 2023 Canadian Championship. Guelph United F.C. represented the league in the 2022 Canadian Championship, as they were the 2021 league champions.

Format and changes

The league returned to a single table format for the 2022 season with each team playing 21 games, ^[1] following the 2021 season which was shortened due to the COVID-19 pandemic. ^[2] The regular season ran for 18 weeks between April 21 and August 21 (one postponed match was later played on August 27). The top six teams qualified for the playoffs with the top two getting first round byes. The quarterfinals were held on August 24–25, the semifinals on August 27–28, and the championship final on September 3, which is Labour Day weekend. ^[1]

With the league set to split into a multi-division format with promotion and relegation beginning in 2024, the points obtained in this season contribute to the assignment of clubs in 2024. The points from the 2022 season (weighted at 75%) will be added to the points teams obtain in the 2023 season (weighted at 100%) to determine the placements. ^[3]

Clubs

The men's division grew to 22 teams through expansion. Burlington SC, ^[4] Electric City FC and Simcoe County Rovers joined the league as expansion teams, ^{[5] [6]} Pickering FC returned from hiatus and played their first season under their new name, having re-branded after the 2019 season, ^[7] while Toronto Skillz FC has left the league. ^[8] Hamilton United, St. Catharines Roma Wolves, and BVB IA Waterloo (formerly Waterloo United) made their official Premier Division debuts, after having opted out of the main division last season, having fielded teams in either the short-season Summer Championship or Reserve divisions instead. ^[2] 1812 FC Barrie departed the league after playing in the Premier Division last year, ^[4] as well as Toronto Skillz FC who played in the 2021 L1O Summer Championship and Aurora FC who were on hiatus and joined the Simcoe County Rovers group, also officially departed. ^{[5] [6]}

The following clubs participated in the league.

Team	City	Principal stadium	Head coach
Alliance United FC	Toronto	Centennial College/Varsity Stadium	Ilya Orlov
Blue Devils FC	Oakville	Sheridan College Trafalgar	Duncan Wilde
Burlington SC	Burlington	Haber Centre	Mark Worton
BVB IA Waterloo	Waterloo	Warrior Field, University of Waterloo	Jordan Brown
Darby FC	Whitby	Whitby Soccer Centre	Jens Kraemer
Electric City FC	Peterborough	Fleming College Sports Complex	Randy Ribeiro (interim)
Guelph United F.C.	Guelph	Alumni Stadium	Keith Mason & Justin Springer
Hamilton United	Hamilton	Ron Joyce Stadium	Kamran Derayeh
FC London	London	Portuguese Club of London	Ruben Quintão
Master's Futbol	Scarborough (Toronto)	L'Amoreaux Park	Junior Groves
North Mississauga SC	Mississauga	Churchill Meadows	Peyvand Mossavat & Raman Mohammadi
North Toronto Nitros	Toronto	Downsview Park	Marko Milanovic
Pickering FC	Pickering	Pickering Soccer Centre/Kinsmen Park	Aleks Balda
ProStars FC	Brampton	Victoria Park Stadium	John Yacou
Scrosoppi FC	Milton	Bishop Reding	Shayne Griffin
Sigma FC	Mississauga	Paramount Fine Foods Centre	John Zervos
Simcoe County Rovers FC	Barrie	J.C Massie Field, Georgian College	Jason Beckford
St. Catharines Roma Wolves	St. Catharines	Roma Park – Under Armour Field	Federico Turriziani
Unionville Milliken SC	Unionville (Markham)	Bill Crothers	Filipe Bento
Vaughan Azzurri	Vaughan	North Maple Regional Park	Patrice Gheisar
Windsor TFC	Amherstburg	Libro Centre	Valtar Cosenza
Woodbridge Strikers	Woodbridge (Vaughan)	Vaughan Grove	Peter Pinizzotto

In-season coaching changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Incoming manager	Ref
Electric City FC	Jamie Sherwood	Mutual termination	May 20, 2022	Randy Ribeiro (interim)	[9]
Master's FA	Rick Titus	Resigned	June 1, 2022	Junior Groves	[10]

Premier Division

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Vaughan Azzurri (C)	21	18	3	0	76	25	+51	57	Playoff semifinals
2	Blue Devils FC	21	14	5	2	54	16	+38	47
3	Alliance United FC	21	13	6	2	43	15	+28	45	Playoff quarterfinals
4	North Toronto Nitros	21	13	5	3	37	19	+18	44
5	Simcoe County Rovers FC	21	13	5	3	37	23	+14	44
6	ProStars FC	21	14	1	6	58	37	+21	43
7	Guelph United F.C.	21	13	3	5	42	25	+17	42
8	Hamilton United	21	10	1	10	50	45	+5	31
9	Sigma FC	21	9	4	8	36	27	+9	31
10	Electric City FC	21	8	6	7	29	23	+6	30
11	Woodbridge Strikers	21	8	5	8	42	36	+6	29
12	Scrosoppi FC	21	9	1	11	42	41	+1	28
13	Darby FC	21	7	4	10	23	29	−6	25
14	Pickering FC	21	7	2	12	30	40	−10	23
15	BVB IA Waterloo	21	7	1	13	43	59	−16	22
16	St. Catharines Roma Wolves	21	5	5	11	21	36	−15	20
17	Burlington SC	21	4	7	10	36	53	−17	19
18	Windsor TFC	21	5	3	13	21	40	−19	18
19	Master's FA	21	4	5	12	33	59	−26	17
20	Unionville Milliken SC	21	4	2	15	25	64	−39	14
21	North Mississauga SC	21	4	2	15	25	66	−41	14
22	FC London	21	2	4	15	27	52	−25	10

Source: League1 Ontario
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) total wins; 3) goal differential; 4) goals for; 5) away goals differential; 6) away goals for; 7) home goals differential; 8) home goals for; 9) head-to-head record; 10) coin toss or drawing of lots. ^[11]
(C) Champions

Playoffs

	Quarterfinals					Semifinals					Finals
						1	Vaughan Azzurri	2
	4	North Toronto Nitros	0			5	Simcoe County Rovers FC	1
	5	Simcoe County Rovers FC	2								1	Vaughan Azzurri	5
											2	Blue Devils FC	1
						2	Blue Devils FC	3
	3	Alliance United FC	4			3	Alliance United FC	2
	6	ProStars FC	0

Quarter-finals

North Toronto Nitros v Simcoe County Rovers FC

August 24, 2022	North Toronto Nitros	0–2	Simcoe County Rovers FC	Toronto, Ontario
8:00 PM		Report	Wishart 83' Beckford 88'	Stadium: Downsview Park Attendance: ~250 Referee: Brian Butler

Alliance United FC v ProStars FC

August 25, 2022	Alliance United FC	4–0	ProStars FC	Vaughan, Ontario
9:00 PM	N.Sivananthan 7', 72' A.Sivananthan 28', 67'			Stadium: Vaughan Grove Park Attendance: ~200 Referee: Nivan Raizada

Semi-finals

Vaughan Azzurri v Simcoe County Rovers FC

August 27, 2022	Vaughan Azzurri	2–1	Simcoe County Rovers FC	Vaughan, Ontario
7:00 PM	Carreiro 48' Benítez 76'	Report	Beckford 12'	Stadium: North Maple Regional Park Attendance: ~200 Referee: Kevin McEleleney

Blue Devils FC v Alliance United FC

August 28, 2022	Blue Devils FC	3–2	Alliance United FC	Oakville, Ontario
4:00 PM	Santos 18' Ellis 35' Ilyas 72'	Report	Tesker 6' Gardner 68'	Stadium: Bronte Athletic Park Attendance: ~200 Referee: Scott Bowman

Final

Vaughan Azzurri v Blue Devils FC

September 3, 2022	Vaughan Azzurri	5–1	Blue Devils FC	Vaughan, Ontario
1:00 PM	Mills 16' Nwafornso 30', 45+1', 48' Ferrin 43' (pen.)	Report	Ilyass 45+4'	Stadium: Ontario Soccer Centre Attendance: ~1200 Referee: Ryan Schwenger

Statistics

Top goalscorers Rank Player Club Goals 1 Massimo Ferrin Vaughan Azzurri 23 Miles Green Hamilton United 3 Taha Ilyass Blue Devils FC 19 4 Ameer Kinani ProStars FC 17 5 Kosi Nwafornso Vaughan Azzurri 16 6 Ethan Beckford Simcoe County Rovers 15 7 Augustus Oku Burlington SC 14 8 Jevontae Layne Scrosoppi FC 11 Jordan Brown Electric City Amir Shirazi Hamilton United Atchuthan Sivananthan Alliance United Updated to end of regular season. Source: League1 Ontario

Top goalkeepers Rank Player Club Minutes GAA 1 Praveen Ahilan Alliance United 1710 0.74 2 Lucas Birnstingl Blue Devils FC 1620 0.83 3 Ali Ghazanfari-Moghaddan North Toronto Nitros 1485 0.85 4 Ricky Gomes Simcoe County Rovers 1305 0.97 5 Quillan Roberts Electric City FC 1530 1.12 Updated to end of regular season. Minimum 900 minutes played. Source:

League honours

Awards

Award	Player	Team	Ref
Most Valuable Player	Massimo Ferrin	Vaughan Azzurri	[12]
Young Player of the Year (U20)	Markiyan Voytsekhovskyy	ProStars FC
Coach of the Year	Patrice Gheisar	Vaughan Azzurri
Goalkeeper of the Year	Praveen Ahilan	Alliance United
Defender of the Year	Amardo Oakley	Guelph United F.C.
Midfielder of the Year	Nikola Stakic	Alliance United
Forward of the Year	Miles Green	Hamilton United
Golden Boot	Massimo Ferrin	Vaughan Azzurri

League All-Stars

The following players were named League1 Ontario Premier Division All-Stars for the 2022 season: ^[13]

First Team All-Stars Player Position Praveen Ahilan (Alliance United) Goalkeeper Amardo Oakley (Guelph United) Defender Kenny Lioutas (Alliance United) Defender Justyn Thomas (Vaughan Azzurri) Defender Nirun Sivananthan (Alliance United) Defender Markiyan Voytsekhovskyy (ProStars) Midfielder Nikola Stakic (Alliance United) Midfielder Andron Kagramanyan (Vaughan Azzurri) Midfielder Taha Ilyass (Blue Devils) Forward Miles Green (Hamilton United) Forward Massimo Ferrin (Vaughan Azzurri) Forward

Second Team All-Stars Player Position Ali Ghazanfari-Moghaddan (North Toronto) Goalkeeper Riley Ferrazzo (Vaughan Azzurri) Defender Oluwaseun Oyegunle (Sigma) Defender Matthew Chandler (Blue Devils) Defender Terrell Spencer (Masters FA) Defender Alexander Zis (ProStars/Guelph) Midfielder Liam Salmon (Pickering) Midfielder Brandon Duarte (Blue Devils) Midfielder Raheem Rose (Vaughan Azzurri) Forward Ethan Beckford (Simcoe County) Forward Farris Ammari (ProStars) Forward

Third Team All-Stars Player Position Quillan Roberts (Electric City) Goalkeeper Anthony Stolar (Scrosoppi) Defender Christian Westlaken (North Toronto) Defender Conrad Czarnecki (St. Catharines) Defender Zachary Ellis-Hayden (Electric City) Defender Jack Sears (Guelph United) Midfielder Tim Mahabir (Unionville Milliken) Midfielder Santiago Fonseca (London) Midfielder Wesley Cain (BVB Waterloo) Forward Augustus Oku (Burlington) Forward Abdou Raouf Mohamed (Woodbridge) Forward

The following players were named League1 Ontario Premier Division U20 All-Stars for the 2022 season: ^[14]

U20 All-Star Team Player Position Christian Calabro (Vaughan Azzurri) Goalkeeper Anthony Stolar (Scrosoppi) Defender Oluwaseun Oyegunle (Sigma) Defender Nikolas Antolcic (BVB Waterloo) Defender Mateo Goldsztein-Herrera (London) Midfielder Juan Delgadillo (North Toronto) Midfielder Santino De Bartolo (Woodbridge) Midfielder Markiyan Voytsekhovskyy (ProStars) Midfielder Mohamed Alshakman (Sigma) Midfielder Ryley Wishart (Simcoe County) Forward Kai Garvey (Sigma) Forward U21 Reserve Division The Reserve Division will return with each Premier Division club fielding one or more teams, as well as some other OPDL clubs that do not operate a League1 Ontario team. North Division Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification 1 Simcoe County Rovers FC U21 (C) 11 11 0 0 49 7 +42 33 Advance to playoffs 2 Aurora FC 12 8 1 3 38 22 +16 25 3 Master's FA U21 North 12 7 1 4 21 16 +5 22 4 Alliance United FC U21 12 6 1 5 22 24 −2 19 5 Unionville Milliken SC U21 11 5 1 5 29 26 +3 16 6 Richmond Hill SC 12 4 1 7 14 26 −12 13 7 Rush Canada Academy 12 2 2 8 19 40 −21 8 8 Darby FC U21 North 12 0 1 11 12 43 −31 1 Source: League1 Ontario (C) Champions West Division Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification 1 Tecumseh SC 12 11 1 0 44 8 +36 34 Advance to playoffs 2 Guelph United F.C. U21 12 8 3 1 32 9 +23 27 3 Cambridge United 12 7 2 3 25 16 +9 23 4 Whitecaps London 12 7 2 3 20 13 +7 23 5 FC London U21 12 5 0 7 22 21 +1 15 6 Windsor TFC U21 12 2 1 9 18 41 −23 7 7 St. Catharines Roma Wolves U21 12 1 3 8 12 26 −14 6 8 BVB IA Waterloo U21 12 0 2 10 11 50 −39 2 Source: League1 Ontario Central Division Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification 1 Scrosoppi FC U21 12 10 2 0 35 9 +26 32 Advance to playoffs 2 Sigma FC U21 12 7 3 2 30 14 +16 24 3 Blue Devils FC U21 12 5 2 5 23 20 +3 17 4 Hamilton United U21 12 4 3 5 15 12 +3 15 5 North Mississauga SC U21 12 3 5 4 17 20 −3 14 6 ProStars FC U21 12 3 4 5 14 19 −5 13 7 Oakville SC 12 4 0 8 15 35 −20 12 8 Burlington SC U21 12 2 1 9 12 32 −20 7 Source: League1 Ontario East Division Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification 1 North Toronto Nitros U21 12 9 1 2 43 12 +31 28 Advance to playoffs 2 Vaughan Azzurri U21 12 7 5 0 38 16 +22 26 3 Woodbridge Strikers U21 12 7 3 2 36 14 +22 24 4 FC Durham 12 4 2 6 18 26 −8 14 5 Master's FA U21 East 11 3 3 5 15 22 −7 12 6 Toronto Skillz FC 12 3 3 6 13 22 −9 12 7 Brampton SC 11 2 2 7 16 41 −25 8 8 Darby FC U21 East 12 2 1 9 12 38 −26 7 Source: League1 Ontario Playoffs Semifinals Championship Game             N1 Simcoe County Rovers U21 3 E1 North Toronto Nitros U21 1 N1 Simcoe County Rovers U21 4 C1 Scrosoppi FC U21 1 W1 Tecumseh SC 1 C1 Scrosoppi FC U21 2 U19 Reserve Division The team in the U19 reserve division played each team in their own division twice, plus some teams from the opposing division once for a 20-game schedule. Central Division Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification 1 Vaughan Azzurri U19 (C) 20 16 3 1 69 14 +55 51 Advance to playoffs 2 North Toronto Nitros U19 20 14 3 3 52 26 +26 45 3 Woodbridge Strikers U19 20 12 1 7 50 29 +21 37 4 Sigma FC U19 20 9 3 8 49 41 +8 30 5 Alliance United FC U19 20 5 6 9 30 40 −10 21 6 North Mississauga SC U19 20 4 4 12 37 64 −27 16 7 Unionville Milliken SC U19 20 3 6 11 42 77 −35 15 8 FC Durham U19 20 2 3 15 26 73 −47 9 Source: League1 Ontario (C) Champions West Division Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification 1 Rush Canada Academy U19 20 14 2 4 54 26 +28 44 Advance to playoffs 2 ProStars FC U19 20 14 0 6 60 31 +29 42 3 Hamilton United U19 20 12 3 5 42 27 +15 39 4 Guelph United F.C. U19 20 8 3 9 48 39 +9 27 5 Blue Devils FC U19 20 7 3 10 32 39 −7 24 6 Simcoe County Rovers FC U19 20 7 3 10 46 49 −3 24 7 Scrosoppi FC U19 20 5 2 13 29 64 −35 17 8 Tecumseh SC U19 20 4 3 13 28 55 −27 15 Source: League1 Ontario Playoffs Semifinals Championship Game             C1 Vaughan Azzurri U19 3 W2 ProStars FC U19 1 C1 Vaughan Azzurri U19 3 W1 Rush Canada Academy U19 0 W1 Rush Canada Academy U19 4 C2 North Toronto Nitros U19 2 References "League1 Ontario Announces Men's Premier Division Schedule". League1 Ontario. March 18, 2022. Retrieved March 18, 2022. "League1 Ontario Set To Kick Off Seventh Season With Late July Fixtures". League1 Ontario . July 22, 2021. Jacques, John (January 25, 2022). "Promotion And Relegation Comes To League1 Ontario". Northern Tribune. "League1 Ontario Welcomes Burlington SC for the 2022 Season". League1 Ontario . February 28, 2022. "Electric City FC of Peterborough joins L1O for 2022 season". League1 Ontario . October 20, 2021. "Simcoe County Rovers FC to join L1O for 2022 season". League1 Ontario . October 21, 2021. Jacques, John (October 19, 2021). "Pickering FC Set To Return Next Year Under New Ownership". Northern Tribune. Jacques, John (October 20, 2021). "Electric City FC Joins League1 Ontario, Reveals Stadium Plans". Northern Tribune. Davies, Mike (May 20, 2022). "Jamie Sherwood out as Electric City Football Club men's team head coach". The Peterborough Examiner . Hendren, Paul [@phimaging] (June 1, 2022). "The end of an era at M.F.A." (Tweet) – via Twitter. "League Operations and Game Day Manual Version 12.1" (PDF). League1 Ontario . January 25, 2022. p. 56. Retrieved August 16, 2022. "Massimo Ferrin collects MVP and Golden Boot among Men's Premier Division 2022 award winners". League1 Ontario . November 15, 2022. "Ilyass, Green, and Ferrin lead the line in the 2022 Men's Premier Division All-Star team". League1 Ontario . November 17, 2022. "Five midfielders selected for 2022 Men's Premier Division U20 All-Star team". League1 Ontario . November 18, 2022. External links Official website