London City Soccer Club

CSL HANDS OUT ANNUAL AWARDS

2008-03-20

Monday - November 5, 2007 Attak’s Nicolas Lesage wins MVP TORONTO - Monday, November 5 - Nicolas Lesage, a 27 year-old striker with Trois-Rivieres Attak, was voted the 2007 MVP by the Canadian Soccer League at the league’s annual awards banquet Sunday.

Monday - November 5, 2007

Attak’s Nicolas Lesage wins MVP

TORONTO - Monday, November 5 - Nicolas Lesage, a 27 year-old striker with Trois-Rivieres Attak, was voted the 2007 MVP by the Canadian Soccer League at the league’s annual awards banquet Sunday.

Lesage, a former player with the USL’s Montreal Impact with a string of honours in Quebec since 2001, was also the league’s top goalscorer with 20 league and cup goals in a season that kicked off last May 11 and concluded with Toronto Croatia being crowned CSL champions on October 28.

Toronto Croatia, which celebrated 50 years in Canadian soccer in 2006, won the CSL title after losing just one game in the 5-month long campaign, a 2-0 loss to Canadian Lions on October 5. The unbeaten streak included an international tournament triumph in Europe over Croatian teams from Austria, Germany, Australia, the United States and France.

Toronto Croatia players won two major individual honours with Tihomir Maletic, a 24 year old goalscorer winning the Rookie of the Year Award. He arrived in Canada in 2006 after scoring 36 goals for Croatian second division team Osjek. Toronto Croatia captain Domagoj Sain won Defender of the Year honours after being recognized as a big reason for his team’s success in the season just ended. Sain was announced as the European tournament’s MVP following the final game in Zagreb on June 30 and was invited to trial with Croatian club Hadjuk.

St. Catharines Wolves won the National Division this year, its first major triumph since winning the league championship in 2001, and this year’s success is attributed largely to new coach James McGillivray, a former pro in Scotland and in Canada with Hamilton Steelers. McGillivray took Coach of the Year honours at the awards ceremony and a second major individual award for the Garden City team went to Claudio Perri who was judged the top goalkeeper. An NAIA All-American and former standout ‘keeper at the University of Atlanta, Perri has in recent years been considered one of the top goalkeepers in Central Canada.

Serbian White Eagles were honoured following their International Division title win and they were also the championship finalist, losing a 2-game total goals finale to Toronto Croatia. Serbian Eagles’ 55 goals in the regular season topped all other CSL teams and their 45 points was the most in both divisions.

The league’s Fair Play Award went to Quebec-based Trois-Rivieres Attak. The award is for the team having demonstrated the best discipline record on the field and best exemplified a team that followed league rules to uphold the tenets of good soccer as seen by FIFA. Trois-Rivieres earlier in the year won the CSL’s popular Open Canada Cup for a total of two major team awards and two individual awards in its inaugural season.

Joe Fletcher of St. Catharines, Ontario was voted the league’s top referee in 2007. Fletcher holds a FIFA badge and moved between the CSL, the FIFA U-20 World Cup and a number of important international matches during the season. Referee Silviu Petrescu was acknowledged at the gathering for his FIFA U-20 World Cup officiating and World Army games in India and referee Steve DePiero for his U-20 World Cup games. CSL game official Kim Babb, also on the FIFA list, was present and was acknowledged for her selection as an official in the Women’s World Cup in China.

CSL commissioner Cary Kaplan introduced the new Harry Paul Gauss Award for annual presentation and this year’s honour went to Bruno Ierullo, the owner and GM of North York Astros. Ierullo was selected as the one who has ‘demonstrated exemplary support, commitment and allegiance’ to the Canadian Soccer League. Kaplan paid tribute to Ierullo for his continuing hard work in the interest of the CSL, Canada’s only professional soccer league.

The commissioner also paid tribute to Harry Paul Gauss who is battling cancer presently. Without the efforts of Harry Gauss, the Canadian Soccer League would not be around today, said Kaplan. Gauss launched London City Soccer Club in 1973 and has been instrumental in the league’s strong growth and development ever since. Gauss and his London City team have established a reputation for developing young players with potential for professional soccer and candidates for national team honours. He has arranged a number of overseas trials with some success.

The CSL played more than 130 league, cup and playoff games in 2007 and continued a trend of increased attendances throughout its stadiums which began in 2006. Emphasis on expansion in both the National Division and International Division will continue into 2008.

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