Giuseppe Politi was not about to stray too far away from the company line.
Still, the coach in him had no issue understanding that a 3-0 forfeited win over a Hamilton United side that was sitting at 0-16-4 prior to deciding that they simply could not field a team to oppose the Sudbury Cyclones Saturday evening at the Cambrian College pitch offered a silver lining or two for his crew that are still battling for a coveted promotional placement.
“It’s unfortunate for the fans,” said Politi, reached over the phone at a time when he should have been manning the sidelines. “I know that SWSE does a lot for the game day experience and they were projecting a nice crowd.”
“But we need the points and we had some absences and injuries to deal with. Any extra time off to help these guys recover is key.”
First, a quick check on the landscape of League1 Ontario Championship division men’s action where the top two teams in the 12 team loop earn a spot in the Premier Division next summer, with the third placed entry forced to play team #10 (in Premier) in a one-game play-in battle.
With their gifted victory this weekend, the Cyclones saw their record jump to 11-3-7 (40 pts), with their only remaining encounter a match this coming Wednesday, on the road, opposite Guelph United (5-8-7).
Unionville Milliken SC sits at 11-5-4 (37 pts) but with games still remaining against Guelph United (on Sunday) and York United Academy (10-6-4 – next Sunday) and the tie-breaker in their favour, still has the ability to slip in ahead of Sudbury.
Likewise for The Borough FC, now five points back of the Cyclones at 9-2-8 (35), but with nine points still on the table as they stare down a final week that has them facing York United Academy (Sunday), Master’s FA (Friday) and Windsor City FC (next Sunday).
The challenge for all of these teams, including the Cyclones, is that training camps have now opened for pretty much all university teams and most college teams, both of which serve as a primary source of talent to this summer league.
“I would certainly like to see the season done sooner,” noted Politi, stating his preference towards an August 15th deadline for all encounters, including possible play-in affairs. “All of the (post-secondary) players want to be done around August 1st so that they can have 10 to 14 days off before going into their highly intensive training camps.”
Making their League1 debut last season in the League2 Men’s bracket, the Cyclones earned the right for a promotion via a second place finish. Few expected that scenario to play out again this summer, one level higher.
“We ended up with a deeper and probably more talented roster than we expected,” acknowledged Politi. “And we pulled off some results that maybe we shouldn’t have. Then other teams were dropping points when they probably should not have. We kept the ship steady, got some ties, accumulated points and now we’re here.”
“Here”, to be clear, is on the brink of vaulting the Sudbury Cyclones into the top echelon of the competitive groupings in what is viewed as likely one of the highest caliber soccer leagues in the province.
“If we are able to pull this off, it’s something special, especially given the schedule that we have,” said Politi.
