Electric City Football Club Folds After Two Years; Pickering FC Acquires Team Licenses

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The Electric City Football Club (ECFC) era has ended in Peterborough after two seasons as Pickering FC has acquired the men’s and women’s licenses, announced by League1 Ontario on Tuesday afternoon.

ECFC PLAYERS LUKE GREEN (MIDDLE) AND CONNOR WILSON (RIGHT) CELEBRATING THE TEAM’S FIRST FRANCHISE WIN WITH FANS, SCORING THREE GOALS IN 14 MINUTES. Photo by David Tuan Bui.

The move allows Pickering FC, a founding League1 Ontario club, to restart their L1ON program with full operational control after stepping away before the 2022 season.

The club was initially introduced on Aug. 9, 2021 and started by Keaton Robbins and several local businessmen. Rob Jenkins was recruited as the team’s president for the men’s and women’s teams. Before joining the club, he helped build Calgary’s CPL franchise.

The club faced staff and management turnover shortly before the season’s start. Robbins had departed from the organization before the season opener and first appointed head coach Michael Marcoccia shortly stepped down for family reasons prior to training camp.

Jamie Sherwood, the men’s team’s second head coach, was let go after four games into the season. Randy Ribiero, the women’s head coach served as the interim replacement for the men’s team for the season and remained during the team’s sophomore year. He was terminated from his contract in late September last year. Team president Jenkins had left during the middle of the season.

The club saw record attendance in both the men’s and women’s home openers, setting League1 Ontario records with 1,565 and 1,009 fans, respectively, in 2022. In the two seasons, both the men’s and women’s teams were in the top half of the standings but failed to qualify for the playoffs.

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Peterborough City U14 Girls Defend Title As Back-to-Back Soccer Champions

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The Peterborough City U14 Girls of the Durham Region Soccer League have defended their championship, going back-to-back with a 3-1 win over Northumberland United on Tuesday.

Bottom Row (Left to Right): Lily Elizabeth Papageorge, Grace Plunkett, Kathryn Murphy, Ellie Lewington, Nia Spence, Charlotte Donaldson, Allie Hamilton

Top Row (Left to Right): Assistant Coach Nick Powers, Gabrielle Savoy, Brynne Bartleman, Payton Rogers, Elaina Wilson, Head Coach David Bartleman, Sydney Smith, Lily-May Borges, Bridgette Powers, Danica Bennett, Nora Staples, Assistant Coach Nicole Plunket Photo courtesy of David Bartleman.

The Peterborough U14 team captured their second-straight Tier 1 division title. Grace Plunkett struck twice for two scores and Charlotte Donaldson found the back of the net for Peterborough. Ellie Lewington kept the scoresheet low for her opponents as the goalkeeper, getting a league-leading eight shutouts on the season.

The team capped off an undefeated season of 12 wins and one draw.

The championship season saw the U14 girls have three top 10 goal-scorers in Plunkett (18), Danica Bennett (9) and Donaldson (9).

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David Tuan Bui


Electric City Football Club Re-Sign Angelika Mihalopulos and Daniel Oshana For the 2023 Rosters

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Electric City Football Club (ECFC) have brought back midfielders Angelika Mihalopulos and Daniel Oshana to their 2023 roster announced on Wednesday.

Photo courtesy of ECFC.

Mihalopulos played in 18 matches, playing 1,400 minutes during her first season with ECFC. Prior to Electric City, Mihalopulos played professionally in Greece in the Women’s Alpha division for AEL FC. She started 16 games and helped lead the team to a fourth-place finish in the Greek First Division.

“I’m excited to be back for my second season with the club,” said Mihalopulos. “The passion and backing from the community last year was unbelievable and I’m proud to be back representing all of you. I look forward to meeting all the new staff and players and reuniting with some familiar faces.”

“Having Angelika return to ECFC was a no-brainer,” said Randy Ribiero, ECFC men’s and women’s head coach. “We are delighted to have her sign for the 2023 season, and she will again be an important piece in midfield for us.”

Oshana joined ECFC last year playing for FC London in 2021. Oshana's big moment came after scoring two goals in the last 10 minutes to Scrosoppi FC to help his side overturn a 3-1 deficit. Oshana represented Team Ontario in the 2017 Canada Games, winning a gold medal.

“It’s a pleasure being able to return to Electric City FC this season,” said Oshana. “I’m looking forward to meeting and working with my teammates, staff, and the community. It’s a big year and I’m going to give it my all for the club and the greatest fans in the league.”

Oshana played in 20 matches and logged the most minutes of any ECFC player with 1,727 minutes.

“Daniel was a standout player for ECFC last season and we are thrilled to have him re-sign for 2023,” said Ribiero. “Daniel is one of the best central midfielders in League 1 and I think it is a matter of time before we see him make the move to a higher level.”

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Former ECFC Captain Signs First Pro Contract With Islandic Soccer League

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Former Electric City Football Club (ECFC) captain Holly O’Neill is headed east as she signed her first professional soccer contract with Iceland’s Íþróttabandalag Vestmannaeyjar Football Club (IBV) of the Pepsi Max League announced on Tuesday.

O’Neill (left) was second in scoring for ECFC in their inaugrual year behind Kayla McQueen. PHOTO courtesy of Electric City Football Club.

The IBV women’s soccer team has won the Islandic Cup twice, in 2004 and 2017.

“Super excited to announce the signing of my first official professional football contract with IBV in the Pepsi Max League in Iceland Playing professionally had long been a dream of mine and I’m ecstatic to take this next step in my football career and see where it takes me,” said O’Neill in a tweet.

The 24-year-old attacker is from St. John’s, Newfoundland. As ECFC captain, she scored nine goals in 18 games, only second behind Kayla McQueen with 13.

In 2021, O’Neill led all scorers in the Atlantic University Sport (AUS) conference with 12 goals— including six game-winners, the most in Canadian Universities — in 12 regular-season contests. Her performances led to O’Neill being named an AUS First Team All-Star and the Conference’s Most Valuable Player.

At the National U Sports level, O’Neill’s great 2021 season at Memorial University saw her finish 3rd in the country in scoring, was selected as a First Team All Canadian and was nominated for U Sports Female Soccer Player of the Year.

O’Neill played her youth soccer for the St. John’s Soccer Club from 2006-2016 and also represented the Newfoundland and Labrador Provincial team from 2012-2016. She also played on Team Atlantic in 2013 and 2014.

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Peterborough's Jordan Haynes Signs With Winnipeg's Valour FC

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Peterborough’s Jordan Haynes is headed to Winnipeg after he signed a contract with Valour FC of the Canadian Premier League on Monday.

his father Mark, mother Sandra and older brother Joshua own and operate family business ‘The Footing Guy’ which specializes in concrete foundations. Photo by David Tuan Bui.

The left back joins the team after spending the previous three seasons with Pacific FC, being the first Peterborough-born player to Canadian Premier League Soccer Championship.

Last season, Haynes played in 15 matches, with 882 minutes played.

Haynes has had international experience playing 12 matches for the U-20/U-17 Canadian squads. He earned a bronze medal win at the 2013 CONCACAF U-17 Championship, helping Canada qualify for the FIFA U-17 World Cup.

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Electric City Football Club Launches Reserve Teams Partnership With FC Durham

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The Electric City Football Club (ECFC) has launched their League 1 Ontario men’s and women’s 2023 reserve teams, in partnership with FC Durham Academy announced on Thursday.

File photo.

Durham and ECFC are eager to further invest in the affiliation formed during ECFC’s inaugural 2022 season and continue cultivating high-quality opportunities for players in the East region according to a press release.

Amongst this past season’s FC Durham Academy talent, were Caylan Lawrence and Rylee Traicoff, both scoring goals for ECFC’s Men’s and Women’s Teams respectively.

FC Durham Academy co-owners Tom Croft and Rich Hirst are bringing a combined 70 years of coaching experience.

“We are excited to expand our partnership with ECFC in 2023,” said Croft. “This will allow FC Durham to enhance our role in the High-Performance Pathway in Ontario, providing consistent challenges and opportunity for our players in our Post-Formation Phase U17 and older.”

Nick Kassermelli and Hirst are head coaches with the ECFC League 1 Men U21 and Women’s Reserve Teams respectively. Hirst will also assume the role of Assistant Coach with the ECFC League 1 Women’s Premier Team.

“We are thrilled to continue our partnership with FC Durham for the 2023 season. FC Durham is a constant in developing youth players that we have seen move onto post-secondary institutions and to even higher levels year after year,” said Randy Riberio, ECFC head coach. “We were very pleased with the quality of players that we were able to bring into first team training last season and even had some standout performances in quite a few L1 Premier matches on both our Men’s and Women’s teams in 2022. We look forward to fielding ECFC’s first ever Reserve Men’s and Women’s teams in partnership with FC Durham next season.”

ECFC is hosting their Men’s Open Tryouts on Monday at Wet ‘n’ Wild Dome in Brampton. Further details about women’s tryouts will be announced.

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Ontario Restaurants and Bars Able To Serve Alcohol Starting at 7 a.m. for World Cup

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Morning brews will be legal at bars and restaurants as the Registrar of the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) has permitted the sale of alcohol in Ontario to begin at 7 a.m. during the FIFA World Cup 2022 tournament announced on Friday.

File photo.

The sale is during the tournament that runs from Nov. 20 to Dec. 18 and is available only to all liquor sales licensees. This is due to the time zone differences in game broadcasts with some games televised in the early morning. The closing service time of 2:00 a.m. will remain unchanged.

This year’s tournament is in Qatar which is an eight-hour time difference from Ontario. Some matches can start as early as 5:30 a.m. for the province.

Any municipality is allowed to begin liquor service to remain to start at 9 a.m.

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David Tuan Bui


Three Electric City Football Club Players Named As League-1 Ontario All-Stars

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It was an excellent first year for Electric City Football Club’s (ECFC) Mykaela Volpe, Zach Ellis-Hayden and Quillian Roberts as they were named League1 Ontario 2022 All-Stars announced on Friday.

Photo courtesy of Electric City Football Club and David Pickering.

Volpe was named second-team all-star as she played 14 games as ECFC’s goalkeeper allowing 16 goals with a 1.14 goals against average that included five shutouts.

She also was runner-up to League1 Ontario’s Goalkeeper of the Year to FC London’s Jadyn Steinhauer.

In 2021, The Kitchener-born goalkeeper had an 8-0-1 record with nine shutouts allowing only one goal to Western University on a penalty kick.

Photo courtesy of Electric City Football Club and David Pickering.

ECFC defender Zach Ellis-Hayden earned third-team all-star honours logging three assists in 16 games.

Ellis-Hayden was one of ECFC’s inaugural signings back on Feb. 10 alongside Sona Makulova. The Kitchener-born defender spent the last six seasons playing professionally in the USL Championship prior to ECFC.

Photo by David Tuan Bui.

Roberts as his teammate Ellis-Hayden earned third-team all-star honours playing 17 games, allowing 19 goals and seven shutouts for the season.

He was named a runner-up for League1 Ontario’s men’s Goalkeeper of the Year, losing out to Praveen Ahilan of Alliance United. Ali Ghazanfari-Moghaddan of the North Toronto Nitros was also named as a runner-up.

Just like being ECFC’s first goalkeeper signing, Roberts was one of the first in Hamilton’s Forge FC’s history. Roberts had eight Canadian Premier League starts with nine goals against and four shutouts.

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Peterborough City U13 Girls Triumphant At Durham Regional Soccer League Champions

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The Peterborough City U13 Girls secured the win in the Tier 1 division of the Durham Regional Soccer League Championships at Herrema Fields in Uxbridge this past weekend.

Top Row (L-R): Nicole Plunkett (Assistant Coach), Kathryn Murphy, Lily Papageorge, Kayla Leeson, Sydney Smith, Sophie Snajdr, David Bartleman (Head Coach), Elaina Wilson, Brynne Bartleman, Payton Rogers, Lily-May Borges, Bridgette Powers, Nick Powers (Assistant Coach) Bottom Row (L-R): Danika Jacobs, Taylor Bidgood, Lyla Simpson, Charlotte Donaldson, Ellie Lewington, Gabrielle Savoy, Grace Plunkett, Allie Hamilton. Photo courtesy of David Bartleman.

The pressure was on as the girls needed either a win or a tie to claim that first place title in the Tier 1 division of this championship.

A 2-0 win over the North Durham United Football Club put the team in first. Grace Plunkett scored both game goals, adding to her season total of 19 and earning her third place in league scoring. Ellie Lewington finished the season with 9 shutouts the most among all teams in the League. 

The league this year was a combined league consisting of both U13 and U14 Girls. 

Peterborough City finished the year with a record of 11 wins, 2 draws and 3 losses, scoring an astounding 46 goals and conceding only 18.

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Felicia Massey


Electric City Football Club Allow Extra Time Comeback for 2-2 Draw

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It was rough times for Electric City Football Club (ECFC) as they coughed up a third consecutive home lead in extra time, tying Alliance United FC to a 2-2 draw on Wednesday evening.

An Alliance United Player with ECFC Zak Drake (right) moments after full time. Electric City has allowed a goal in extra time in three consecutive home games. Photo by David Tuan Bui.

Electric City’s prior two home matches with conceded extra-time goals started with a 3-3 draw against Burlington SC, allowing three unanswered goals in the second half including two penalty kicks (with the second in extra time) on July 13.

They lost in extra time to the Simcoe County Rovers FC allowing two goals in the 86th minute and extra time for a 2-1 loss on July 23rd.

“It's frustrating conceding goals late over the past few matches,” said Randy Riberio, ECFC head coach. We can't afford to do it, we have to be locked in, switched on for everything that gets thrown at us. We know their team is down and they need to score a goal so they're going to throw whatever they have and we need to be better at dealing with it.

Both teams exchanged scoring chances early in the first half. ECFC goalkeeper Quillan Roberts intercepted multiple balls launched high in the air from free and corner kicks to keep the game scoreless.

ECFC struck first as midfielder Mohammad Reza-Nafar scored his fourth of the season. He shot from outside the box, beating Alliance keeper Praveen Ahilan in the lower left corner for the 1-0 lead in the 30th minute.

Tomas Alverez tapped in a one-timed pass from Ethan Gopaul to make it 2-0 in the 37th minute to extend ECFC’s lead into the half. That was Alverez’s second goal of the season, scoring last against the ProStars FC on May 21.

Alliance got on the board in the 73rd minute as Atchu Sivananthan knocked in a header off a sideline pass, beating a diving Roberts making it 2-1.

ECFC’s Adrian Gallo turned over the ball and Alliance’s Kingsley Belele almost capitalized on the mistake with a high-quality scoring chance. Roberts was able to make a diving save on the low corner to maintain the 2-1 lead.

Alliance’s Samuel Gardner earned a red card in the 84th minute making the team’s comeback bid more difficult.

Gopaul almost clinched the game for ECFC going for the top corner but just went outside the post.

Roberts mishandled the ball off an errant play from Alliance and fielded out of bounds for a corner kick. He chose to play the ball instead of allowing it to roll out of bounds for a corner kick. Riberio was unsure if Roberts had the option allow the ball to roll out or not.

Alliance capitalized on their final opportunity as Nirun Sivananthan was able to kick it past Roberts from a contested header to tie the game moments before extra time expired.

“I thought we were the better team, we never looked like we were conceding a goal until the final 10 minutes of the match which was unfortunate,” explained Riberio. “We need to create opportunities to put the game away and if we would have had the next goal to make it 3-0, I think that game's out of reach.”

Playoff clinching scenario for ECFC (to earn the sixth seed):

  • ECFC must win all three remaining games and;

  • Alliance United FC and Guelph United lose all their remaining games and;

  • Hamilton United cannot win all their remaining games

This was Riberio’s first game back off a two-game suspension for multiple yellow cards. ECFC striker Jordan Brown is eligible for the team’s next game finishing a three-game suspension from an off-field incident. The team sits in ninth place with an 8-6-4 record with 28 points.

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