The women’s team won in a 4-0 rout against the Burlington SC Individuals. They had a draw and two losses coming into the match.
It became the Kayla McQueen show for the first half as she netted two goals for ECFC in the 18th and 34th minute of the match. She leads the team with 10 goals on the season.
ECFC continued their relentless assault with Aysia King getting her second goal of the season in the 64th minute. Captain Holly O’Neill got the insurance marker with her eighth goal of the year, scoring in extra time.
ECFC goalkeeper Breanne Carreiro posted a shutout in her first start as starting keeper Mykaela Volpe had started in all of the team’s 12 previous matches.
“I thought we put in a good team effort. Everyone worked hard both offensively and defensively and in turn, we walked away with four goals, a clean sheet and three points,” said midfielder Angelika Mihalopulos, “It was a successful night and hopefully we can bring that same energy to what should be a good match up on Saturday.”
The women move to a 7-5-1 record and are 6th overall.
The men shared similar success with a 3-0 victory over BVB IA Waterloo at Fleming College.
During the first 12 seconds of the match, both teams and the officials took a knee to stand against racism. The gesture was in reference to the ECFC women’s match last Wednesday where a member of the Current 1819, the team’s fan club, allegedly hurled a racial slur at the Simcoe County Rovers FC goalkeeper.
The kneeling was a collaboration between the players from both teams.
“We pretty much wanted to show both on and off the field that there's no tolerance for that," said Josh Panello, ECFC defender. "Collectively as a group, that's one of the best ways to show it is in front of our home fans.”
“That's a very serious matter, very sensitive and I stand with my fellow teammates collectively,” said Ethan Gopaul, ECFC forward. “There's no place for that here and we both agree that it's very important that it's made clear that we both support that.”
The team designed t-shirts with the words, “United Against Racism” that were worn by players prior to kickoff and to staff before and during the game.
Striker Jordan Brown led the charge with two goals in less than three minutes in the first half. He scored during the 24th and 26th minute to keep ECFC with the lead into the half. Brown almost completed the natural hat trick with an uncontested header but Waterloo’s keeper denied him with a fantastic save.
ECFC Keeper Quillan Roberts was tested early with two high-scoring chances from Waterloo but was able to stop one chance and force the opposition to shoot wide on the other shot.
Electric City continued to build on their lead in the second half as Gopaul scored his first of the season with a pass from Brown for an easy goal in the 80th minute. The goal sealed the 3-0 win for ECFC.
“I'm glad JB made an unselfish decision considering he already had two goals,” said Gopaul. “He could have got a third for the hat trick but he decided to slip it to me for an easy one and that's really all him on that one. Luckily it snuck under the crossbar for my first goal so I'm happy with that.”
The win snapped a two-game winless streak that moves the men to a 4-4-2 record. The men’s team has been undefeated at home.
“We're complete and we wanted to be good in all areas of the pitch,” said Randy Ribiero, ECFC interim coach. “It was nice to see it all come together and the boys defended fantastically and we really limited the amount of opportunities that the opponent was able to create.”
The women are at home against NDC Ontario at Fleming College this Saturday at 3:00 p.m. The men go on the road to play Hamilton United on the same day at 8:00 p.m.
