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There are no more playoffs in the League1 Ontario women’s premier division.
The soccer circuit scrapped them, in part, to shorten the commitment for players heading back to school this fall. But in their stead, the League Cup was reintroduced and FC London has its best chance to win the in-season tournament since hoisting the trophy in 2017.
The local side will face the Simcoe County Rovers on the road in a semifinal game Wednesday night. North Toronto, led by former London scoring star Jade Kovacevic, was to meet Darby in the other semifinal late Tuesday.
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“It would mean a lot to win it,” FC London head coach Garrett Peters said. “We’re in a really tough league this year. We have two chances to prove we’re one of the best. The cup is one of those and hopefully, we can win a championship there.
“We’re doing well in the league, but probably not going to win that one. So if we can get this done, that would be great.”
FC London (9-4-2) has won four games in a row to climb to third spot in the table. They are four points behind North Toronto for second with three games to go, but there is no hope of catching the National Development Centre – Ontario team (13-0-1).
“We had a few ties and losses near the start of the year,” Peters said, “and since, the girls have tightened it up and it’s paid off. We have a very consistent team and a very deep bench. We’ve been able to spread minutes around. We have a lot of Ontario university all-stars and they adjusted to the level of play here.
“It’s been a really good mix this year.”
Simcoe County beat London 2-1 at home in late May during league play and both are coming into the match in fine form.
“This will be our first big test (of the cup),” Peters said. “We’re ahead of them in the standings but we always seem to have back-and-forth games with them.”
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No one begrudges NDC – Ontario, which was actually bounced from cup play early, a spot in the 10-team top division. The side recruits some of the best young talent in the province, trains four or five times a week for most of the year and has won a lot of close games against the best competition.
“I think it’s great they’re in and if they keep pushing the tempo, people will have to step up,” Peters said. “For us, we want to finish as high as possible and also win this cup. We haven’t won a trophy in a couple of years so it would be nice to get one with this group.”
The FC London women will play their next home game against North Mississauga Sunday, 5 p.m. at Tricar Field. The men are 9-2-1 in the championship division and will face Master’s FA on the road Saturday.
If the men finish first in the championship table, they automatically move up to the premier division next season. If they stay in second, they will play the second-lowest ranked premier team for a chance at promotion.
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