User:Westislandlad/Vaughan Azzurri

(This article is about the Vaughan Azzurri League1 Ontario Men's Division team) Vaughan Azzurri, is a Canadian semi-professional men's football team affiliated to the Vaughan Soccer Club and located in Maple, Ontario. The club was formed in 1982 as a community club serving the towns of Concord and Maple, now in the city of Vaughan, in York Region. The club was a founding member of League1 Ontario in 2014, and has played in every season since. The League1 side plays their home games at McNaughton Turf Field at St. Joan of Arc Catholic High School. As of 2017, the team can qualify for the Canadian Championship by winning the League 1 Ontario title.

History
Vaughan SC was a founding member League1 Ontario in 2014. The club has a long history of developing young talent, and benefits from being in one of the most soccer-focused regions of the country. As of 2016, the club is the second largest youth soccer club in York Region.

The men's and women's sides, since their inception, are both coached by Carmine Isacco, who is also head coach of the men's soccer program at York University; with current York players and alumni featuring heavily on rosters for the League1 side.

2017 Season
The team fielded a strong side, bringing back a large number of players from their treble-winning 2016 season, with notable additions including former Toronto FC midfielder Chris Mannella, midfielder Jordan Haynes, formerly of Whitecaps FC 2, and USF forwards Tomasz Skublak and Alex Zis. Though the season failed to see the team win any silverware, forward Jarek Whiteman won the Golden Boot with an astonishing 29 league goals (12 more than the next highest scorer), helped by a 7 goal game at ProStars FC, as well as 3 other hat-tricks.

The Azzurri also made it all the way to the L1O Cup final, but fell to local rivals Woodbridge 1:3.

2018 Season
The Azzurri faced some tough changes at the beginning of the season, with centre back Brandon John departing the team for professional football in Germany, and star midfielder Joseph Di Chiara leaving for rival squad Unionville-Milliken. This struggle was highlighted by a 0:1 shock loss to Toronto Skillz, a team that Vaughan was widely expected to beat. To fill the holes left by John and Di Chiara, the team signed St. Kitts and Nevis international defender Justin Springer and former Toronto FC II player Anthony Osorio.

Professional Players
The following players have moved from the youth ranks of the club to play professional soccer, or played professional soccer prior to joining the League1 side. Players in bold have full senior international caps.

• 🇨🇦 Matthew Arnone

• 🇮🇱 Alon Badat

• 🇬🇾 Adrian Butters

• 🇨🇦 Joseph Di Chiara

• 🇨🇦 Duwayne Ewart

• 🇨🇦 Daniel Fabrizi

• 🇨🇦 Marcus Godinho

• 🇨🇦 Jordan Haynes

• 🇨🇦 Brandon John

• 🇨🇦 Andrea Lombardo

• 🇨🇦 Chris Mannella

• 🇨🇦 Massimo Mirabelli

• 🇨🇦 David Monsalve

• 🇨🇦 Andrew Ornoch

• 🇨🇦 Anthony Osorio

• Alain Sargeant

• 🇬🇾 Jamaal Smith

•  Justin Springer

• 🇨🇦 Matt Stinson

• 🇨🇦 Ryan Telfer

• 🇨🇦 Emmanuel Zambazis