League1 Ontario
The Blue Devils FC men’s soccer team takes to the field tomorrow, Wednesday, August 23, in the quarter-finals of the playoff against Burlington SC at Pine Glen Soccer Centre Field at 8 p.m. The team is back for a third chance at taking the championship after falling short in both 2021 and 2022, and the first match celebrating the union between Oakville Soccer Club and Blue Devils FC.
After an intense regular season, the Blue Devils finished fourth overall, winning 12 of the 20 games they played over the summer. The team started off strong for the first half of the regular season but lost some steam in the second half.
The team is confident going into the quarter-finals despite not having their strongest team as a result of losing players to injury, suspension and post-secondary schooling.
“We certainly have kind of fallen from where we were, but we're playing very well. We're trying to balance everything to prepare for tomorrow in line with everyone else. Everyone's dealing with players training with schools as well. We've all got suspensions and injuries. It's the end of the season. So a typical playoff situation,” commented Head Coach Duncan Wilde,
“We've not lost a lot (of players), we've just lost three or four, but it does make a key difference to how we play and the system that we select and, of course, the strength you have coming from your bench.”
This year's team is built of many college-based, amateur players with three or four returning players from the previous year's team, creating a blend of new and old players with various playing experiences to build a team with.
“We lost a lot of players that went to join other clubs in the off-season. So this has been a complete rebuild. So we're really pleased with the fact that with that size of a rebuild, we've been able to make playoffs again,” commented Wilde,
“We have a lot of core young 20-year-olds in our strength and a bunch of teenagers from our academy that are graduating. So we're pleased with what we've done from a player development standpoint.”
The Blue Devils team isn’t the only team that rebuilt themselves from last year’s season. Their opponent, Burlington SC, who finished fourth last in the regular season last year, came back stronger than ever this year, finishing in fifth place this year. With Burilington’s head coach, Darren Tilley, in the running for Coach of the Year.
“They'll (Burlington SC) be strong. They've had a great season. They finished very low down the table last year, and Darren Tilley has done a great job,” spoke Wilde,
“They've rebuilt themselves and are in a very similar situation to us. They've had a very strong second half to the season, so I'm sure they're dealing with all the things we are.”
Burlington SC finished off the regular season strong, with a winning streak of four and beating Vaughan Azzurri, knocking them from second to third in the standings. The Blue Devils last faced off against Burlington, winning 3-0 on May 7.
“You get to a championship game or a playoff game, and it's usually decided on fine margins, and you've just got to make sure you eradicate as many individual errors as you can, and collectively you deliver your game plan… I think it's going to be, all the games from now on, whoever goes through quarter-final, semi-final, final, they'll all be very, very competitive teams.”
The winner takes on Scrosoppi FC, who topped the standings in the regular season in the semi-finals.
