York United: 2021 Season Review
- David Ramsay
- Jan 10, 2022
- 6 min read
The ups and downs of York's first season in Blue and Green
"Sometimes change is hard. But the key message here is that we take it on together and share in the exciting possibilities ahead."
These words were spoken by the team's President and General Manager, Angus McNab, as the club announced a change in brand direction for the franchise in late 2020.
After entering the league in its inaugural 2019 campaign as "York9 FC", the club decided to refresh its branding after two seasons in the CPL. Ahead of the 2021 season, a new team name, logo, colours, and jersey were unveiled. The new "York United" brand intended to connect the club with football fans across the York Region as well as the city of Toronto, to create something that people could get behind across the entire GTA.
The significant shake-up off the field was echoed by the team's offseason moves. As the club made a fresh start off the field, moves were made to rejuvenate the playing roster as well. Veteran players Ryan Telfer, Kyle Porter, Manny Aparicio, Wataru Murofushi, Joseph Di Chiara, and Luca Gasparotto, all of whom had been an integral part to the squad throughout the 2019 and 2020 seasons, left the club during the offseason.
Following the series of departures departures, defenders Chrisnovic N’sa and Dominick Zator were brought in respectively from Halifax and Calgary to bolster the back line. The midfield duties were tasked to young midfield prospects Isaiah Johnston, picked up from Cape Breton university ahead of the 2020 campaign, Cedric Toussaint, brought in from Montreal CF’s youth setup, and Noah Verhoeven, brought in from Pacific FC. The new-look offence was to be spearheaded by a young forward core of Michael Petrasso, new arrivals Alvaro Rivero and Julian Ulbricht, exciting up-and-coming winger Max Ferrari, and 17-year-old phenom striker Lowell Wright.
With a brand new logo and jerseys and the league's youngest roster, there was a sense of change and of a fresh start surrounding York's 2021 season.
On-Field Performance
In terms of results however, not much changed for the nine stripes. The 2021 season was more or less another typical York season: Not bad by any means, but not nearly good enough to be considered a real contender.
Right out of the gates, the new-look York side struggled to get going. Out of the first 8 games of the season, played in the Winnipeg Kickoff Bubble, York managed only 2 wins. The team suffered heavy 3-0 defeats against Pacific and Valour, and even though a narrow 1-0 win against Edmonton in the last bubble match propelled them into 4th place, the team's performances were far from inspiring. The inexperienced York side seemed to lack chemistry, struggling to find stability on the pitch, particularly in defensive areas, and left the Winnipeg bubble with the league's second worst defensive record, better only than bottom-dwellers Ottawa.
Still, after a rocky first month or so, York began to hit its stride. As the season progressed, the young squad seemed to find its identity, putting on a display of high paced, fun-to-watch, energetic brand of football. An early August road win against defending champions Forge, and a dramatic last-minute 3-2 win at Halifax felt like a turning point from the team's rocky bubble performance. Although form dipped slightly through the late August heat, as September rolled around, the team put together its best string of results of the season. Consecutive 2-0 road wins in Hamilton and Ottawa and a 2-1 home comeback victory against Valour capped by a second-half brace from Lowell Wright saw York rise as high as 2nd place in the standings by the end of September. At this point, the Nine Stripes appeared to be destined for the playoffs (and maybe even cause some significant disruption).
However, things did not go so smoothly for York once October hit. After their win against Valour in their last September fixture, York managed only 1 win from of their remaining 8 regular season games. With many key players participating in their first full season of CPL action, the young squad seemed fatigued down the stretch, and the promise they showed earlier in the Fall began to fade. As the team lost its momentum, the early season defensive woes began to resurface. After a mid-September scoreless draw at home against Halifax, the team failed to record a single clean sheet for the rest of the year. Yes, the team's offensive output remained consistent through that same period, as they recorded a goal in all of their last 9 matches, but their inability to keep the ball out of their goal held York from building up steady momentum in the standings. Their defensive shortcomings turned wins into draws and draws into losses. With the team often fighting from a goal down, it felt like goals that could have been game-winners were instead going down as game-tiers. Holding onto a lead was also a massive issue. October onwards, the team was not once able to score first and retain the lead.
The final two games of the regular season, a home doubleheader against top-of-table Forge FC, felt like they epitomized the Nine Stripes' 2021 campaign. Coming off a dramatic comeback win away in Langford against a strong Pacific side, a long-awaited home win against the top team in the division could have provided an enourmous boost to the team's morale. As York headed into the second half with a 1-0 lead thanks to a goal from star left-back Diyaeddine Abzi, it seemed as though everything was clicking into place. If the team could put together back-to-back wins and get some traction, there was a sense the young York squad might just be on the cusp of unlocking a higher gear heading into the playoffs. Fans were eager to watch their team take the field in the second half.
What followed however was a regression to the inexperienced and unstable York side that surfaced for large parts of the season. Forge equalized just 6 minutes into the second half. Right as that goal went in, the momentum in the squad seemed to dissipate. Although it took until the 81st minute for Forge to officially grab the go-ahead goal, the writing was on the wall as soon as York failed to hold onto their first-half lead. The game ended in a 2-1 Forge win.
It felt like a microcosm of the season as a whole. A shaky stretch of play shaken off temprorarily by an emphatic performance away from home, only for their defensive problems to come back to haunt them and disrupt their positive momentum.
The disappointment seemed to hang over the team , as they conceded another 3 goals in a 3-1 defeat in the second game of the doubleheader just two days later. Although the team did qualify for the playoffs for the first time in history, the squad seemed to lack the necessary punch. York's season concluded in their semi-final matchup against no. 1 seed Forge FC, with the Nine Stripes being comfortably dispatched, 3-1 away at Hamilton.
Although the end result was not much different from previous editions of York football, the team showed exciting signs for what may the days ahead at York Lions Stadium may look like. The young team showed flashes of great potential throughout the season, at times looking like one of the hardest to contain, dynamic teams in the CPL. The issue was that their back end let them down a couple times too many. York's core of young players showed signs that they could become a real force to be reckoned with in the near future, and there were windows even within the 2021 season in which it felt like they were just a hot streak away from realizing that potential. The difficulty was that the very youthful energy and momentum that creates a sense of potential in this team was also what contributed to the teams unstable play. While the team showed great bursts of inspiration throughout the season, it also often suffered from a lack of stability and composure. As exciting as the squad was, they didn't seem to be able to take control over other teams like some of the top teams in the league were able to. However, the good news is that these issues are bound to improve in the upcoming seasons. As the current crop of outstanding young York players gains experience playing together as a team, the chemistry between the players is only going to improve. As this York team grows a more concrete identity as a whole, and learns to take over a game from start to finish, it seems inevitable that the Nine Stripes will become a real title contender in the near future.
With the team announcement of new head coach Martin Nash, a former assistant coach at Cavalry, following a departure from long-time head coach Jimmy Brennan, next season looks to be the final phase of the club's transition from York9 to York United. The roster that was new-look going into the 2021 season will have a full year of experience under their belt, and if the team can find the right offseason signings, there is every possibility that York United could become one of the most exciting teams in this coming CPL season.
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