2020 League1 Ontario season (women)

The 2020 League1 Ontario season was supposed to be the sixth season of play for Women's Division of League1 Ontario, a Division 3 women's soccer league in the Canadian soccer pyramid and the highest level of soccer based in the Canadian province of Ontario.

League1 Ontario
Women's Division
Season2020
DatesApril 25 – August 16
(planned)
← 2019
2021 →

On March 20, 2020, L1O postponed the start of the season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[1] On June 6, 2020, the league announced the cancellation of the "summer season" while also mentioning the possibility of returning in September 2020 for a shortened "fall season",[2] though this was later ruled out.[3]

Format

For the regular season, each team would have played every other team once for a total of 12 matches. The playoff format would have included the top 8 teams, facing each other over 3 rounds, with the difference that the games will now be played over a single leg, instead of two.

League1 Ontario and the Première Ligue de soccer du Québec had planned to hold a Final Four end-of-season tournament for the women's divisions, from August 14 to 16, pitting the top two sides from each league in an inter-provincial playoff.[4]

The L1O season was scheduled to start on April 25, and end with the Playoffs Final on August 8, with the L1O-PLSQ series scheduled for August 14 to 16.[4]

Clubs

The women's division consists of 13 teams, an decrease from 14 teams in 2019. North Toronto Nitros added a women's team for the first time, while Ottawa South United moved to the PLSQ[5] and DeRo United FC did not return. Durham United FA re-branded as Pickering FC.

The following clubs were set to participate in the league prior to the season's cancellation.

Team City Principal stadium
Alliance United FC Markham Mount Joy & Centennial College
Aurora FC Aurora Stewart Burnett Park
Darby FC Whitby Whitby Soccer Centre & Darlington Field
Hamilton United Hamilton Ron Joyce Stadium & Tim Hortons Field
FC Oshawa Oshawa Civic Stadium
FC London London German Canadian Club
North Mississauga SC Mississauga Paramount Fine Foods Centre
North Toronto Nitros Toronto Downsview Turf
Oakville Blue Devils Oakville Sheridan Trafalgar Stadium
Pickering FC Pickering Kinsmen Park
Unionville Milliken SC Markham Azzurri Village & Mount Joy
Vaughan Azzurri Vaughan North Maple Regional Park
Woodbridge Strikers Vaughan Vaughan Grove

Reserve Division

After introducing the Reserve Division during the 2019 men's season, it was set to be added to the women's division for the 2020 season. All of the clubs in L1O would be required to field a club in the division, while some other Ontario soccer clubs who did not have a team in the league were invited to field teams in the U21 Reserve division.[6]

EastWest
Aurora FC ReservesFC London Reserves
Darby FC ReservesHamilton United Reserves
FC Durham U21Oakville Blue Devils Reserves
North Mississauga ReservesOakville SC U21
Pickering FC ReservesTecumseh SC U21
Unionville Milliken ReservesVaughan Azzurri Reserves B
Vaughan Azzurri Reserves AWaterloo United U21
Woodbridge Strikers ReservesWhitecaps London U21

References
  1. "League1 Ontario postpones start of 2020 season over COVID-19 concerns". League1 Ontario. March 20, 2020. Retrieved March 24, 2020.
  2. "League1 Ontario cancels 'Summer' season due to COVID-19, eyes Fall restart". Canadian Premier League. June 6, 2020. Retrieved June 14, 2020.
  3. "League1 Ontario cancels Fall season plans for 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions". Canadian Premier League. 4 September 2020. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
  4. "2020 L1O schedule: Condensed seasons & revamped championships for men's, women's". League1 Ontario. March 5, 2020.
  5. "Three New Teams Join 2020 League1 Ontario Men's And Women's Divisions". League1 Ontario. 19 November 2019. Retrieved March 5, 2020.
  6. "League1 Ontario Reserve groups".
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