The regular seasons have finished in local men’s and women’s soccer leagues, and some big time match ups are anticipated in the playoffs.

Plus, a few great games over at the Theriault diamond in Timmins Men’s Baseball League play.

MEN’S SOCCER
The league finalists from a year ago are continuing to class the rest of the Timmins Men’s Soccer League.

Timmins United and the Kapuskasing Longhorns seem to be on another collision course in the league final in 2017, a final that almost seems just as cast in stone as the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals this past spring.

TUFC finished on top of the table at 11-1 and 33 points (their loss coming at the hands of the Longhorns on Sunday, July 30th; score was 1-0) and the rival Longhorns were just behind them at 10-1-1 and 31 points.

But it’s the goal differential that sticks out for these two squads.

TUFC notched 52 goals on the year and surrendered just 10. Kapuskasing scored 47 times and gave up nine.

(Looking at the rest of the league, the next best team in goal scoring were the Rebels at 28. The next stingiest defense were Blizzard, who gave up 22 goals.)

As a result of Hearst dropping out of the league mid-season, TUFC and Kapuskasing will get byes into the semi-finals. The other four teams will meet in two-game series, with the best combined score moving on.

Third place Blizzard (6-4-2; 20PTS) will take on sixth place Gunners FC (2-10; 6PTS). The Rebels (6-5-1; 19PTS), who locked up fourth spot, will take on fifth place Let’s Try Soccer Again (5-7; 15PTS).

Playoff dates and times are not available at this time.

Looking at the past week, the Rebels and LTSA met in a playoff preview on Tuesday. The Rebels were victorious 7-1.

In the other game of the week Thursday, the Longhorns took out Blizzard 5-1

WOMEN’S SOCCER
The women’s league, meantime, seems to have a ton more parity than their male counterparts…but the Dunrite Rubber Wolfpack (13-3-2; 41PTS) continue to have a hold on that top spot for another year.

They clinched first after a 1-0 win Tuesday night over the Restore Physiotherapy Pandas. They continued to play at a high level Wednesday with a 2-0 win over Rehab Plus. But on the third straight night of action Thursday, the Timmins Terminators blanked the Wolfpack 4-0.

The Terminators blanked Investors Group 1-0 Wednesday to claim second. Rehab Plus rebounded from their Wednesday loss with a 3-0 win Thursday over their first round playoff opponent Tisdale Plumbing and Heating/Eclipse Financial.

The other game on the week saw TPAH/EF edge Investors Group 3-1 Tuesday night.

Now, the Wolfpack will get a bye into the second round of the playoffs. The rest will play in one-game showdowns in the quarter-final.

First, fourth place Restore Physiotherapy Pandas (8-5-5; 29PTS) will go up against fifth place Porcupine Kinsmen (5-9-4; 19PTS) at 6:00pm Tuesday night from Timmins High. Following that at 7:30pm, the second place Timmins Terminators (10-3-5; 35PTS) lock up with seventh place Investors Group (2-14-2; 8PTS).

On Wednesday night at 6:00pm, the other QF will see third place Rehab Plus (10-4-4; 34PTS) take on sixth place Tisdale Plumbing and Heating/Eclipse Financial (3-13-2; 11PTS).

MEN’S BASEBALL
The baseball week was, for the most part, electric in Timmins.

The ServiceMaster Orioles (9-3) began TMBL play Monday with a come-from-behind 12-11 win over the Lessard-Stephens Red Sox (3-9).

However, the Whiskey Jacks (10-2) were able to create some more space on top of the TMBL standings with two more wins Tuesday and Wednesday. First, it was a 10-3 win over the Moneta Pub and Grub Brewers (8-5). And then an 18-0 five-inning romp of the Boston Pizza Pirates (1-12).

The Jacks now lead the Orioles by a full game with about two weeks to go in the regular season.

The Brewers did get a win this week though, led by a two-hitter from pitcher Andrew Lucking. The Brewers emerged victorious Thursday, 9-1 over the Red Sox.

The third place Brewers remain 2.5 games back of the Whiskey Jacks, while the Red Sox and Pirates are seven and nine and a half back respectively.

TMBL play resumes on the Civic Holiday Monday, with a clash the top two teams as the Jacks and Orioles meet at 6:15pm from the Theriault baseball field.

Filed under: Local News, local-sports