TORONTO, August 28, 2004 - The Montreal Impact continued their Voyageurs Cup dominance by claiming their third consecutive title with a 2-0 victory over Edmonton FC on Wednesday, August 25.
Edmonton headed into the match four points behind Montreal, but, with a game in hand, a victory would have given them an opportunity to win the title. But the Impact proved too tough, earning their sixth shutout in the competition.
The Voyageurs will award the Voyageurs Cup trophy to Montreal before their final A-League regular season game against the Richmond Kickers on Sunday, August 29. Kickoff is at 4 PM at the Claude Robillard Sports Complex.
The final match of the 2004 Voyageurs Cup was a battle for second place as the Toronto Lynx hosted Edmonton on Thursday, August 26. Edmonton needed a draw to secure the runner-up position, but a 3-1 victory for Toronto put the Lynx ahead of Edmonton in the final standings, and just behind Montreal for the third consecutive year.
Montreal finished with 18 points in the Voyageurs Cup standings, having gone undefeated with 5 wins and 3 draws. Toronto ended with 13 points (4 wins, 1 draw, 3 losses), Edmonton were third with 11 points (3-2-3), the Vancouver Whitecaps were fourth with 8 points (2-2-4), and the Calgary Mustangs finished fifth with 5 points (1-2-5).
For the third year in a row a Toronto Lynx player finished as a top scorer in the Voyageurs Cup. This year it was Charles Gbeke, who scored 5 goals for the Lynx. Frederick Commodore (Montreal), Sean Fraser (Edmonton), Ali Gerba (Toronto, last year's top scorer), Conrad Smith (Calgary) and Davide Xausa (Vancouver) all tied for second in the scoring race with 3 goals each.
The expanded Voyageurs Cup schedule in 2004, which accommodated the new Edmonton franchise, led to another close competition. The 2005 Voyageurs Cup is expected to maintain the five-team schedule, including a revitalized Edmonton franchise.
RECENT MATCHES
First team listed is the home team.
August 25 - Men - Montreal 2 Edmonton 0
August 26 - Men - Toronto 3 Edmonton 1
ABOUT THE VOYAGEURS CUP
The Voyageurs Cup, inaugurated in 2002, is awarded annually to the most successful Canadian A-League team based on league points earned in matches between these teams. The teams that participated in 2004 were the Calgary Mustangs, Edmonton FC, Montreal Impact, Toronto Lynx and Vancouver Whitecaps. The Montreal Impact have won all three editions of the competition.
The Women's Voyageurs Cup East and Women's Voyageurs Cup West, inaugurated in 2004, are awarded to the most successful Canadian team in each of the Eastern and Western conferences of the W-League, respectively, based on league points earned in matches between these teams. The teams that participated in 2004 were the Ottawa Fury, Montreal Xtreme, Sudbury Canadians and Toronto Inferno in the East, and the Calgary Wildfire, Edmonton Aviators and Vancouver Whitecaps in the West. The inaugural titles were won by Ottawa and Vancouver.
The entire cost of all Voyageurs Cup competitions has been borne entirely by private donations from individual Voyageurs.
Match schedules, results and standings for all Voyageurs Cup competitions are provided at www.voyageurscup.ca.
ABOUT THE VOYAGEURS
The Voyageurs soccer fan club was founded in 1996 as a national group of fans of Canada's men's World Cup team. Since then, they have been a visible presence at Canadian national team games both in Canada and abroad, at all age levels, for both the men's and women's teams. The Voyageurs host the most active Canadian soccer site and forum on the Internet at www.canadian-soccer.com.
CONTACTING THE VOYAGEURS
Matthew Bin
Director of Communications, Voyageurs Cup
125 Cyrus St
Cambridge, Ontario N3H 1H2
519-729-8432
info@voyageurscup.ca
