Toronto FC Academy tied 1-1 with Serbian White Eagles in the Canadian Soccer League On Saturday night. Toronto FC goalkeeper Milos Kocic is on loan with the White Eagles and produced a string of excellent saves to deny the Academy a win.

After a slightly tentative start for both teams Serbian White Eagles capitalized from a corner kick as TFC midfielder Matt Stinson inadvertently directed his header into his own goal past Angelo Cavaluzzo to give the White Eagles an early 1-0 lead.

TFC had a fantastic opportunity to level the score soon after as Allando Matheson dispossessed Mark Jankovic before playing a through ball for Jonathan Almeida, but the midfielder took too long on his shot and it was blocked by a covering defender. In the 20th minute Almeida had another opportunity from the top of the box but his shot sailed over the crossbar.

Allando Matheson had a fantastic opportunity after some quick combination play in midfield, Jonathan Almeida released him with a well weighted through ball to put the striker on a breakaway with Milos Kocic who stood tall to make a fantastic save going into the halftime.

TFC came out full of energy and purpose in the second half and some neat combination play in midfield saw Josh Janniere released through the middle and slot a well placed shot beyond Kocic to level the game at 1-1.

Allando Matheson had a glorious chance in the 68th minute as he once again found himself one-on-one with Kocic who once again foiled the TFC striker by making a good kick save to prevent TFC Academy from taking the lead.

The warning sign must have stirred the White Eagles into action because TFC Academy were forced to endure a 10 minute period where they had chance after chance and could’ve got the go ahead goal.

TFC were resilient in defence and then created a few more opportunities; first through Nicholas Lindsay who had a goal called back for offside in the 85th minute. Only a minute later Dino Gardiner went on one of his infamous slalom dribbling runs and hit a low hard shot that just missed Kocic’s far post. The referee blew for full time and the two sides shared the points.

“I am absolutely delighted and proud of my players performance tonight,” said TFC Academy Senior Team Head Coach Jason Bent. “The players are so disappointed that they didn’t take all three points tonight as we were the better side and created several glorious chances. Milos Kocic had a magnificent game and single handedly got the White Eagles a point.”

“Our performance shows just how far these players have progressed over the past nine months. During the 2009 season we lost a regular season game to Serbia 5-0 as well as two playoff games. Tonight with virtually the same team as last season we have put in a solid performance and were unlucky not to win the match. We’ll move on from this result and we can take great pride in our seven match unbeaten streak that has us fighting at the right end of the table.”