ANCASTER, Ont. - The Humber Hawks are the 2016 OCAA men's soccer provincial champions. The Hawks defended their championship title with a 4-0 win over the Algonquin Thunder on Saturday afternoon at Redeemer University College in Ancaster, Ont.
Humber proved why they are the No. 1 team in the country with a flawless final against a very good Algonquin Thunder team.
The Hawks advanced to the final after defeating Mohawk College in the quarter-final and the George Brown Huskies in the semis. Their opponent, the Algonquin Thunder, booked their ticket in the final with a win over the Fanshawe Falcons in the quarter-finals and the Niagara Knights in the semis.
The Hawks proved to be to much for the only other undefeated team in the province. The Thunder will end the season with a 12-1 record while the Hawks remain perfect at 13-0.
Both teams advance to the CCAA national championship with a berth in the final of the OCAA championship.
OCAA BRONZE MEDAL MATCH
GEORGE BROWN 4, NIAGARA 3 (PK)
The anticipation was building for the gold medal match, but the two teams competing in the bronze medal match made sure no one forgot about them. The George Brown Huskies and the Niagara Knights battled for 120 minutes in the 2016 belairdirect OCAA Men's Soccer Championship bronze medal match before penalty kicks finally finished the match.
When the dust had settled, George Brown was victorious and claimed the bronze medal with a 4-3 victory.
Both teams scored three goals in regulation time but neither could find the go ahead goal in the overtime period. Despite being down two men in overtime due to dismissals, the Knights were able to force the Huskies into a shootout.
The shootout saw Niagara miss both of their first shots before clawing their way back to give themselves a chance. However, George Brown's goalkeeper kept the Huskies ahead throughout the shootout, and helped propel them to championship bronze.
OCAA CONSOLATION FINAL
REDEEMER 2, ST. CLAIR 1
OCAA SEMIFINALS
HUMBER 4, GEORGE BROWN 0
Division rivals Humber and George Brown battled it out on Friday night in the second semifinal of the 2016 belairdirect OCAA Men's Soccer Championship. The Humber Hawks advanced to Saturday's championship final after defeating the Huskies 4-0. Humber will now have an opportunity to defend their championship title with a win on Saturday.
As a finalist, Humber has automatically qualified for the 2016 CCAA National Men's Soccer Championship in Alberta.
The Hawks will take on the Algonquin Thunder in the final. The Thunder advanced with a 3-0 win over the Niagara Knights. The gold medal match gets underway at Redeemer University College at 3 p.m. on Saturday.
George Brown will now compete for the championship bronze medal and will square off against the Niagara Knights. The Bronze medal match is scheduled for 12 p.m. Saturday afternoon.
ALGONQUIN 3, NIAGARA 0
The Algonquin Thunder have advanced to the 2016 belairdirect OCAA Men's Soccer Championship gold medal match. The Thunder defeated the Niagara Knights in the first of two semifinal matches today at Redeemer University College in Ancaster, Ont.
The Knights held off the top ranked Thunder for 58 minutes before Algonquin netted the first goal of the match. They would add two more before the final whistle for a 3-0 victory.
Algonquin moves on to play the winner of the second semifinal at 5 p.m. between the Humber Hawks and the George Brown Huskies.
The Thunder have also qualified for the CCAA National Men's Soccer Championship as an OCAA championship finalist.
The Knights will go for bronze on Saturday at 12 noon against the loser of the second semifinal match.
Player of the Game for Algonquin was Dylan Tessier. Niagara Knights Player of the Game was David Fimiak.
OCAA CONSOLATION SEMIFINALS
REDEEMER 4, MOHAWK 0
ST. CLAIR 5, FANSHAWE 4
While it wasn't the match they were hoping to be playing in, the St. Clair Saints and the Redeemer Royals have advanced to play on Saturday of the 2016 belairdirect OCAA Men's Soccer Championship.
The Royals and Saints will meet at 9 a.m. in the championship consolation final, a battle for fifth place in the province.
St. Clair advanced to Saturday after a wild match on Friday morning against the Fanshawe Falcons. A total of nine goals between the two teams equalled the total of the first three match of the championship.
Redeemer advanced to the consolation final after defeating the Mohawk Mountaineers 4-0. Redeemer's goalkeeper Wayne Otten continued his strong championship with a shutout against the visitors.
After going 0-2 in their first two games, both Mohawk and Fanshawe were eliminated from the championship.
Redeemer and St. Clair faced each other twice during the regular season with the Royals winning the first match 2-1 and St. Clair winning the second 3-1.
OCAA QUARTER-FINALS
HUMBER 6, MOHAWK 1
The Humber Hawks are one step closer to defending their championship after a 6-1 win in the first round of the 2016 belairdirect OCAA Men's Soccer Championship. The Hawks downed the Mohawk Mountaineers in the fourth game of the championship and advanced to Friday's semifinals.
Humber advances to face the George Brown Huskies at 5 p.m. while the Mohawk Mountaineers will battle the host, Redeemer Royals, in the consolation semifinal at 12 noon.
Humber led at half 2-0 with goals from Michael Aigbokie (2nd) and Marcos Nunes (6th). Humber found the back of the net four more times in the second half with goals from Patrick Majcher, Gianlucas Scorzafave, Joe Tituana and Jordan Piccinin.
Joseph Barkovich was the lone goal scorer for the Mountaineers.
Barkovich was named the Player of the Game for the Mountaineers. Jerome Smith was the Player of the Game for the Hawks.
GEORGE BROWN 2, REDEEMER 1
The host Redeemer Royals were eliminated from medal contention on Thursday evening with a 2-1 defeat at the hands of the George Brown Huskies.
The third quarter-final of the day at the 2016 belairdirect OCAA Men's Soccer Championship saw the host team from Redeemer square off against the second place team from the Central Division.
For the third game in a row at the championship, the final scoreline was 2-1. George Brown took a 2-0 lead before Redeemer pulled one back late in the second half.
Goal scorers for George Brown were Gabriele Mauriello (20th) and Tory Dryden (62nd). Lewis Tuininga found the back of the net for Redeemer in the 90th.
Redeemer's Wayne Otten was phenomenal for the Royals with nine saves in the first half and six saves in the second half.
George Brown will move on to face the winner of the fourth quarter-final between the Humber Hawks and the Mohawk Mountaineers while Redeemer will face the loser of the same match.
The Player of the Game for George Brown was Dryden. Redeemer's Player of the Game was Otten.
ALGONQUIN 2, FANSHAWE 1
The Algonquin Thunder are moving on to the 2016 belairdirect Men's Soccer Championship semifinals. The Thunder kept their perfect record intact with a 2-1 win over the Fanshawe Falcons in quarter-final No. 2 on Thursday afternoon.
The Falcons opened the scoring in the first half with a goal from Petar Karan in the 13th minute. The Thunder equalized before half as Jemuel Paul found the back of the net inthe 20th minute.
The pace of the game changed in the 62nd minute when David Harriman-Duke from the Falcons received a straight red card. Both teams sensed the urgency to net the next goal. Fanshawe did not want to go down with only 10 men while Algonquin pushed to put the game away.
The Thunder found the back of the net again in the 56th minute when Andres Sachez scored, putting Algonquin up 2-1. The Falcons couldn't recover.
Algonquin will now move on to face the Niagara Knights on Friday at 2:30 p.m. while the Fanshawe Falcons will battle their division rival St. Clair Saints on Friday morning at 9:30 a.m.
NIAGARA 2, ST. CLAIR 1 (OT)
A late goal by the Niagara Knights in the 81st minute sent Game 1 of the OCAA belairdirect Men's Soccer Championship into overtime. The overtime period did not dissapoint with back-and-forth action by both the St. Clair Saints and the Niagara Knights, as both teams looked to book their ticket to the semi-final match.
Niagara's Jordi Amores eventually scored the winner for the Knights in the 98th minute and sent Niagara to the semifinal match tomorrow against the winner of Game 2.
Stefan Milidrag scored the loan goal for the St. Clair Saints.
The Saints will now play the loser of Game 2 in the consolation semifinal.
Despite the wet weather the match, the first of the championship, was entertaining from start to finish with 35 total attempts on net by both teams combined. Niagara's Sam Robson and St. Clair's Shane Beaton were both outstanding in net.
Player of the Game for the Niagara Knights was Amores while St. Clair's Player of the Game was Milidrag.
Championship Website: www.redeemerroyals.ca/sports/2016/6/17/mens-soccer-provincial-championship.aspx?id=83
Source: Redeemer University College
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