Men's Soccer Advance to OCAA Final Four At St. Clair

Oshawa, ON (Oct 23, 2021) The St. Clair men's soccer team advanced to the OCAA Final Four Championship with a hard fought 2-1 win in penalty kicks on Saturday night in Oshawa.  The Saints are hosting the Championship at Acumen Stadium on October 29^th and 30^th.

The Saints got off to a great start with a couple of good opportunities early but could not find the back of the net. St. Clair went up 1-0 in the 33^rd minute on a nice goal by Massimo Pollard (Windsor; Holy Names) assisted by Evan Mendonca (Wallacetown; West Elgin).  St. Clair got in trouble late in the first half when Mateo Grahovac (Windsor; Riverside) received his second yellow card of the half which meant the Saints had to play down a man for the next 76 minutes of play.

Durham managed to tie the game up in the 60^th minute on a goal by Ryan Cullen. However the Saints continued to play well despite being down a man but could not get the go ahead goal in regulation or extra time. St. Clair had a 12-6 edge in shot attempts and a 14-3 advantage in corner kicks in the 120 minutes of play. The Durham keeper made 8 saves while St. Clair keeper Thomas Kogel (Windsor; St. Joseph's) only had 2 saves regulation and extra time.

Despite not being too busy in the first 120 minutes of play Kogel stepped up huge in penalty kicks. Kogel stopped the second and third shooters for Durham and after Pollard, Carlos DaGloria (Leamington; Cardinal Carter), and Dillon Hayes (Amherstburg; General Amherst) scored on the first three penalties Mendonca banged one in off the post to secure the upset win for the Saints. Durham finished in first place in the OCAA East Division.

St. Clair also came up in the short end of some of the calls throughout the night earning 21 fouls compared to 8 for Durham and also getting 6 yellow cards while Durham had 4.

For the game box score click on the following link 

https://ocaa.com/sports/msoc/2021-22p/boxscores/20211023_hmkm.xml

The Saints will now face the top ranked Humber Hawks on Friday, October 29 at 4 pm at the Sportspark. The winner of that match will advance to the Gold Medal Game on Saturday while the loser will play for Bronze. The gold and silver medalists will qualify for the CCAA National Championship being host in Calgary from November 10-13.

Humber finished in first place in the Central Division with a record of 5-0-1. The Saints were second in the West with a record of 4-2. The Hawks are ranked first in Ontario and in third Canada while St. Clair is currently ranked fifth in the OCAA.