OSHAWA, Ont – The Durham Lords men's soccer team punched its ticket to the OCAA championship after coming from behind to defeat the St. Clair Saints 2-1 on Saturday night at Vaso's Field.
 
St. Clair took an early lead when Tyrone Mulder tucked the ball under Lords keeper Kevon Grant (Oshawa, Ont) in the sixth minute of the game.
 
The Lords found an equalizer in the 16^th minute when Nate Paine (Whitby, Ont) cut in and found the bottom right corner from long range to pick up his fourth goal of the season as the Lords started to pick up momentum.
 
Jeremy Bangala (Pickering, Ont) thought he had given the Lords the lead shortly after, but his goal was called offside. The sides went into the break levelled at one.
 
Matthew Morris (Ajax, Ont) nearly scored a go-ahead goal of his own in the 50^th minute, but his curling effort hit the post as the Lords kept probing.
 
Durham were awarded a penalty in the 60^th minute when Nigel Buckley (Pickering, Ont) was fouled inside the Saints 18-yard box; Buckley stepped up to convert, but his penalty was well saved by the Saints' goalkeeper.
 
Only nine minutes later Buckley redeemed himself for the penalty miss after he found space in the box and poked the ball into the bottom right corner.
 
The Lords continued racking up shots as Ryan Cullen (Pickering, Ont) and Aidan Donaldson (Scarborough, Ont) came close, but the St. Clair keeper kept his side in the game with two more great saves.
 
The Saints pushed forward for an equalizer late, but the Lords stood firm.
 
"It was a hard fought effort; you never know what to expect going into these crossover games, St. Clair has a good squad and they came here hungry for a win and that showed throughout the entire game," said Paine, "Our guys are confident heading into Thursday, we know we can compete, we have the ability to compete, now all we have to do is show it," he added.
 
Durham is now unbeaten in 11 games this season and will advance to the OCAA men's soccer championship presented by belairdirect, which begins on Thursday, Oct. 25 and is hosted by George Brown.
  

QUICK LOOK AT THE LORDS

Overall Record: 8-3-4 (W-L-D)
Conference Record: 7-0-4
 
Next match: Thursday, Oct. 25 - OCAA championship

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