VAUGHAN – The Humber Hawks opened their title defence with a home victory over the Durham Lords in the OCAA quarter-final round, 5-1.

With the rain starting to come down on the pitch, the Hawks opened the scoring in the 18th minute when Luca Uccello forced a turnover in the Lords’ end, finding Damion Kaye for his first of the match.

In the 32nd minute, Paul Valerie Mpeleng was cautioned for the second time and issued a red card, leaving the Lords short-handed for the rest of the match. Despite playing a man down, the Lords were able to keep the Hawks off of the board for the remainder of the match, heading into half down by one.

After the break, Kadell Thomas doubled Humber’s lead in the 50th minute, but Durham stormed right back with a goal from William Lyden.

The tally by Durham sparked a run by the Hawks, who went on to score three unanswered goals from Alex Meczarski, Damion Kaye, and Abdul-Azeez Babawale.

Danny Medeiros from Humber and Deandre Watkis from Durham were named the players of the match.

Humber will now face the Fanshawe Falcons in the semifinal on Oct. 28. Kick-off is set for noon.