October 29th, 2022...OSHAWA - The Niagara Knights women's soccer team will play for bronze tomorrow afternoon after a hard fought battle to a 3-2 OT loss to the Humber Hawks in today's semi-final of the OCAA Women's Soccer Championship.
Today's match was eerily similar to the last time these two teams met just two weeks ago, when the Knights and Hawks finished in a 2-2 draw.
Humber got on the board first at the 16th minute mark and carried the 1-0 lead through the remainder of the half. Niagara keeper Sierra Naccarato kept the Hawks at bay after they were able to get a few shots off before the halftime whistle.
The Knights evened things up in the 63rd minute on a mad scramble in front of the Hawk's net off a Niagara corner kick that found it's way behind the Humber keeper. Natasha Desjardins was credited with the goal - her first career goal since joining the Knights on the pitch in 2021.
Both teams played an evenly matched game, both desperately trying to break the tie in regulation time.
The two-time OCAA Player of the Year, Sydney Sica, capitalized for the Knights to get the go-ahead goal with just 5 minutes remaining in regulation time. Things looked good for Niagara as the minutes ticked away in injury time before the referee awarded a free kick to the Hawks just outside the 18 yard box. Humber made no mistake and tied things up in the final minute to push the game into over time.
The Hawks would get the eventual game winner with just two minutes remaining in the overtime period, and went on tpo secure the 3-2 win and advance to tomorrow's gold medal final. The Hawks will kick-off against today's other semi-final winner that went down in similar fashion. Seneca College defeated the host Durham Lords in a 3-2 OT decision.
Despite it not being the colour they wanted, the Knights will look to bring home the program's first-ever medal in the bronze match-up tomorrow against the Durham Lords at 12:00
Humber and Seneca will play for gold at 3:00pm. Both the Hawks and Sting have punched their ticket to CCAA Nationals in Quebec with the OCAA receiving a wild card berth.
