CCAA Final: Humber Hawks 2, Seneca Sting 1
For the second straight year, the Humber Hawks are national champions.
In an all-Toronto championship final, the Hawks defeated the Seneca Sting 2-1 in extra time in the gold-medal match at the 2022 Canadian Colleges Athletic Association Men's Soccer National Championship on Saturday at Langley's Willoughby Community Park.
The eight-team tournament was hosted by Langara College.
The Sting were down a man from the 10th minute on when Alex Lewis received a red card. And despite that, Seneca was able to take a 1-0 lead early in the second half on a goal from Steven Janjicek (54'). However, the Sting's Francisco Thomas Herro received his second yellow of the match in the 80th minute and was sent to the locker room, meaning the team was down two men.
Humber was finally able to break through and take advantage in the 89th minute with Noah MacIntyre tying the game at a goal apiece. Federico Leal (105' +5') would score the decisive goal to give Humber a 2-1 lead, which the held through the second 15-minute extra-time period.
"It is my last year so no better way to finish it. It is a great group of guys. We are a family and I am just happy to do this with a great group of brothers," a jubilant Leal said post-game. "In the end, you have to got believe you are going to score, and it is going to happen that is what happened."
It was a bitter way to lose for a Seneca squad which gave Humber all it could handle. The two teams were both 10-0 during the regular season and met in the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association championship two weeks earlier with the Hawks prevailing 4-0.
"They kept plugging away. It wasn't one of our better games, but Seneca is a very good team, and they did very well in terms of their game play. Our guys just kept believing right until the very end and sometimes you need a little bit of everything to win and we were able to find it late in the game," added Humber coach Michael Aquino.
The Sting were forced to alter their game plan when they lost Lewis in the early going.
"It also challenges you mentally and you start to lose concentration. I thought the guys bounced back brilliantly, we managed to get a goal through hard work. The second red card really broke our back because know you start to lose even more belief," said Seneca coach Patrice Gheisar.
"A one second loss of concentration and we give up a cross. But that's how cruel this game is. We were so close, but we will take the lessons and hopefully be back next year."
"We did all we could for 120 minutes but came short at the end."
Humber's Danny Medeiros and Seneca goalkeeper Anthony Gurrieri were their teams' respective 4imprint Players of the Game. Gurrieri was also chosen as the MVP of the Championship.
CCAA Semi-Final: Humber Hawks 3, Langara Falcons 1
The Humber Hawks are back in the championship final.
The defending CCAA national champions scored a pair of goals less than four minutes apart in the 30th and 33rd minute, respectively (Federico Leal and Damion Kaye) and then tacked on another in the 51st minute (Luca Uccello) on their way to a 3-1 semi-final victory over the Langara Falcons.
"They are a good team that works hard, and we had to match their intensity, and I think we did that all game," Uccello said of his Falcons opponent.
Langara did receive some second-half life when David Rodriguez Zegarra converted a penalty to make the score 3-1 in the 63rd minute. The Falcons continued to press and had two shots on goal in added time, but Humber keeper Holger Xhameta was able to glove the ball on each attempt, finishing with three second-half saves and five for the game.
"They bring a lot of spirit and work ethic and some good individual players. We knew we were going to have to fight for 90 minutes," said Hawks coach Michael Aquino of the Langara squad.
Uccello (Humber) and Zegarra (Langara) were their team's respective Players of the Game.
CCAA Semi-Final: Seneca Sting 1*, VIU Mariners 1 *(4-3 PKs)
Athletes can be creatures of habit but sometimes it pays to go with your gut.
With the game in penalty kicks - the second straight afternoon they found themselves in the situation - Seneca Sting goaltender Anthony Gurrieri had just made a second save on the fifth VIU Mariners shooter, meaning a successful kick here would send the Toronto team to the championship final.
Francisco Thomas Cerro always shoots fifth for his team in this situation, so he had the opportunity to watch the previous nine shooters.
"The whole time I was standing there, I was thinking I always shoot to the left, but I was thinking in my head maybe I should go right because maybe they have watched me shoot penalties before," he explained afterwards. "I went with my gut feeling and went right and everything worked out."
It was his second goal of the game, as he also opened the scoring in the 60th minute, although the Mariners would equalize less than four minutes later with Billy Bagiopoulos erasing the deficit.
"We took a few minutes off and they scored within a few minutes which is disappointing, but credit to the guys, they never stopped believing," said Seneca coach Patrice Gheisar.
The win advances Seneca - the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) finalists - to Saturday's championship final. It will mark the program's first appearance in the title game since 2009, when they won the title. It was also the last time the Sting have medalled.
Gurrieri was Seneca's 4imprint Player of the Game while VIU's Matthew Coburn was his team's recipient of the award.
CCAA Quarter-Final: Seneca Sting 1*, Nomades de Montmorency 1 *(4-3 PKs)
The Seneca Sting prevailed to defeat the Nomades de Montmorency in PKs during the the second quarter-final at the CCAA Men's Soccer National Championships.
The teams were tied at one apiece following 90 minutes of play - plus three minutes of injury time. Seneca goalkeeper Anthony Gurrieri came up with a pair of saves to help lead his team to a 4-3 victory in the penalty kick round.
"Coach says I am good for two saves, so I have to follow through with it and get those two saves for the boys," said Gurrieri. "Honestly, I feel no pressure because I think the shooter has everything to do. If I save the ball, I save it; if it goes in, it goes in. They have a big target to hit. I relax, look at the ball, look at the shooter and hope for the best."
"Anthony outside of being a goalie, has grown to be a really good leader and a guy who can rise up to the occasion," said Seneca coach Patrice Gheisar of his first recruit when he took the job three seasons ago.
Seneca's Rashad Griffith opened the scoring in the 30th minute of regulation but Montmorency's Ibrahim Chami responded just ahead of half-time. Neither team was able to muster another goal in the second half with the Sting firing four shots on goal while the Nomades had two solid chances. Gurrieri coming up with big saves on both attempts.
"Relieved, stressed, emotional and fatigued. It was a roller coaster. Not the way we wanted to win, but I am proud of the guys. They never stopped believing," Gheisar said.
The penalty kicks did not begin well for Seneca as after Chami made his kick for the Nomades, Seneca's Atif Ali - the team's most reliable person in that situation Gheisar said - sent his shot over the crossbar. But Gurrieri came up with a save on Xavier Houndo-Richard. The next five shooters (Alex Lewis, Jowell Alleyne and Joshua Alegria for Seneca and Ali Merghemi and Montacer El-Harchali for the Nomades would score) before Gurrieri came up with a diving save to his left off Xavier Bitondo-Nanga and Francisco Thomas Cerros converted his chance to send the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) champions to the semi-final round.
The 4imprint Players of the Game were Cerros (Seneca) and Chami (Montmorency).
CCAA Quarter-Final: Humber Hawks 7, Les Rouges de Saint-Boniface 2
It was not the first half Toronto's Humber Hawks were expecting. Ranked No. 1 all season, the defending CCAA champions went into the break all square with the MCAC's Rouges de Saint-Boniface.
CCAA Player of the Year Luca Uccello had opened the scoring for Humber, converting from the penalty spot just moments into the game. Franck Oumar N'Dia then netted back-to-back tallies for the Winnipeg-based Rouges putting them up 2-1 in the 35th minute. Seven minutes later, Damion Kaye levelled the equalizer, sending the teams to the half even at two.
"The last 15 minutes of the first half, we started playing how we wanted to play, how we should play, how we usually play," Kaye said. "In soccer, stuff doesn't always go your way, but you just have to keep your head down and work harder."
The Hawks came out strong to start the second, with Abdul-Azees Babawale (62') and Alex Meczarski (65') registering goals less than three minutes apart. USB was forced to press offensively to get back into the game, which allowed Humber to capitalize at the other end, tacking on an additional three goals. The last goal came courtesy of Santiago Muniz to cap off the 7-2 victory and a spot in the CCAA Men's Soccer National Championship semi-finals.
Kaye, who scored a hat trick in the victory, and Oumar N'Dia earned their teams' respective 4imprint Player of the Game awards.
Source: Langara Falcons/CCAA Communications
Championship Website: https://www.ccaa.ca/sports/msoc/championship/index
Championship Webcast: https://www.youtube.com/user/CCAAsportsACSC