SEVEN WOMEN'S SOCCER PLAYERS EARN ALL-OCAA DISTINCTION
At the 2017 OCAA Awards Banquet, Humber received a program-record seven all-star selections, along with the top defensive team and defensive player of the year awards.
SUDBURY, Ont -- After finishing the regular season with a perfect 10-0 record, the No. 6 Humber women's soccer team reaped the benefits Wednesday evening when the league announced its yearly awards as determined by a polling of the conference's coaches.
In arguably the toughest division in the OCAA, Humber allowed only three goals all season and was named the 2017 Central Division Best Defensive Team for the first time since 2015.
Leading the way for Humber was fifth-year defender Alexandra Giannone, an anchor on the defence that allowed a division-low 3.6 shots on goal-per-game. Named a 2017 OCAA All-Star, Giannone was also the Central Division Player of the Year – the first Hawk to win the award since Alora Walcott in 2014.
Including Giannone, six other Hawks were named to the OCAA All-Star team. For the second straight year, Vanessa Fiore and Rebecca Spratt received All-Star nods; while Giulia Zanardi, Shaniece Bennett, Claudia Piazza, and Danielle Canhoto earned the honour for the first time.
Fiore led the league with ten wins between the posts, while Zanardi was one of seven players in the league to score ten tallies this season.
Piazza, Spratt, Canhoto, and Bennett rounded out the top scorers for Humber, each finishing with six, five, four, and three goals, respectively.
Humber has now accumulated 51 all-star selections since 1996.
The end of the banquet marks the beginning of the 2017 OCAA Championship, hosted by Cambrian College. The quarter-final matchup for the Hawks will be against the St. Clair Saints (7-2-1, West) on Thursday, Oct. 26 at 9 a.m.
