HAWKS PUNCH TICKET TO NATIONAL TITLE GAME ON SATURDAY
MONTREAL, QC: The Humber Hawks have advanced to the Gold Medal game at the 2015 Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association men's soccer championships, by way of a 1-0 win over fellow OCAA member Algonquin Thunder.
With the win, the Hawks will play for its third national title in four years on Saturday afternoon at 2:30 pm against British Columbia's Capilano College. Algonquin will now start traveling the route towards the bronze medal, which means being back on the pitch again on Friday.
The two OCAA teams met two weeks ago in the OCAA title game, a match that was controlled by the Hawks from the opening whistle, on their way to a 3-0 win. The Hawk coaching staff knew going into this game that the game a couple of weeks back would have no bearing on this one, as the Thunder would bring their top game to the semi-final.
The Hawks entered the game shorthanded, as opening game goal scorer and OCAA Championship All Star Patrick Majcher would not be available. Majcher was injured after scoring against Champlain, a tackle after the goal that resulted in a red card expulsion of the Cavalier player. The second factor that may have caused the Hawks trouble would be the weather, as high winds and rain is a great neutralizer of a ball control team.
The game started with windy conditions, and Humber had to deal with the gales blowing into their face in the first half, but knew the advantage would swing their way in the second. Both teams controlled the play for an even amount of time, with neither producing any solid goal scoring chances. The half-time whistle blew with score unchanged at zero.
With the wind and some urgency the Humber squad came out hard. The first turning point of the night came after the Hawks pressured the Thunder deep in the Algonquin end. At the forty eight minute mark, a Thunder centre-back received his second yellow card of the match, and was ejected from the match.
Algonquin was forced to play with a man down, and Humber reacted quickly. They kept pressure on the Thunder defence, and at the fifty two minute mark Jesse Assing scored on a lovely strike. This goal was Assings second in as many days.
The rains then joined in with the win the rest of the way. Neither team was able to overcome the elements, and the play ended up being populated with longer balls being passed, and less control. As play wound down, the official indicated three extra minutes of injury time. Even with these extra minutes, the Thunder were unable to create an offensive chance.
Eugenio Garro, the Keeper for the Hawks recorded his second consecutive shutout.
Joshua Paredes-Proctor, a two goal scorer on Wednesday, was selected as the Humber Player of the Game.
For complete results, photos and more, please visit the official tournament website:
http://www.ccaa.ca/national-championship-s15061
