Five tallies for Keshishian as No. 3 Men's Soccer rolls Lambton
| Final | 1 | 2 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Lambton (0-6-0, 0-6-0) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
|
Humber (4-0-1, 4-0-1) | 10 | 3 | 13 |
By: Fernando Bossoes
Humber Athletics Communications
VAUGHAN – No. 3 Humber men's soccer (4-0-1, 1st West) treated their home crowd with a 13-goal win after downing the Lambton Lions (0-6, 9th West) on Saturday afternoon at the Ontario Soccer Centre. Red-hot Christian Keshishian led the Hawks offensively with five tallies, while freshman goalkeeper Danial Sanei captured the second clean sheet of his career.
Match Recap
Looking to maintain its dominance in the OCAA West Division and climb to the top spot in the country, No. 3 Humber men's soccer hosted the last-place Lambton Lions. With the Lions at the bottom of the standings, the Hawks saw this matchup as a chance to extend their winning momentum and pad their stats.
Humber coach Michael Aquino set his team on a strong start with high pressure right at Lambton's defensive zone. Freshman Marcus Riviere paced past two defenders to advance inside the penalty box. The third one had to stop him, and the referee whistled to call a penalty kick just two minutes into the match. Captain Matthew Laic stepped in and added the first number to the scoreboard with a top-right shot to the back of the net.
The early goal could allow Humber to slow down and control possession in the midfield, but the Hawks had no mercy. Riviere fought for the ball inside the 18-yard box and found a shot that tipped off Lambton's Marshall Mathe's glove and into the net to increase the lead to two at 12 minutes.
Two minutes later, Jacob Ball dribbled past two players by the penalty arc and put Christian Keshishian in position to score, who hammered in the third tally for Humber. Just in the next play, a miscue from the Lions' left-back opened up space for the Hawks to score the fourth. From Franz Mella, to Keshishian, to Riviere and into the back of the net for his second goal of the day.
The Lions looked stunned after allowing four goals in 15 minutes. A sloppy clear by Lambton's defence found OCAA Athlete of the Week Luca Pinto's foot, who recovered the possession by the box and unloaded a teleguided curved shot to the top-right shelf at 17 minutes. Keshishian followed in the footsteps of Kaylese Callender, scoring two more tallies to record the first hat trick of his Humber career and later found the back of the net again for the eighth goal of the match, a rocket from 55 yards that sailed over the keeper.
At 38 minutes, Mella stepped in for a corner kick on the right side. Lambton expected a cross inside the box, but Mella smashed an Olimpico to the top-left shelf. With the ball on the left side, Riviere crossed into the box, finding Keshishian, who beat the keeper with a powerful header for the 10th goal of the match — his fifth.
The referee blew the whistle to end the first half with Humber up 10-0.
The Hawks returned to play the last 45 minutes, with coach Aquino making substitutions to give Hawks' players game time. Despite having a different team in the second half, Humber kept playing an intense game — Lambton could barely hold possession.
Twenty minutes into the second half, Mella and Damion Kaye demonstrated good chemistry with a one-two play. Mella had a one-on-one opportunity with the keeper and stayed calm as he fake shot, dribbled past Mathe and just tapped it in to score a golazo.
Third-year midfielder Santiago Muniz was fouled inside the penalty box at 72 minutes. Muniz stepped in to take the penalty kick and made no mistake, driving into the bottom-left corner of the net.
Humber still had time to add another tally to the scoreboard. Second-year player Tomas Joseph fought for the ball inside the 18-yard box and found the back of the net. The referee whistled with no added time as Humber captured a dominant 13-0 win.
Scarborough-born forward Christian Keshishian was named the player of the game, scoring a career-high five goals and providing one apple.
Humber Highlights
- The Hawks improve to 21-0-1 all-time against the Lions.
- Christian Keshishian's five goals are a career-high.
- Keshishian leads Humber in the season with five tallies.
- This was Danial Sanei's second career clean sheet.
- Humber's 13 tallies tied the program record established in 2021 in a road match against Sault College.
- Franz Mella finished with a team-high two assists.
What's Next?
Hawks fans have plenty to look forward to as No. 3 Humber stays at home to host the St. Clair Saints (1-3-1, 8th West) tomorrow, Sept. 29. Kickoff is slated for 2:30 p.m. and will be streamed live on the Hawks Sports Network.
