DESPITE IMPRESSIVE PERFORMANCE, HAWKS FALL TO CAMBRIAN

The Humber Hawks Women's Soccer Team, winners of three of the past five Provincial Championships, faced off against the Cambrian Golden Shield on Saturday morning with an OCAA Bronze Medal on the line.

Cambrian got off to a quick start when OCAA Player of the Year Tiffany Johnson broke past Humber's back line and looked to have a one-on-one opportunity with keeper Sabrina Larosa, only for All-Star Alora Walcott to break her run with a diving effort. Minutes later the Golden Shield would capitalize on another attack when Larosa found the back of the net on a perfectly placed ball inches inside the right post.

The blue and gold settled in nicely shortly thereafter, controlling play deep in Cambrian territory. A pair of yellow cards were called on the Hawks in short succession to somewhat stem the tide, first on Justine Robb and minutes later Alora Walcott. Humber would press on and earned a free kick in the 29th minute; the shot from just outside the box narrowly missed. After a few Cambrian rushes were stymied by the Hawks stout defense, the Hawks pressure continued to mount as half-time drew closer. Corinna Vanderschaaf had a beautiful run up the right wing in extra time, only for her cross to go through the box untouched.

The second half opened with new entries to the game for the Hawks; Keyanna Foster-Jackson, Ashley Osorio and Jayde Wiklund-Roach would all make contributions throughout the second forty-five. Humber continued to control play, earning a couple of corners early on. Brittany Verge nearly evened the score off a corner kick, but her shot whistled narrowly past the net. Minutes later, Keyanna let a laser go from the top of the circle only to have the the ball deflected, and the blue and gold were again unable to capitalize on the resulting corner.

Twice in five minutes the Golden Shield were caught offside, wiping a pair of goals off the board, and the game's final twenty minutes absolutely belonged to Humber. The play stayed in Cambrian's end for nearly the entire time, with the Hawks earning several corners and coming tantalizingly close to evening the score on more than multiple occasions. Unfortunately for the Hawks, it wasn't to be and the team was unable to tally the equalizing goal.

The loss ends Humber's season fourth in the province, no doubt a disappointing result. Despite the end to the year, this is a program on the rise with a lot of young talent that should come back strong in 2015 season, and can be proud of the passion they played with this weekend.