Three-peat for No. 1 Men's Soccer

WINDSOR – Death. Taxes. Humber men's soccer winning the provincial championship.

For the ninth time in 11 seasons, top-ranked Humber has climbed the OCAA mountaintop, capturing the 2021 provincial title after blanking No. 15 George Brown, 4-0.

After outscoring its opponents 10 to one in the opening two rounds of the postseason, Humber was tasked with beating the red-hot Huskies on a rainy afternoon at Acumen Stadium.

The Huskies opened the match as the hungrier squad, putting four shots on net in the first ten minutes. First-year keeper Holger Xhameta was up to the task, making a couple of big saves to keep George Brown off of the scoresheet.

Finally, in the 18th minute, Jacob Rodrigues hit a long cross into the box and Leaford Allen outjumped his defender, heading a goal past the Huskies keeper for his fourth tally of the postseason. Less than a minute, Exosse Kadiebue's shot off of a corner kick hit a defender and glanced off of the post, nearly doubling Humber's lead.

As the match approached the 30th minute, the Huskies looked for the equalizer with a free-kick from just outside the 18-yard box. George Brown blasted a loose ball through two Humber defenders but Xhameta made a brilliant diving save once again.

After the break, Humber's high-flying offence struck again, only needing 45 seconds to double its lead. After Dante Pavan intercepted a pass, Luca Uccello found a streaking Kadiebue on the wing. His shot once again rang off of the post but this time Leaford Allen was there all alone to bang home the rebound.

Less than three minutes later, all-star Luca Uccello was the playmaker once again. Uccello passed to Kadiebue who beat two defenders in the box and passed to Allen who was looking for the hat trick.  Allen's shot was saved by the Huskies keeper but Kadiebue cleaned up the rebound, recording the tally as he was being taken down by a defender.

In the 65th minute, George Brown had its best chance to get on the board when it was awarded a penalty kick. Tiaga De Jesus stepped to the spot, hitting a strike to the low right corner.  Xhameta guessed correctly and dove to his left, tipping the ball off of the post to keep his clean sheet intact.

Leaford Allen continued his dominant postseason run, forcing a George Brown turnover in the 71st minute. Faking out his defender, Allen made a perfect pass to Abdul Babawale from the baseline and Babawale buried the easy tally.

Making a career-high nine saves, Holger Xhameta was named the player of the match for Humber.

Finishing with five goals in three postseason matches, Leaford Allen was named the championship MVP. Senior Michael Fayehun was selected to the all-tournament team as the Hawks recorded two clean sheets during its postseason run.

Humber Highlights

• Humber extended its OCAA postseason win streak to 11 straight matches and 18 of its last 19, overall.
• Marcos Nunes and Leaford Allen finished with five tallies each, tying Humber's program record for goals in a tournament.
• Head coach Michael Aquino improves to 23-2 (.920) all-time in OCAA postseason play.
• Nunes has now recorded 16 OCAA postseason goals in 12 career matches.
• The Hawks improve to 14-7 all-time in the gold medal match and 6-0 against the Huskies in the postseason.
• Holger Xhameta recorded two clean sheets for the Hawks.
• Humber's 14 provincial titles are the most in the province; three more than Algonquin who sits in second with 11.

What's Next?

No. 1 Humber will head to the CCAA National Championship tournament in Calgary from Nov. 10-13, hosted by SAIT. The Hawks will enter as the top seed and will await the announcement of the official seeding by the CCAA later this the week.