College soccer top kicks lauded
Niagara men’s team tops division at Ontario golf championships
Niagara College returns to the pitch today hoping to ground the visiting Fanshawe Falcons and return to the win column in men’s and women’s soccer.
Both Knights teams come into the doubleheader at Youngs Sportsplex in Welland — women’s game, 4 p.m.; men’s game, 6 p.m. — following ties in Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) action last week.
Andrew Currie, Woodstock; scored with two minutes remaining in regulation to give the Niagara men a 1-1 draw versus the Mohawk Mountaineers in Hamilton. Alexis Hebert, Waterdown; backstopped the women’s team to a scoreless tie, also against Mohawk.
Currie and Hebert were named the college’s athletes of the week as the men and women improved to 5-1-1 and 3-3-1, respectively, with three games remaining in the season.
The Niagara-Mohawk men’s game featured a clash of styles with the Knights’ attack stymied by an “extremely conservative” defence.
“We were in their end the entire game and they just sat back and absorbed the pressure,” Niagara head coach Frank DeChellis said.
“That was their game plan, and they got the one point they wanted.”
He was happy with the way his Knights played in the road game.
“Other than the result, I left the game content with what I saw.”
Hebert’s shutout in the women’s game was her third clean slate in a row. She attributed the 23-save performance against Mohawk and to her recent success overall to goalkeeping coach Gerry D’Angelo.
“All of the one-on-one training I’ve had with coach Gerry is really helping me to succeed as a keeper, and I am feeling more confident in every game I play,” the rookie said.
A victory over the Fanshawe, 5-02; today would give the Knights sole possession of first place in the OCAA’s West Division, as well as a split of the season series. Niagara dropped a 1-0 decision to the Falcons in the season opener Sept. 9 in London, Ont.
Fanshawe, 7-0; doubled the Knights 2-1 to kick off the season in women’s college soccer.
Niagara cards gold
Five golfers, including three from the region, combined to give Niagara the men’s Division II championship at the OCAA championships.
As a team Nolan Von Kalckreuth, Fort Erie; Marshall Pemberton, Guelph; Logan Lammerant, Seaforth; John Hickson, Grimsby; and Andrew Noble, St. Catharines; finished 17 strokes better than silver medallist St. Lawrence, Kingston campus; at the 54-hole tournament hosted by Sault College at played at the par-72 Crimson Ridge Golf Course in Sault Ste. Marie.
Lammerant shot 75 and 76 over the final two days to finish eighth in the individual men’s competition. Humber captured both the men’s and women’s championships in Division I.
Successful sophomore
Jordan Wilson saved the best for the last when Niagara hosted Hillbert College in men’s basketball.
Twelve of his game-high 26 points were scored in the fourth quarter as the Knights topped their visitors from Hamburg, N.Y., in the exhibition game Saturday at the Athletic Centre in Welland.
Wilson, a 6-foot-5 forward from Nassau, Bahamas, is back for a second year at the region’s community college. Last season he saw action in 13 of the team’s 16 league games averaging 6.8 points and 4.8 rebounds per game.
Last night the Knights were in Oshawa playing a pre-season game against the Durham Lords. They also will be in Canada’s Motor City this weekend competing in the Durham College invitational.