Trip to provincial championship a first for women
The Niagara Knights women’s soccer program is ready for its first OCAA Championship tournament this weekend.
The Knights advance after defeating the George Brown Huskies in their divisional crossover game this past weekend by a score of 3-0 to clinch a spot in the eight-team tournament.
In the quarter-finals, they will face the Durham Lords, who were 9-2-1 and second in OCAA East. The Lords, who finished just below the OCAA East winning Seneca Sting, who have a 10-1 record and ended the season on a six-game winning streak. They finished with 37 goals scored and six allowed.
The 2018 OCAA Women’s Championship runs through Saturday and is being hosted by Seneca College.
The Knights, who have a 7-3 record and finished second in the OCAA West, are ready for the challenge this weekend, head coach Rob Lalama said.
“Facing Durham in Game 1 will be exciting,” said Lalama. “They are a very good team. We will have to be at our very best to beat them. We achieved more (success) this year because we invested more (effort). Our success was no accident.”
Depending on the result of Game 1, the Knights will have a chance to advance to the semifinals. The winner between the Knights and the Lords will take on the winner of the Fanshawe Falcons (10-0, first in OCAA West) and the Algonquin Thunder (6-1-5, third in OCAA East).
Overall, a berth into the OCAA Championship is a testament of the strong effort put forward by the team in the regular season.
Knights captain Kara Latham of Welland helped her team all season long with her work ethic and says she is ready to lead the Knights to a championship.
“We’ve been working hard all season,” said Latham. “We’ve won some big games and we’ve pushed through the ups and downs. Every practice we pushed ourselves, worked hard, and striven to become better. Heading into the OCAA Championships for the first time is going to be a big pat on the back because we’ve worked so hard to get here.”
Knights assistant coach Gary Condon, who has been with the program since Day 1 in 2009, believes the team has what it takes to make an impact in the tournament.
“It is amazing to finally make it to OCAAs. We have an opportunity with our first game,” said Condon. “We fear nobody and we never let up. This team’s biggest strength is our ability to fight through adversity when it strikes.”
A big reason why the Knights were able to make a run at the playoffs was the play of rookie forward Katelyn Mix of Gilford, who scored six goals in the regular season before adding two more in the crossover game against George Brown.
On top of Mix’s impressive play, the Knights had another spectacular showing from Michelle Maecker of Fonthill, who led the team with seven goals during the regular season. Maecker set the Knights program record for career goals this year.
Niagara has a standout goaltender in Alexis Herbert of Waterdown, who had three shutouts, including one in the crossover game against the Huskies where she stopped all six shots she faced.