Oct. 7 Niagara College report: Soccer and golf
The Niagara College Knights women鈥檚 soccer team retained its grasp on third place in the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association West Division with a 3-1 tripling of the Conestoga Condors.
Scoring for the Knights, who improved to 5-2-1 with the win, were Cienna Toromoreno, Juliana Mack-Greco and Lily Ryder. Aneisha Gobbels contributed an assist for Niagara.
鈥淲e knew Conestoga was going to be a tough opponent. They鈥檙e a physical team that battles for every ball,鈥� Niagara head coach Rob Lalama said. 鈥淥ur ladies were ready and we created chances from the opening kickoff, putting two shots off the bar before we scored. In the second, we sealed the victory with two more goals. A satisfying win.鈥�
Women鈥檚 soccer player Sara Vogel聽was named Niagara College鈥檚 female athlete of the week for her play.
鈥淪ara had a strong defensive game against Conestoga, neutralizing opposing offensive attacks from her centre-back position. The assistant captain鈥檚 craftiness and composure make her one of the best in the league,鈥� a Niagara College press release said.
Niagara hosts the Mohawk Mountaineers at Youngs Sportsplex on Wednesday at 6 p.m. on the Knights鈥� Senior Night. The Knights are also at Sheridan Saturday.
MEN鈥橲 SOCCER
Niagara鈥檚 men鈥檚 soccer team lost 4-2 Conestoga Condors to see its record drop to 2-5-1 in the OCAA West Division.
Scoring for the sixth-place Knights were Kyle Hannon and Alex Marrese.
鈥淎 hard fought game,鈥� Hannon said. 鈥淲e were clinical in the attacking third. Great goal by Alex Marrese. Just lapses defensively cost us. Overall a great game and a building block moving forward.鈥�
Knights head coach Frank DeChellis described the game as frustrating.
鈥淲e scored two beautiful goals and sloppy man-marking causes three preventable goals against. Goals on set-pieces lift one team and deflate the other and that happened three times. Their fourth goal was an unfortunate deflection, but the power of the shot let it maintain its trajectory towards goal,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he guys worked so hard and created good chances, but soccer is a game of moments and we needed turn those moments into goals. We鈥檙e scoring more than the last few years and that is a big part of a turnaround season and we鈥檝e had chances to score more. With Alex and Kyle scoring, that makes eight players who have scored so far. I am encouraged by that.鈥�
DeChellis was happy for Cole Smith, who made his goalkeeping debut after Nolan Freel had to leave the game.
鈥淐ole has been working hard at training and it showed. He almost made an impossible save on that deflection (fourth goal).
He singled out the play of Fredi Lokole, Juan Plata and Jack Soares.
鈥淔redi was a standout at centre back again. Juan is turning into our on-field general and the guys respond to him. Jack showed versatility playing three different spots tonight, including centre back. He is having his best season for us.鈥�
Niagara hosts the Mohawk Mountaineers at Youngs Sportsplex on Wednesday at 8 p.m. on the Knights鈥� Senior Night. The Knights are also at Sheridan Saturday.
GOLF
The Niagara College Knights men鈥檚 golf team came within one placing of its goal at the OCAA championship at the Barrie Country Club.
Niagara was hoping to finish fifth and qualify for the Canadian Colleges Athletic Association championship but ended up sixth.
Niagara struggled on Day 1 with a team score of 327 but rallied on Day 2 with a 319 total. Niagara shot 319 again on the final day to fall three strokes shy of Conestoga in fifth place.
Individually, the Knights鈥� top performer was Avery Cheeseman, who shot 78-78-80=236 to tie for 13th overall. His play earned him Niagara College鈥檚 male athlete of the week honours.
鈥淎very has been a steady player throughout the golf season during his rookie season with the Knights, utilizing his score in every tournament the Knights participated in.聽 Finishing the season on a high note, Avery found himself amongst the top 15 on the individual leaderboard at OCAA Championships, earning the top spot for the Knights at the event,鈥� a Niagara College press release said.
Ethan Siebert finished tied for 20th, Matthew Palumbi tied for 22nd, Aidan McVey tied for 32nd and Robbie Stewart ended up alone in 39th.
