It took them longer than they had hoped, but the Niagara College men's soccer program advanced to the second round of the OCAA playoffs for the second consecutive season on Saturday, earning a hard fought 1-0 victory in penalty kicks over the visiting Redeemer Royals.
The first round playoff match marked the first time this season that the Knights have needed extra time or penalty kicks to decide a game. The Knights won 4-2 in penalties.
"The game went as expected against a determined Redeemer squad as 120 minutes of play settled nothing" said Knights head coach Frank DeChellis. "Redeemer is not the most technical team, but they are great athletes, they parked 11 guys in the box, and waited to counter attack."
The Knights controlled play throughout the contest, as Redeemer managed just two shots on goal. The Knights managed just five, but directed countless shots towards the Royals goal that were slightly off target or were blocked by a Redeemer defender.
"We had to be creative in setting up chances in the penalty area" continued DeChellis. "Our midfield trio of Jordi Amores (St. Catharines), Keith Makubuya (St. Catharines) and Shaq Gordon (Brampton) pulled everything they had out of the bag of tricks only to find multiple Royals jerseys in their way."
Second-year team co-captain Carlos Williams (St. Catharines) had a penalty chance in the 118th minute to win the game for the Knights. Williams' attempt was kept out by an acrobatic save by Royals keeper Matt Koning.
Williams however found redemption just minutes later when he was one of the four Knights to convert in the shootout. The Knights penalty kicks were struck by Williams, Andrew Currie, Shaq Gordon, Keith Makubuya, and Jordi Amores.
Second year midfielder Shaquille Gordon commented "we played well together as a team and moved the ball well. All we needed to clinch the game was to put the ball in the back of the net. It just didn't happen."
DeChellis added "We were ready for anything this game and the guys were excellent at training this week. We are very fit, we practiced PKs twice this week, we worked on creating chances in tight areas through small sided games. We felt prepared for kickoff."
The Knights will now face the CCAA's top-ranked Algonquin Thunder in the second round of the OCAA playoffs on October 18th at 3:00pm. The two teams last met in this same game in 2013, in windy and rain soaked match that saw the Thunder win 3-1 before capturing the OCAA Championship just a week later.
The winner of Saturday's matchup will earn a spot in the 2014 OCAA Championship being hosted by Niagara College from October 24-25th at Youngs SportsPlex in Welland.
