The Niagara Knights men's soccer program (2-2-1, 4th OCAA Central) earned three important points with a 3-0 victory over the George Brown Huskies (4-2, 2nd OCAA Central) on Thursday night.
Alex Latham (Welland) and Keith Makubuya (St. Catharines) propelled the Knights to the important victory over the Huskies in Toronto. After dropping their home opener 3-1 to the same Huskies, it was a strong performance by the Knights in the return matchup. Latham opened the scoring in the 20th minute, which was followed up by Makubuya's strike just 16 minutes later. THe pair of goals were all that Niagara would need. Fiore Costa (Niagara Falls) earned his second clean sheet in as many starts, also recording a shutout victory over the UTM Eagles (0-5, 6th OCAA Central) on September 14th.
Head Coach Frank DeChellis was pleased with his team's preparation in advance of the match. "We were very focused on avenging the season opening loss all week," said DeChellis. "The men were loose throughout the bus ride and warm-up, which translated well into the match."
The Knights paid much closed attention to the Huskies striker Shaquilla Agard, who notched a pair of goals in the season opener. They were able to limit his chances and keep him, and the remainder of his Knights teammates off the board.
With the victory, the Knights now turn their attention to the number one nationally ranked Humber Hawks (5-0, 1st OCAA Central). This will be the return matchup from September 20th, when the Knights lost a closely contested 2-1 match in Toronto. The Hawks will visit Youngs Sportsplex for an afternoon contest on Saturday.
The potent Humber attack has recorded 24 goals through their first five contests. However, the Knights were the only team to keep the contest close. With the Knights aside, Humber has scored no fewer than four goals, including a nine goal performance against UTM, in their other contests this season.
However the Knights defenders have put in a tremendous performance as of late, recording clean sheets in three of the past four matches. The only exception being the two goals surrendered to Humber. It will be a monumental task for Niagara on home soil. Humber has not lost an OCAA regular season game dating back to the 2013-14 season, recording only three draws during that stretch. Coincidentally their last regular season loss was September 14th, 2013 when they suffered a 1-0 defeat to the Niagara Knights at Youngs Sportsplex.
With three important points up for grabs in the standings, the Knights are hoping that history can repeat itself. Saturday's match is slated to kick off at 4pm at Youngs Sportsplex (570 River Road) in Welland. Admission is free for all spectators.
