When the dust settled in the OCAA Central Division, the Niagara Knights men's soccer program (3-5-2, 4th OCAA Central) advanced to the playoffs for the fourth consecutive season. They will now travel to Sudbury to take on the Cambrian Golden Shield (6-3-1, 2nd OCAA East) in the opening round of the OCAA playoffs. In each of the past three appearances the Knights have won their opening matchup before falling at the OCAA Championship.
Despite some tough results to close out the season, Niagara enters the playoffs confident in their defensive play. They allowed just over a goal per game in 10 regular season contests, including three cleansheets for the goalkeepers. They held the division best Humber Hawks (10-0, 1st OCAA Central) to only three goals in their two contests, something that no other team in the OCAA was able to accomplish.
"We are in good form right now," said Head Coach Frank DeChellis. "We have suffered two late losses despite playing extremely well." DeChellis went on to add that, "Teams in this league punish every mistake that is made, so we need to make sure we are on our game for all 90 minutes in the matchup this weekend."
While the goalkeeping duo of Sam Robson (Milton) and Fiore Costa (Niagara Falls) have been fantastic, it is the back line of the Knights that has provided to be invaluable to their success. Andrew Currie (Woodstock), in his third year, has established himself as one of the best in the business on the back end. He was even able to chip in a pair of set piece goals this season offensively.
The Golden Shield had a more powerful offence than the Knights this year, tallying 19 goals in 10 games played. It will be a classic battle of the Knights defence versus the Cambrian offence. The team who wins that chess match will be the team advancing to the OCAA Championship at Redeemer University College next weekend.
The Knights will be relying on their previous playoff experience to propel them. There are nine players on the roster who have been around for at least two of their recent playoff wins. The Knights are hoping that experience will be passed along to the younger players on the roster. "Players like Keith Makubuya (St. Catharines), Andrew Currie, Sam Robson, Shaq Gordon (Brampton), Jordi Amores (Niagara Falls), and Mike Serianni (Welland) are in their last year," said DeChellis. "It would be a feather in the cap to make a deep run into the OCAA playoff bracket behind their leadership."
Kick-off is scheduled for 1pm on Saturday, October 22nd at Cambrian College's Campus Field.