With the season officially hitting the midway point, the Niagara Knights men's soccer program (3-1-1, 3rd OCAA West) picked up a single point in a 0-0 draw against the Redeemer Royals (3-0-2, 2nd OCAA West) on September 22nd
Romario James (Bahamas) was stellar in goal for the Knights, earning a clean sheet. Despite his best efforts, the Knights failed to do any damage offensively as James' clean sheet was matched by the Royals' Linden Bontkes.
"Romario did a great job again today," said Niagara head coach Frank DeChellis. "He served as Guyana's U17 and U23 goalkeeper in various contests and has been working hard to get his game back up to the level we need. He is fearless and showed that several times over the past two matches."
The biggest moment of the match came in its final minutes when James made a series of incredible saves, stopping three point-blank shots back-to-back-to-back off of a scramble in front of the net.
The sequence of saves kept the score deadlocked at zero, paving the way to a much-needed point in the standings. Had Redeemer scored a late game-winning goal, it would have been devastating to give up three points to a team fighting neck-and-neck with them at the top of the OCAA West.
Despite not earning the victory, DeChellis found some positives in the play of his team. "It's always a shame to let a goalkeeper's clean sheet go to waste," said DeChellis. "The guys were down at times, but the coaches liked a lot of what we saw. We need to play a certain style if we are going to succeed and we are getting there. There was a lot more cooperation between forwards and the midfield today which was nice."
The Knights last two games have been their biggest test of the season so far, playing the undefeated Fanshawe Falcons (4-0-1, 1st OCAA West) before the Royals. With a possible six points to be earned between the two games, Niagara walked away with just one. It will be crucial for the Knights to bounce back in their next matchup against the Lambton Lions (0-5, 6th OCAA West).
"It's always a tough game going to play Redeemer at their park, especially when they have a big loud crowd," said Knights' midfielder Jacob Therrien (Welland). "We came out with a point which isn't terrible, but not the result we were hoping for. Now we go back to the drawing board, train hard and get ready for our game against Lambton."
The Niagara Knights will host the Lambton Lions at Youngs Sportsplex (570 River Road, Welland) on Wednesday, September 26th starting at 6pm.
