The Niagara Knights men's soccer program (7-2-1, 2nd OCAA West) will travel to George Brown college for their fourth straight appearance in the OCAA Championships. The Knights, who won their divisional cross-over game 2-1 thanks to a late goal by veteran Alex Latham (Welland), will take on the Humber Hawks (7-1-2, 1st OCAA Central) in the first round of the playoff tournament, a program that has medaled in eight straight tournaments and won it all in six of those eight.
Despite making four straight appearances in the OCAA Championships, the Knights best finish has been a loss in the bronze medal match, which happened in each of the past two seasons. Already having playoff experience over the past several seasons, Knights head coach Frank DeChellis has high expectations for this year's team.
"Our program has matured to the point where reaching the final 8 and having players recognized league-wide is our expectation," said DeChellis. "We always improve our understanding of the kind of soccer we need to play to achieve at this level and the types of players we need to have on our team. Our core of leaders is better than it's ever been and that is an important component of any team hoping to succeed."
On paper, the Knights and the Hawks matchup very evenly. Both teams had an almost identical record within their respective divisions. However, Niagara will look to match Humber's high-flying offense, one that scored 34 goals in the regular season.
The Knights offense was strong all season long as well, especially when they were able to feed the ball to their star rookie Oti Frigole (St. Catharines). In 10 regular season games this season, Frigole scored 11 goals, smashing the program's single-season goal record which was previously set at eight. In the divisional cross-over game against the Seneca Sting, Frigole scored in the 6th minute to open the scoring, his 12th overall goal of the season. He will look to add to that number during the upcoming tournament.
"Our first game at the OCAAs is always challenging and we've had success in the quarter final match in the past," said DeChellis. "Our attitude is simple; respect everybody and fear nobody. Very rarely does a Niagara-Humber matchup disappoint the fans as these two programs know each other very well."
If the Knights are able to ground the Hawks, the team that defeated them in the bronze medal match a year ago, they will advance to the OCAA semi-final and take on the winner of the Fanshawe Falcons (9-0-1, 1st OCAA West) and the U of T Mississauga Eagles (2-6-2, 4th OCAA Central).
The other side of the bracket sees the Algonquin Thunder (7-1-2, 1st OCAA East) take on the George Brown Huskies (5-1-4, 3rd OCAA Central) and the Durham Lords (6-0-4, 2nd OCAA East) against the Sheridan Bruins (5-0-5, 2nd OCAA Central) in their respective quarterfinal matchups.
The Knights are ready for this year's OCAA Championships challenge, and their veteran leaders know exactly what it takes to win.
"It's a competitive, intense war that can last three days," said midfielder Jacob Therrien. "Every game you have to go out and grind for 90 minutes with your teammates. All year this is what you work towards, but so do the other teams and that's why you must be ready to battle and leave everything you have on the field."
The Knights kick off their 2018 OCAA Championship tournament with a matchup against the Humber Hawks on Thursday, October 25th at 9am. For more information on the 2018 OCAA Men's Soccer Championship, click here. All games will be livestreamed at sportscanada.tv/georgebrown.
