Coming off of their first loss of the season, the Niagara Knights women's soccer program (1-1-1, 3rd OCAA Central) will be looking for a strong rebound performance on Sunday night. The Knights welcome the Sheridan Bruins (2-0-1, 2nd OCAA Central) to Youngs Sportsplex for an evening date.
Their last time out, on Sept 20th, the Knights fell 4-1 to the undefeated Humber Hawks (3-0, 1st OCAA Central) on the road. However it does not get any easier for Niagara as a powerful Bruins squad will look to remain undefeated themselves. The blue bears possess the second most potent offence in the division thus far in the season, posting 12 goals for against a single tally for their opponents in three matches. The key for the Knights will be limiting the potent attack of Sheridan's Viktoria Vantzen, who is coming off a five goal performance in her last match against the UTM Eagles (0-2-1, 4th OCAA Central).
For the Knights they will be looking to regain the form they had in their season opening victory over the George Brown Huskies (0-3, 5th OCAA Central). In that match the Knights received five goals from four different scorers, but have only managed a pair of goals in the two matches since. Julia Pantusa (Niagara Falls) leads the Knights in scoring with three, while rookie Kara Latham (Welland) has added a pair of her own this season.
Up front the Knights will continue to rely on the offensive prowess of Pantusa and Latham, as well as veteran Alex Pasco (Niagara Falls). In addition Niagara has leaned on set piece play of Emily Babcock (Caledon), which has been tremendous through the season's first three contests. Despite being unable to find the back of the net, Babcock has hit multiple posts and setup nearly half of the Knights goals this season on set pieces. On the back end, Niagara will continue to rely on the play and veteran presence of keeper Brittany Haanappel (Niagara Falls). In her first season as the starting goaltender, Haanappel has made 16 saves in three matches thus far.
Niagara continues to look to the exuberance of their youthful squad to continue pushing them forward. While veterans like Pantusa, Babcock, Pasco and Haanappel have been leaders, it is a strong core of first year players that have brought a swagger not seen on the pitch for the Knights in recent years. Gritty players like Kara Latham, accompanied by first year teammates Samantha Macsai (Port Colborne), Rachel Bennett (Woodstock), and Morgan German (Niagara Falls) are pushing Niagara to become a better squad one game at a time.
If the Knights can limit the powerful Bruins attack on Sunday night, the game will be up for grabs for either team. Last season Niagara suffered a 1-0 loss to the Bruins, before rebounding to record a 1-1 draw on home soil. With Sheridan once again making the trip to Welland, the Knights are hoping to get back on track and leap frog the Bruins in the early going of the OCAA season.
The match is scheduled to kick off at 6pm at Youngs Sportsplex (570 River Road, Welland). Admission is free for all spectators.
