The Niagara Knights women's soccer program (6-3, 2nd OCAA West) had their team record four-game winning streak snapped with a 4-1 loss to the Fanshawe Falcons (9-0, 1st OCAA West). Despite the lopside score, the Knights put forth a valiant effort in attempting to knock-off the OCAAs best team.
It didn't take long for Niagara to get on the board, as Rookie Katelyn Mix (Gilford) opened the scoring in the matches fourth minute to secure an early 1-0 lead. the turning point of the match came in the 26th minute when captain Kara Latham (Welland) rang a free kick off the cross bar in the 26th minute. With only three goals conceded on the season, the missed opportunity sprung some life back into the home team, OCAA goal leader Jade Kovacevic notched one of her three tallies on the night just a minute later to draw the score back to even.
Kovacevic would score her second on the night before the half, giving the Falcons a 2-1 lead headed into halftime. Her third of the match, combined with a late strike by Selena Roberts would provide the remainder of the offence for Fanshawe.
With starting goalkeeper Alexis Hebert (Waterdown) unavailable for the match, Amanda Borowski (Welland) filled in admirably in just her second collegeiate appearance. Typically a defender Borowski made six saves to keep the Knights within striking distance throughout.
Head Coach Rob Lalama was pleased with his team's performance early in the contest, but believe they have more to offer throughout the full 90 minutes. "I thought we put in a solid performance initially. However as the game went on we had difficulty maintaing possession," said Lalama. "They make things difficult and are undefeated for a reason. This shows the level of play our players expect of each other moving forward."
"The team started off strong with a 1-0 lead early," said veteran defender Chelsea Hay (Ottawa), echoing the thoughts of her coach. "After a tough two goals against our game slowly deteriorate and Fanshawe didn't allow us back into the game," added Hay.
Despite the loss, however, Niagara enters their final game of the season with second place in the OCAA West division locked up. Niagara will host an OCAA Crossover game on October 20th against the fourth-place team from the OCAA Central Division.
Niagara will wrap up their regular season against the St. Clair Saints (3-3-2, 3rd OCAA West) on Sunday, October 14th. The kickoff is scheduled for 2pm at Youngs Sportsplex (570 River Road). Admission is free for all spectators.
