The Niagara Knights women's soccer program (7-3, 2nd OCAA West) are set to partake in their first ever OCAA Championship this upcoming weekend. The 2018 OCAA Women's Soccer Championship, which runs from Thursday to Saturday, is being hosted by Seneca College. After defeating the George Brown Huskies in their divisional cross-over game this past weekend by a score of 3-0, the Knights clinched their spot in the 8-team tournament.
Their first matchup of the weekend will come against the Durham Lords (9-2-1, 2nd OCAA East) which will be a test for the Knights right from the very start. The Lords, who finished just below the OCAA East winning Seneca Sting (10-1-1, 1st OCAA East), ended their season on a six-game winning streak. They finished their season with 37 goals, and only conceded six altogether.
The Knights are ready for the challenge this weekend, however, and head coach Rob Lalama believes his team is more than capable of defeating anyone that stands in front of them.
"Facing Durham in game one will be exciting," said Lalama. "They are a very good team. We will have to be at our very best to beat them. We achieved more [success] this year because we invested more [effort]. Our success was no accident."
Depending on the result of game one for the Knights, the team will have a chance to advance into the semi-finals for game two. The winner between the Knights and the Lords will take on the winner of the Fanshawe Falcons (10-0, 1st OCAA West) and the Algonquin Thunder (6-1-5, 3rd OCAA East).
Overall, a berth into the OCAA Championship is a testament of the strong effort put forward by the team in the regular season.
Knights captain Kara Latham (Welland), whose high-motor work ethic helped her team all season long, is ready to lead the Knights to a championship.
"We've been working hard all season," said Latham. "We've won some big games and we've pushed through the ups and downs. Every practice we pushed ourselves, worked hard, and strived to become better. Heading into the OCAA Championships for the first time is going to be a big pat on the back because we've worked so hard to get here."
Knights Assistant Coach Gary Condon, who has been with the program since day one in 2009, believes the team has what it takes to make an impact in the tournament. "It is amazing to finally make it to OCAAs. We have an opportunity with our first game," said Condon. "We feat nobody and we never let up. This team's biggest strength is our ability to fight through adversity when it strikes."
A large reason why the Knights were able to make a run at the playoffs was thanks to the play of rookie forward Katelyn Mix (Gilford), who in her first campaign with the program scored six goals in the regular season before adding two more in the crossover game against George Brown.
On top of Mix's impressive play, the Knights also had another spectacular showing from Michelle Maecker (Fonthill), who led the team with seven goals during the regular season. Maecker set the Knights program record for career goals this year, and her ability to finish will be crucial for her team in the playoffs.
A very important part of any recipe to success is a team's goalkeeping, and Niagara has a terrific one. Alexis Hebert (Waterdown) was clutch all season long, earning three clean sheets so far this year, including one in the crossover game against the Huskies where she stopped all six shots that were thrown on net.
Never once did Hebert allow more than one goal in a match all season, and her most impressive game was against the Mohawk Mountaineers (5-3-2, 3rd OCAA West) on September 29th where she turned away 18 out of 19 shots against her leading the way to a 2-1 victory. That kind of goalkeeping can lead you to a championship, and Hebert is all business heading into the weekend.
"I'm proud to be a part of a team that is making history," said Hebert. "Based on how we've been playing this year, I have high expectations for myself and for this team for the upcoming games this weekend."
As the team gets set to travel to Toronto, the number "3" will be on their minds as it will take three straight victories to travel home with a gold medal and the program's first ever OCAA Championship.
The Knights kick off their OCAA Championship with a matchup against the Durham Lords on Thursday, October 25th at 1pm. For more information on the 2018 OCAA Women's Soccer Championship, click here. All games will be livestreamed at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/seneca/.
