In their first ever appearance in the OCAA Women's Soccer Championship, the Niagara Knights (7-3, 2nd OCAA West) dropped an extremely hard-fought game against a tough opponent. Taking on the Durham Lords (9-2-1, 2nd OCAA East) in the opening round of the tournament, Niagara was looking for a victory to propel themselves into the semi-finals.
Durham opened the scoring in the 21st minute, as Jacklyn Brzezinski put one past Alexis Hebert (Waterdown). After going into the first half with the score at 1-0, the Lords soared out of the half with an early goal. Brzezinski scored her second goal of the game in the 46th minute, extending her teams lead to two goals.
Despite not being able to finish offensively, the game remained extremely close thanks in part to some outstanding goalkeeping from Hebert. As the game grew closer and closer to the final whistle, the Knights didn't lose their composure.
In the 80th minute, Knights captain Kara Latham (Welland) took a corner kick and the team didn't miss out on the opportunity. Latham's corner found the head of Knights all-time leading goal scorer Michelle Maecker (Fonthill), who fittingly scored the program's first ever OCAA Championship goal.
The Knights were a little too late in their comeback attempt, as the Lords finished out the final 10 minutes without conceding and capped the 2-1 victory. With the loss, the Knights were eliminated from championship contention and moved onto the consolation semi-final against the Algonquin Thunder (6-1-5, 3rd OCAA East).
"We were all disappointed with the loss because we have really high expectations as a group," said Knights head coach Rob Lalama. "Playing in this tournament against the other top teams in Ontario is what our program needs to develop further."
In the second match of the tournament on Friday morning, the Thunder got the best of the Knights. After taking a 1-0 lead into the half, the Thunder sealed their victory with a late goal from Victoria Davis. The Thunder would go on to win 3-0, earning themselves a spot in the consolation finals and putting an end to the Knights season.
It was propelling season for the Knights reputation as a program, as their closely fought loss against the Durham Lords showed they are ready to compete with the province's top teams. Their seven-win season broke the program record for single-season wins, and as a result, four Knights were named OCAA All-Stars. After much improvement this year, the Knights will look ahead to next season in hopes of returning back to the OCAA Championships.