September 22, 2021- The Niagara Knights men's soccer team only found the back of the net once in Tuesday night's 5-1 loss to the Mohawk Mountaineers. The loss comes as the first of the season for the blue and white, after a 1-0 win on the Redeemer Royals home turf this past Saturday.
Mohawk opened the scoring at 17th minute mark when Michael Gavrilos from the Mountaineers buried the rebound from a sprawling save by keeper, Dawson Jordan (Toronto).
At the 36 minute mark, Sunao Yamamoto (Japan) benefitted from cheeky playmaking by Noah DiEgidio (Welland) and Christian Buccella (Toronto), chipping Mohawk's goalkeeper to send the match even into half time.
At 50th minute, Mohawk's Grant Slader took advantage of a miscue on a free kick to make it 2-1 for Mohawk.
It was a game that went from good to bad to worse within 10 minutes. With Niagara still in the game, a Knights centre back left the field ill, Tyler Mazzuto (Ridgeway) was issued a second yellow card resulting in Niagara playing with 10 men and Mohawk made it 3-1 while Niagara was pressing to score.
The last two goals were a result of Niagara pressing to score with a shorthanded team.
Joel Marinas (Niagara Falls), Elvis Umana (Toronto) and Simon Silverio (Hamilton) had strong 90 minute efforts for Niagara College.
Despite the loss, head coach Frank DeChellis shed some positive notes after the game.
"A lot of good things were happening at the time things went downhill," said DeChellis. "It felt like losing your queen in a tight chess match. We kept working, but going a man down when you are losing is a tough place to be. It's another moment in our group's development, it happened, it's in the past and we will learn from it."
"Joel , Elvis and Simon were very strong for us tonight and set a good standard for their teammates. Tyler was also having a great game before that second yellow. They covered a lot of ground, were strong on both sides of the ball and made a lot of smart plays."
The Knights will look to bounce back against the Sheridan Bruins Saturday, in what will be Niagara's first home game at Youngs Sportsplex since October 2019. Kick-off is at 3:00 P.M. on field one, and fans are asked to be prepared to provide contact tracing information and wear a mask. Fans are also encouraged to bring their own chair to help keep a safe and socially distanced environment.
