Gold Medal Game: Humber Hawks 2, Seneca Sting 1

For the second straight year, the Humber Hawks are national champions.

In an all-Toronto championship final, the Hawks defeated the Seneca Sting 2-1 in extra time in the gold-medal match at the 2022 Canadian Colleges Athletic Association Men’s Soccer National Championship on Saturday at Langley’s Willoughby Community Park.

The eight-team tournament was hosted by Langara College.

The Sting were down a man from the 10^th minute on when Alex Lewis received a red card. And despite that, Seneca was able to take a 1-0 lead early in the second half on a goal from Steven Janjicek (54’). However, the Sting’s Francisco Thomas Herro received his second yellow of the match in the 80^th minute and was sent to the locker room, meaning the team was down two men.

Humber was finally able to break through and take advantage in the 89^th minute with Noah MacIntyre tying the game at a goal apiece. Federico Leal (105’ +5’) would score the decisive goal to give Humber a 2-1 lead, which the held through the second 15-minute extra-time period.

“It is my last year so no better way to finish it. It is a great group of guys. We are a family and I am just happy to do this with a great group of brothers,” a jubilant 8 said post-game. “In the end, you have to got believe you are going to score, and it is going to happen that is what happened.”

It was a bitter way to lose for a Seneca squad which gave Humber all it could handle. The two teams were both 10-0 during the regular season and met in the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association championships two weeks earlier with the Hawks prevailing 4-0.

“They kept plugging away. It wasn’t one of our better games, but Seneca is a very good team, and they did very well in terms of their game play. Our guys just kept believing right until the very end and sometimes you need a little bit of everything to win and we were able to find it late in the game,” added Humber coach Michael Aquino.

The Sting were forced to alter their game plan when they lost Lewis in the early going.

“It also challenges you mentally and you start to lose concentration. I thought the guys bounced back brilliantly, we managed to get a goal through hard work. The second red card really broke our back because know you start to lose even more belief,” said Seneca coach Patrice Gheisar.

“A one second loss of concentration and we give up a cross. But that’s how cruel this game. We were so close, but we will take the lessons and hopefully be back next year.”

“We did all we could for 120 minutes but came short at the end.”

Humber’s Danny Medeiros and Seneca goalkeeper Anthony Gurrieri were their teams’ respective 4imprint Players of the Game. Gurrieri was also chosen as the MVP of the Championship.

Bronze Medal Game: Nomades de Montmorency 2, SAIT Trojans 0

With a chance for the program’s first-ever medal at the CCAA Men’s Soccer National Championship at stake and the game scoreless and heading to extra time, Nomades de Montmorency coach Francisco Vela did not have to say much to his team.

And their efforts were rewarded as Ali Tebbal finally opened the scoring (90’ +12’) and 10 minutes later, Yassine El Moutaouakil added an insurance marker to earn the Laval school their first-ever men’s soccer medal at nationals.

The Nomades had finished fourth in 2021.

“So much work for the past two years to get one medal. We are happy, I am proud, I am proud of the guys. We have been working hard for winter, off-season, so just a good accomplishment. I am very proud,” Vela said.

Montmorency goalkeeper Dario Cammuso made five saves to earn the tournament’s first clean sheet.

The 4imprint Player of the Game winners were the Nomades’ Shaloom Chimpuki and the Trojans’ Soliman Aria.

Match 12: Langara Falcons 4, VIU Mariners 3

In a rematch of the PacWest championship final two weeks ago, this time it was the Langara Falcons edging the VIU Mariners to finish in fifth place at the CCAA Men’s Soccer National Championship.

The Falcons built up a 4-1 lead and held on for the 4-3 victory after the Mariners scored a pair of goals in the latter stages of the second half.

VIU had scored a 2-0 upset win over Langara in the conference championship back in October but it was the Falcons prevailing in the fifth-sixth place game.

“VIU has a good program, but we didn’t want to lose to a rival,” said Langara coach Marc Rizzardo, while also lamenting the fact his team should have won the conference championship game between the two, which would have altered their draw at nationals.

Health and fitness played factors in Saturday’s result as Rizzardo felt his team was healthier than their opponent, and he was also impressed with his squad’s stamina as the bulk of his team was counted on to play four matches in four days.

The Mariners’ Hirotaka Nishikawa opened the scoring in the 26^th minute before Taku Ota tied things up with a goal in the 37^th minute for a 1-1 score at the half. Ben Crowther (47’) gave the Falcons the lead early in the second half and Athos Michellepis de Siqueira made it 3-1 10 minutes later. Ota would convert a penalty kick for his second of the contest in the 75^th minute and that proved to be the difference with Billy Bagiopoulos and Michael Heppelle responded with tallies in the 79^th and 81^st minute.

Crowther was the 4imprint Player of the Game for Langara while Thomas Greze-Kozuki earned the honour for the Mariners.

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