CCAA Men's Soccer: Day 1 Recap

Match 1: Humber Hawks 1, Brandon Bobcats 0

In a game tighter than most would have imagined, the Humber College Hawks narrowly defeated the Brandon University Bobcats 1-0.

The Hawks, winners of five CCAA titles since 2012, seemed to start slow but found their footing about 15 minutes in with some offensive pressure. To their credit, the Bobcats defended their half of the field well and were able to keep the ball out of their net.

Humber scored what turned out to be the game-winner when Luca Uccello beat the Bobcats’ keeper Ryder Anthony in the 19^th minute.

Brandon applied a bit of pressure in the second half, but could not find the equalizer.

Humber now moves on to the event’s semifinals Thursday at 3pm MST where they will meet Montmorency College. Brandon falls to the consolation side and will take on the NAIT Ooks at 10am MST.

The Players of the Game were Osman Hussein for the Hawks and Nathan Chubaty for the Bobcats.

Match 2: Nomades de Montmorency 4, NAIT Ooks 1

Montmorency College got all the bounces on Wednesday, while the NAIT Ooks did not.

The Nomades received two first-half goals from Alexandre Marcoux, the first just five minutes in, as they defeated the Ooks 4-1 to advance to the CCAA Men’s Soccer National Championship semifinal.

NAIT, on the other hand, just could not get the ball to do what they wanted all game and it seemed to frustrate the wildcard team from the ACAC.

Down 2-0 thanks to Marcoux, the Ooks finally got one back at the end of the first half when Mario Deluca scored on a penalty kick to give his team life going into the half.

That momentum ended 10 minutes into the second half when Montmorency’s Saad Chaouki pounced on a loose ball and fired an absolute rocket past NAIT keeper Zachary Black to restore the two-goal lead for the Nomades.

Yassine Taitah added the Nomades fourth goal of the afternoon in the 90^th minute to round out the scoring.

NAIT now falls to the consolation side, where they will meet the Brandon University Bobcats in Thursday’s morning game – 10am MST. The Nomades will take on Humber at 3pm MST.

Chaouki was named Montmorency’s Player of the Game, while Julio Umali took the honour for NAIT.

Match 3: St. Thomas Tommies 4, SAIT Trojans 0

In the day’s lone upset, the St. Thomas Tommies shocked the host SAIT Trojans with a lopsided victory for the visitors from New Brunswick.

CCAA All-Canadian Brett Springer proved his worth on Wednesday by using his blazing speed to score a pair of goals as his Tommies blanked the Trojans 4-0.

Springer’s teammate Josh Oakes got his team on the board 15 minutes in with an impressive header off a corner kick that bounced off the far post and past Trojans keeper Ben Press.

The goal seemed to wake up the hosts, as they rebounded with two great scoring chances that just narrowly missed going in.

With momentum seemingly on their side, the Trojans hearts sunk when St. Thomas’ Ryan MacKinnon beat Press to go up 2-0.

Springer added his first of the game right before the half to the delight of the surprisingly big crowd of Tommies supporters on hand.

He added his second of the game just nine minutes into the second half to round out the scoring.

St. Thomas now moves on to Thursday’s 5:30pm MST semifinal against Douglas College. SAIT will now try to find their way back to a medal game by meeting the George Brown Huskies at 12:30pm MST on Wednesday.

Springer was named the Player of the Game for St. Thomas. Tesloach David took the honour for SAIT.

Match 4: Douglas Royals 3, George Brown Huskies 0

In Wednesday’s night game, the Douglas College Royals did all the work they needed in the second half to advance to the CCAA Men’s Soccer National Championship semifinal.

The Royals scored all three of their goals after the break, as they blanked George Brown College 3-0 in their quarter-final game.

After a scoreless first half, Douglas finally got on the board when Mohamednur Ibrahim scored in the 55^th minute.

Nearly 20 minutes later, the Royals doubled their lead when Rozmehr Aghabaygy beat the Huskies keeper.

Duncan Bates added Douglas College’s third marker of the night in the 85^th minute to close out the scoring.

The Royals will now meet the St Thomas Tommies in Thursday’s 5:30pm MST semifinal, while the Huskies will meet SAIT at 12:30pm MST.

Yonis Jama was named Player of the Game for the Huskies, while Ryosuke Sudo got the nod for Douglas College.