Oct. 28: Niagara College report
Women’s soccer coach Rob Lalama has been named the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) West Region Coach of the Year.
This season marked Lalama’s third with the Knights women’s program. He led the team to their second consecutive appearance at the OCAA Championship this season, where the fell 2-0 to Fanshawe College in the quarter-finals.
Lalama guided the Knights to a 5-2-2 record this season and is 16-9-4 since taking over the women’s program in 2017.
Initially hired as an associate head coach for the men’s program in 2016, Lalama was officially handed over the reigns to the women’s program in the fall of 2017, after long-time coach Frank DeChellis stepped away to focus solely on the men’s squad.
In 2018, Lalama led the program to it’s best finish in program history, recording their first playoff win and OCAA championship appearance with a 7-3 record.
Lalama becomes just the second Niagara women’s soccer coach to receive the Coach of the Year (West Division) since 2010 when DeChellis was the recipient.
“Rob Lalama is the type of coach who is 100 per cent committed to his athletes, his team and Niagara College,” Associate Director of Athletics and Recreation Michele O’Keefe said. “Being named the OCAA West Coach of the Year is a wonderful feather in his cap and a testament to the work that Rob is doing.”
Men’s basketball
The men’s basketball (1-2) team picked up their first win of the 2019-2020 season with a 93-53 road win over the Conestoga Condors (0-2) Saturday afternoon in Kitchener.
After a tough opening weekend on the road in Lambton and St. Clair, the Knights got the much needed victory to head home this week for their home opener against Sheridan (2-0) Friday.
The Knights jumped out to an early lead finishing the first half with a 46-27 lead over the Condors and never relinquished their lead throughout the final two quarters.
The Knights were led by Lequan Hylton, who has been solid for the Knights in their first three games of the season. Hylton had his third contest with 20 points or more in the match-up against the Condors, after netting 29 and 25 the weekend before.
Kevin Cooper followed up Hylton’s effort with with 14 points and 15 rebounds. Johnnie Richardson (11), Cele Kasamba (10) and Deysean Thompson (10) all hit double figures.
For head coach Phil Mosley, the win was crucial heading into their third weekend of play and home opening weekend.
“This was a much needed win,” Mosley said. “The solid consistent play on defence is encouraging as we approach our home opener Friday against Sheridan.”
Friday night’s home opener will also play host to the College’s alumni event that will welcome back former Knights for ReuKnighted, the first alumni reunion of its kind at Niagara College.
Things get started Friday night with an exclusive tailgate party beginning at 4:30 p.m. in The Core. The indoor tailgate will be followed by the men’s and women’s basketball home-opener games in NC’s Athletics Centre. An after-party featuring entertainment will follow.
For more information on ReuKnighted, please visit http://niagaracollege.ca/alumnirelations/reuknighted.
Women’s basketball
The women’s basketball team (0-3) suffered their third straight loss of the season with a 69-43 defeat at Conestoga Condors Saturday afternoon in Kitchener.
The Knights got off to a sluggish first quarter, trailing the Condors 23-4. The Condors continued to add on to their total in the second frame, leading 47-20 at the half. Niagara seemed to find their way through the third quarter, netting 14 points while only allowing Conestoga 14. The fourth quarter saw a better defensive effort from the Knights, holding the Condors to just eight points.
Rookie Jessyka Maliksiand and second-year guard Alannah Yates each contributed 11 points while Veronica George-Brown pulled down 12 rebounds.
First year head coach Chris Rao called the loss frustrating, but knows they need to continue to work on better execution out of the gate.
“We didn’t have a very good start,” Rao said. “Hats off to Conestoga, they took advantage of our mistakes. We took too long to settle into the game and execute our plan. We played much better in the second half but it’s going to be hard to win games if we continue to our ourselves in bad positions with bad starts.”
The Knights will now look ahead to their home opening game against Sheridan (0-1) Friday at 6 p.m.
Buist rookie of the year
First-year midfielder Julieanne Buist has been named the 2019 Ontario Colleges Athletic Association West Division Rookie of the Year.
Buist had an impressive rookie season with the Knights tallying seven goals in her first eight OCAA games.
In the Knights home game against University of Toronto-Mississauga Oct. 2, Buist notched four goals in a 7-0 win. The four goals were a program record for most goals scored in a single game.
Buist also managed to tie teammate Michelle Maecker’s career record for goals in a single season. Maecker still leads in total career goals with 14.
A graduate of Smithville Christian High School, Buist is majoring in office administration.
Along with her Rookie of the Year nod from the OCAA, Buist was also named an OCAA West Region Second Team All Star, along with Katelyn Mix and Taylor Major.
Terin Hultink and Ceilidh Richardson were named to the OCAA West Region First Team. Hultink also recorded seven goals this season, tying the record for most goals in a single season.
Coverage of the Niagara Knights is made possible with the support of the Niagara College Department of Athletics & Recreation. For more information, please visit www.goknights.ca
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