Sept 26 Niagara College report: Soccer; scholar awards
The Niagara College Knights women’s soccer team had a .500 week, doubling the Sheridan Bruins 2-1 at home last Wednesday and getting blanked 1-0 by the Mohawk Mountaineers last Friday night at Tim Horton’s Field in Hamilton.
The Sheridan game was a scrappy affair with in two player ejections and a few more yellow cards. The two ejections came in the final 15 minutes of the game.
Scoring for Niagara were: Rylan Greatrix on a beautiful through ball from Rachel Looby; and, rookie Tori Hultink on a header.
Against Mohawk, the two teams battled through a scoreless draw until the 89th minute when Mohawk scored. Niagara had 11 shots and Mohawk recorded 13.
Mohawk improved to 2-0-3 while Niagara fell to 3-2.
“This was a disappointing loss,” said Niagara head coach Rob Lalama said of the Mohawk game. “It was an adjustment playing on such a large pitch. We created chances but were unable to finish. That’s how it goes sometimes.”
Niagara hosts winless Fanshawe (0-1-3) Saturday at 3 p.m. at Youngs Sportsplex.
NIAGARA MEN’S SOCCER
Niagara’s men’s soccer team fell to 1-4 on the season, losing 3-0 to the unbeaten Sheridan Bruins at home and 2-0 on the road against the Mohawk Mountaineers.
“To have played the way we did the last two games and leave with no points and no goals really stings,” Niagara head coach Frank DeChellis said. “We did everything we needed to do to walk away with at least three points and zippo.”
DeChellis expressed frustration for his players.
“They work hard and intelligently at training, they are playing well during games and their fitness level is where it should be,” he said. “Our program has come to expect post-season play and we will need all of our experience to dig ourselves out of this hole. We can’t use the excuse of two games in three days because we have enough guys and our injuries were not an issue in the big picture.”
Niagara’s performance against Sheridan was much better than when the first time the two teams met and Sheridan prevailed 7-0. Sheridan scored both its goals in the second half. Knights goal keeper Anthony Argueta played brilliantly against Sheridan facing 13 shots and also shone against Mohawk.
“Anthony was solid in goal for us over those two matches. He has really elevated his game and that is a result of his hard work, both pre-season and in-season,” DeChellis said. “He is focused on the whole Niagara College experience and has really moulded himself into a model student-athlete.”
The Knights host Fanshawe College (0-2-2) Saturday at Youngs Sportsplex at 1 p.m.
SCHOLAR AWARDS
Twenty nine Niagara College athletes were named recipients of 2021-2022 Canadian Colleges Athletic Association National Scholar Awards.
To be recognized, athletes must achieve honours standing at their school. At Niagara College, a student-athlete must finish the season with an 80-plus per cent average in their academic programs.
Winning scholar awards were: Mark Taylor and Nicholas Yioldassis, men’s basketball; Jessica Bosma, Janee Harrison and Li-Chain (Mia) Wang, women’s basketball; Kyle Henry, Nathan Lohnes, Amelia Bender, Melissa Borowski and Emma Hill, men’s and women’s curling; Joel Marinas, Jeremy Petrusma and Simon Silverio, men’s soccer; Ashley Altamirano, Alyssa Arcand, Sidney Gawel, Rylan Greatrix, McKenna Jackson, Victoria Maciel, Katelyn Mix, Sierra Naccarato and Sydney Sica, women’s soccer; Colton Borkowski, and Tiernan Currie, men’s volleyball; and, Kendra Adams, Lauren Alguire, Alexis Barclay, Natasha Desjardins and Vanja Kljajic, women’s volleyball.
