Second half work nets Humber's men soccer a win, locks top spot nationally

HAMILTON — The men’s Humber Hawks soccer team is the country’s top-ranked squad following the 4-0 rout of the Mohawks Mountaineers. 

The team, currently ranked first in the country by the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA), was looking for an Oct. 5 win against the Mountaineers to stay on top of the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) West Conference over second-place Fanshawe Falcons.  

Midfielder Jason Alvarado said after the game, the game initially didn’t go the way the team intended.  

“It wasn’t going our way how we wanted it to,” Alvarado said. “(Second half) we got the clues that we needed.”  

Although the final score reflects, in theory, an easy game for the Hawks, the game was hard-fought by both teams, especially during the first half.  

Humber started with multiple goal chances, making Mountaineers goalkeeper Benjamin Temple the key in keeping the score tied at the start of the match.  

Around the 12-minute mark, Mohawk was awarded a golden opportunity to take the lead with a penalty. But that vanished with a save by Humber’s goalkeeper Danial Sanei, keeping Humber’s clean sheet intact.  

The rest of the first half continued with Humber dominating possession by keeping the ball in the last third of the pitch.  

The second half started similarly to the first, with Humber continuing to press Mohawk until the first goal was scored around the 74th minute.  

Midfielder Franz Mella took advantage of a free kick where Mohawk’s defenders were distracted, and it ended up with a red card to Mohawk’s player Nicholas Tavares, who tried to convince the referee of a bad call.  

After that, Mohawk’s resistance collapsed, allowing Humber to score three more goals. 

Head coach Michael Aquino said he was happy with the team’s performance, especially in the second half.  

“I thought we created some chances, a little unlucky in the first half,” Aquino said. “We cleaned up things in the second half.”  

He said he will rotate the team in the coming games to give rest to some players but also give more minutes to others.  

Aquino said being the number one team in the country is not new for Humber.  

“I don’t think it adds pressure,” he said. “I think it does add motivation.”  

He said he is very happy that even with new players, the team is still at the top.  

Left back Luca Pinto, who scored the second goal, said that the first goal was a relief for the team. 

“I think that (the first goal) made us break through,” Pinto said. “We just started hammering them...”  

He said to be at the top of the CCAA shows the quality and the team’s capability.  

The men’s team are looking to keep up the pace for their last games, and Alvarado, who is in his final year at Humber, knows that very well.  

“The plan’s to win the last two games,” he said. “To get to the playoffs number one in the West side.”  

Humber played its last home game last Tuesday against the Redeemer Royals, which they won by 3-0, increasing their clean sheet streak to seven games.  

Their final game of the season will be against the Fanshawe Falcons, currently in the second position of the OCAA.