November 2, 2014

York repeats as OUA champion with win against McMaster

For the second consecutive year, the OUA men’s soccer championship banner will hang on the campus of York University.

McMaster 0-1-0

York 1-0-0

Final

McMaster (0-1-0)

York (1-0-0)

Photo by Michael P. Hall

For the second consecutive year, the OUA men's soccer championship banner will hang on the campus of York University.

The CIS no.1-ranked Lions successfully defended their championship by coming into Hamilton and knocking off the hometown darlings 2-0 in the gold medal game at Ron Joyce Stadium.

A fortuitous bounce got York on the scoreboard first in the 20^th minute.

Midfielder Eric Amato struck a ball from the top of the 18-yard box, and in an effort to deflect the shot away from the Marauders goal, McMaster defender Nicholas Vecchi threw up his leg and redirected the ball into his own net.

Handed an early lead, York controlled the play much of the first half but was unable to add another tally to the scoreboard. The team's inability to land the coveted 'insurance goal' nearly cost them later in the game.

Playing in front of a very pro-McMaster home crowd, the Marauders controlled the ball for much of the second half, and after dodging a bullet when West Division MVP Jarek Whiteman of the Lions rang a shot off the crossbar, the Marauders had a prime scoring chance of their own.

Midfielder Marco Gennaccaro swung a cross pass that landed on the foot of Sasha Ricciuti who snuck behind two York defenders and was alone at the top of the six-yard box. Unfortunately for McMaster, Riccitui sent the ball high over top of the York goal.

With the clock ticking down on McMaster's OUA championship hopes, the team again narrowly missed tying the game on a much unexpected scoring opportunity.

From 35 yards out, Marauders defender Aleksandar Vincic launched a ball towards Lions goalkeeper Andrew D'Souza. With D'Souza playing high out in front of the net, he was forced to backtrack to his own goal line to catch the ball arcing towards the goal. He was able to catch the ball, however his momentum nearly carried him far enough into his own net that the ball would have crossed the goal line. Replays showed that it did in fact not cross the line, but stayed out only by mere inches.

It was literally a game-saving stop for D'Souza, as less than a minute later Whiteman sealed the game for good when he started a brilliant run into the 18-yard box and sent a rocket of a kick into the McMaster goal.

He was, however, handed a yellow card for bringing the team's celebration 50 yards back down the field in front of a vocal group of Marauders fans.

It was one of three cards handed out in the final 10 minutes of a game that nearly turned ugly in injury time.

In the 82^nd minute, York midfielder Henry Moody received a yellow card for booting the ball about nine rows into the crowd well after the play had been blown dead, arousing some jeers from the McMaster faithful.

Abraham James of McMaster was ejected on a straight red in injury time after a hard sliding tackle sent a Lions player down in pain. The tackle sparked both teams to come together, however officials did an excellent job of diffusing the situation and blowing the final whistle shortly after.

The Marauders were without two key players in the match. All-star striker Mark Reilly and midfielder Brandon Gutierrez both missed the game with injuries and their status for the upcoming CIS National Championship in Charlottetown, PEI remains unclear.

With OUA receiving two bids for nationals, both teams will be headed to Canada's smallest province for the tournament running Nov. 6-9.

Last year, York was eliminated by the eventual champion UBC Thunderbirds in the CIS semi-finals.

The team hopes for a different outcome this time around.

"It feels great to win (the OUA title)," said Whiteman. "We tried to be better with every roll of the ball like our coach said, and we just stayed as a unit and all of our hard work has paid off. We are still not satisfied though; we need to go nationals and do what set out to do."

Whiteman was named Player of the Game.