October 19, 2009 - he field has been set for the OCAA Men¡¦s Soccer Playoff and there are several new and old faces back in the hunt.
The Mohawk Mountaineers earned a ticket to the big dance and will travel to play the Algonquin Thunder on Monday, kicking off the first day of play-off action. The Mountaineers knocked out the defending OCAA silver medalist Sheridan Bruins from contention with a 3-2 victory this past week to advance.
The Algonquin Thunder have an agenda of their own and will look to oust the visitors and continue deeper into the playoffs in search of the six-peat. The Thunder have won five consecutive OCAA Championship titles and have finished no worse than silver in the past five national championships.
The other game on the Monday quarter-final schedule is between the Humber Hawks and the Cambrian Golden Shield. The Golden Shield finished second in the Central East division and earned a date with the undefeated Hawks after edging out the Seneca Sting this past week 2-1.
The Humber Hawks cruised through the regular season going 11-0-1, with their only blemish coming at the hands of the Conestoga Condors a week ago. Humber will host Cambrian, with the winner advancing to the semi-finals on Friday in Vaughan.
In what might be the most intriguing cross-over quarter-final, the Conestoga Condors will take on the National Championship Hosts, Seneca Sting on Tuesday. The Sting won the Central East division with a record of 7-2-2, winning the tie-breaker against the George Brown Huskies via head-to-head wins. The Condors have been know to play teams tight and finished second in the West division with a 4-1-6 record,narrowly knocking off some of the top teams including the Humber Hawks. Defence may be the name of this came or it could be an excellent counter-punching game where a small mistake could lead to a loan goal and a ticket into the final four.
In the final play-off game to be contested the George Brown Huskies will take on the Fanshawe Falcons on Tuesday in London. The Huskies may be the one of the most dangerous teams in the Tournament with the capability of exploding with their offense and a veteran core to rely on for leadership. Despite the 7-2-2 record, they are not a team the Falcons will or can be taken lightly.
The Falcons are the best in the West division, scrapping out an identical 7-2-2 record on the season. Fanshawe defeated the Conestoga Condors this past week to earn the title of Divisional Champions and will need to draw on their quarter-final experience from a year ago to end the season of the feisty Huskies. Fanshawe has had even scoring for most of the year and will once again draw on that successful plan on Tuesday.
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October 19, 2009 - he field has been set for the OCAA Men¡¦s Soccer Playoff and there are several new and old faces back in the hunt.
