HUMBER 2, SENECA 1 (PK)
AMHERSTBURG, Ont. - Humber College (Etobicoke) scored in the 89th minute to force extra time before prevailing 3-2 in penalty kicks over Seneca College (North York) Friday night at the belairdirect OCAA Women's Soccer Championship semifinal hosted by St. Clair College at the Libro Centre in Amherstburg, Ont. With the win Humber advances to the gold medal game against Algonquin Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. Seneca will play for bronze at 12 p.m. Saturday against Cambrian.
A very even match failed to create many good scoring chances in either direction as the play remained in the middle of the field. Still scoreless by halftime Seneca came out in the second half and created a chance for Andrea Runco (Newmarket, Ont.) who drilled a shot off Humber goalie Vanessa Fiore (Brampton, Ont.) in the 50th minute. The rebound came right back to Runco and she calmly chipped it over the fallen keeper giving Seneca a 1-0 lead.
The lead was unchallenged until the final minute of regulation when Rebecca Spratt (Mississauga, Ont.) found the net for Humber who was set up on a nice individual play by Zoe Longsworth (Toronto, Ont.). The game official added a few minutes of injury time but the teams were destined for extra time which solved nothing. Humber took control of the play nearing the end of extra time and few hard tackles and yellow cards were dished out as the intensity grew. Seneca changed their goalie late knowing penalty kicks would likely decide the outcome.
The teams chose and submitted their five penalty kick shooters with both sides including their net minders in the group. Seneca led after scoring the opening shot and Humber answered to make it 1-1. A pair of misses for both teams were followed by a pair of saves for both teams. Both teams scored with their fourth shooters setting up the conclusion. Seneca failed to connect with their last shooter and Humber's Stephanie Gutierrez (Toronto, Ont.) placed her shot bottom left as the goalie dove in the opposite direction.
Source: St. Clair College