Varsity Update - October 25, 2010
Men's Soccer
Adam Petrina's goal, ten minutes into extra time, gave the Mohawk Mountaineers a 1-0 win over the La Cite Coyotes of Ottawa in OCAA quarter final men's soccer in the nation's capital October 24. Petrina ran onto Adam Bond's through ball and put it into the far side corner. Mohawk's head coach Richard Bennett said Petrina, who has been red hot as of late, is a hard working young man and as a result gets the breaks and finishes his opportunities.
The victory secured a berth for the Mountaineers in the OCAA championship at the Ontario Soccer Centre in Vaughan Friday and Saturday (Oct. 29-30). They will meet the Humber Hawks, the regular season champions, in semi final play Friday (Oct. 29) at 3:00 pm. The bronze medal game is set for Saturday at 12:00 pm and the gold medal contest is Saturday at 6:00 pm.
Women's Soccer
The Algonquin Thunder are still unbeaten in OCAA women's soccer. After going 8-0-0 in the regular season the Thunder edged the Mohawk Mountaineers 3-2 in quarter final play Saturday (Oct. 23) and moved on to the OCAA Championship next weekend in Toronto. Algonquin led 3-0 before Mohawk got markers from Andrea Urquhart and Ashley Hagen late in the contest.
Mountaineers' coach Renzo Castellani was upset by two of the Thunder goals, one on a disputed penalty and another when he and his players felt the ball had gone into touch, but play continued. Castellani, however, was quite pleased with his team's play over the season and noted injuries, especially to key midfielder Zalona Caruso, really hurt the side. But he's already looking forward to next season with many of the same players expected to return.
Rugby
"It was the best game played by Mohawk this year." That was the assessment of rugby coach Alex Paris following his team's 55-0 whitewashing of the Seneca Sting in Division One play at Mohawk Sports Park October 23.
Mohawk improved it's record to 6-0 and clinched top spot in the division. Chris VanSickle led the way again for the Mountaineers with three tries, one penalty goal and six conversions for 30 points. Other tries came from Mike Rao, Eric Moyer, Graham McKelvey and Alec Stewart.
"It was a great game, said coach Paris. "We controlled the ball on both offence and defence. We had a higher level physical presence and just took advantage of their mistakes. Compared to the previous game, we seemed to have more fun and really pushed each other to play better as a team." Paris said VanSickle and Phil Jackson were standouts as usual.
Mohawk's final regular season game will be Thursday October 28 at second place Humber. But the Mountaineers already know they will host a semi final, Saturday November 6 at 2:00 pm at Mohawk Sports Park.
Men's Basketball
Head coach Brian Jonker simply said, "We got our doors blown off." The Mohawk men's basketball team lost 90-67 to the Fanshawe Falcons in their OCAA regular season opener at the Fennell Gymnasium October 19.
"At the half we had out rebounded them by three and had attempted nine more shots than them and were down 28, said Jonker. "They hit ten of 17 threes in the first half and we went 0-for17. They shot 67 percent overall in the first half and for the game they hit 15 three's. We didn't defend well enough and didn't play with enough energy." Jermaine De Costa had 14 points to lead the Mountaineers. Alex Reis scored 13 and Nick Fadayel had 10.
The Mountaineers then went to Kingston for the weekend and returned home with the consolation title at the 16th Annual Vikings Men's Basketball Tournament at St. Lawrence College.
Mohawk whipped the George Brown Huskies 88-59 Sunday (Oct. 24). Tanner Lane led the Mountaineers with 20 points, Fadayel had 14 points and De Costa added 12.
Earlier in pool play Algonquin Thunder of Ottawa beat Mohawk 96-80. Aminu Bello had 26 points and De Costa scored 21. Then the Mountaineers bounced back for a 94-81 victory over the Niagara Knights. Bello scored 23 points and Fadayel had 18.
Algonquin won the tournament, defeating Humber 69-63 in the final.
Women's Basketball
Fanshawe opened the OCAA regular season in women's basketball play with a 67-52 win over Mohawk at the Fennell Gymnasium October 19. Alisha Mills had 11 points, Morgan Taylor 10 and Keenan Vernon added eight for the Mountaineers.
Despite the defeat, head coach Kevin Duffy said he was really proud with the way his team played. "They were extremely resilient. Whenever Fanshawe made a run, we came right back and answered, said Duffy. "We really competed hard throughout the entire game. I give Fanshawe a lot of credit. They made open shots when they had them, but if we would have beared down a bit more and made some of our put backs and foul shots it could have been a different game." Duffy said rookies Rachelle Abella and Joanna Brown were outstanding. Between them they had 9 points, 13 rebounds and zero turnovers. "All in all, it was a great start. Hopefully we can use this momentum to have a great season."
Women's Volleyball
The women's volleyball team opened the OCAA regular season at home October 20, with a 25-15, 25-8, 25-15 sweep of Conestoga Condors of Kitchener.
Jennifer Knowles led the Mountaineers with 10 kills, two stuff blocks and two service aces. Amanda Dehaan had four kills, two blocks and one ace and Jessica Knowles contributed four kills one block and one ace.
Men's Volleyball
It was an excellent start to the OCAA men's volleyball regular season at Mohawk College October 20. The Mountaineers swept the Conestoga Condors of Kitchener, 25-16, 25-17, 25-15.
Mo Sulaiman had eight kills, one stuff block and two service aces. Justin Scapinello collected five kills, and six aces. Darren Govan added five kills, two blocks and three aces.
The Mountaineers moved on to Oshawa over the weekend and captured the bronze medal in the Durham Invitational Men's Volleyball Tournament. In Pool play, they rallied to defeat Loyalist Lancers of Belleville 18-25, 19-25, 25-20, 30-28, 15-12. They then lost to the Seneca Sting 23-25-20-25, 25-23, 23-25.
On day two the Mountaineers blanked Trent University 25-20, 25-23, 25-23.
Mohawk then went on to a tough five set victory over host Durham Lords in the bronze medal contest. The scores were 25-21, 20-25, 25-19, 18-25 and 16-14. Justin Scapinello had 23 kills, two stuff and three aces.
Ryan DelaRosa had 10 digs and passed very well, according to Mohawk's head coach, Matt Schnarr.
For their efforts over the weekend, Scapinello and DelaRosa were both named to the tourney All-Star Team.
Women's Volleyball
The women's volleyball team opened the OCAA regular season at home October 20 with a 25-15, 25-8, 25-15 sweep of Conestoga Condors of Kitchener.
Jennifer Knolwes led the Mountaineers with 10 kills, two stuff blocks and two service aces. Amanda Dehaan had four kills, two blocks and one ace and Jessica Knowles contriobuted four kills one block and one ace.
