BY ANGELO MAZZIOTTI
SPORTS REPORTER

Despite being ranked No. 1 in the country, Humber’s women’s soccer team took home the bronze medal from the provincial championship on Oct. 16-17, leaving them in sixth place nationally.

The heavily favoured Hawks, who hosted the event in Vaughan, lost the opportunity for the gold and silver medals after the Durham College Lords shut them out 4-0 in semi-final action, Friday.

Durham head coach David Staley was proud of his team’s performance, and said it was the toughest game of the season so far.

Durham’s strategy was to keep the ball away from Hawk’s striker Keyla Moreno, he said.

“Our game plan was trying to keep Keyla off her right foot. She is such a great player. We rebounded great off a missed penalty shot, and got a great free kick to seal the deal. We would have loved to play Humber in the finals, but we will take the win.”

After the semi-final, Humber co-head coach Vince Pileggi was disappointed, but said the team had to shake it off.

“It’s a very disappointing loss,” said Pileggi. “At this point in the season, it’s all about wins and losses. We just didn’t get the job done. We’ll just need to be ready for the bronze medal game.”

Ready they were, as the women rebounded from the disappointing loss to defeat the Sheridan Bruins 4-0.

Humber focusess now on preparing for nationals in November.
Co-head coach Mauro Ongaro said the team will be ready.

“We really want to come out strong,” said Ongaro. “We are really looking forward to nationals and have to go into them with the right frame of mind.”

Humber hosts the national tournament this year at the Ontario Soccer Centre in Vaughan Nov. 4-7, giving the Hawks a bye into the tournament.