New OUA men's soccer champion will be crowned this weekend

HAMILTON, Ont. - With 2008 Ontario University Athletics (OUA) finalists Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks and York Lions out of the playoff race, this year's title is up for grabs as the Toronto Varsity Blues host the OUA Final Four men's soccer championship this weekend, Nov. 7-8, with the Blackwood Cup awarded on Sunday.

After upending the OUA West No. 2-seeded Windsor Lancers in the quarter-finals last weekend, the fourth-place McMaster Marauders (8-7-1) will look to continue their Cinderella run against the Carleton Ravens (9-5-2), the No. 3 seed from the East.

In this cross-division battle, Carleton has the upper-hand on offence. McMaster is a relatively low-scoring team, tallying just 11 goals in 14 regular season games this season, the majority of them being scored by striker Mark Riley (Hamilton, Ont.), who netted a team-high three.

The No. 10 nationally-ranked Ravens have four high-scoring players to help their offensive attack, giving them a huge advantage over the McMaster defence.

Carleton striker Jonni Okai (Ottawa) is fourth in OUA scoring with seven goals and along with midfielder Joey Kewin's (London, Ont.) six markers and four each from Samuel McHugh (Russell, Ont.) and Caki Simrooglu (Izmir, Turkey). The Ravens will pose quite a threat to McMaster's defenders and their No. 1 goalkeeper Matthew Grant (Brampton, Ont.).

The Ravens advanced to the semifinals with a 1-0 win over the then No. 10 Queen's Gaels, but it didn't come easily. They proved themselves to be a strong defensive team as the game remained scoreless through regulation and two overtime periods. Carleton outscored Queen's in penalty kicks by a 4-2 margin.

McMaster has also won two road games in dramatic fashion to earn its ticket to Toronto. Against the Guelph Gryphons, both teams exchanged goals in regulation, then again in overtime to set up penalty kicks. The Marauders outscored Guelph 3-2 and advanced through to the quarter-finals.

In another road game at Windsor, the Marauders knocked off the then No. 7 Lancers 2-1, again requiring penalty kicks. McMaster outscored Windsor 4-3.

The No. 1-ranked Toronto Varsity Blues (12-1-2) will host the Western Mustangs (6-6-4) in the other semifinal with home field advantage on their side.

This will mark the first meeting against Old Four rivals this OUA season. The Varsity Blues have had a terrific season, scoring a league-high 30 goals while allowing just three against, tops in the OUA.

Toronto's top scorer, Nordo Gooden (Kingston, Jamaica) was the co-leader in OUA scoring with eight goals. The Varsity Blues also feature Alex Raphael (East York, Ont.) who tallied seven goals, making this a great one-two punch.

Western's scoring threat comes in the form of Mark Pocrnic (London, Ont.) who scored four goals this season. He is supported by Ryan Avola (London, Ont.) and Eric Amato (Toronto), who have scored three and two goals, respectively, in the regular season.

The Varsity Blues will need to be weary of the Mustangs, who knocked off the defending Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) champion York Lions, 1-0, in last Saturday's quarter-final on a late goal by Nick Agam (Oakville, Ont.) in the 86th minute. Like McMaster, Western has won twice on the road to get to Toronto.

The two semi-final winners on Saturday will not only compete for an OUA title on Sunday, but earn a berth to the CIS men's soccer championship, Nov. 12-15, at Trinity Western University in Langley, B.C.

The semi-final losing teams will play in the OUA bronze-medal game on Sunday at 11:30 a.m., followed by Saturday's winning teams in the OUA final at 2 p.m. All games can be seen via webcast at SSNCanada.ca.

OUA FINAL FOUR MEN'S SOCCER CHAMPIONSHIP

November 7, 2009
Semifinals @ Toronto
11:30 a.m. McMaster vs. Carleton
2:00 p.m. Western vs. Toronto

November 8, 2009
Finals @ Toronto
11:30 a.m. Semi-Final Losers (Bronze Medal)
2:00 p.m. Semi-Final Winners (OUA Final)

- OUA -