Brandon Tretter
Skedline.com
Humber Men’s soccer won their fourth straight National Championship on Saturday Nov. 10. It was also the Hawks’ fifth title in seven years. The win marks the 50th CCAA championship in school history, the most in the country.
Freshman defender Riley Ferrazzo scored the lone goal in the 1-0 win over Ahuntsic College at Terry Fox Field in Cornwall P.E.I.
The Hawks dominated the ball in the win and the 28’ minute goal was all they would need. The chance came when striker Jaineil Hoilett delivered a cross into the box that eventually found its way to Ferrazzo for the goal. The ball would rarely enter the Humber’s defensive third for the rest of the match and goalkeeper Karman Singh was never troubled as the Hawks would hang on for the win.
Ferrazzo’s championship winning goal
Head Coach Michael Aquino picked up his fourth CCAA title in his fourth year at the helm for the Hawks, while also improving to 12-0 in his career at the National Tournament. However, Aquino feels the key to their success was a having a mix of veteran and younger players, along with just getting healthy.
“We had a lot of injuries throughout the year and getting a. lot of these guys back, somewhat healthy, you’re never going to be fully healthy, but getting a lot of them back was a big help in the playoffs.”
Jaineil Hoilett added to his trophy case, bringing home MVP of the National Tournament after also winning MVP in the Provincial Tournament. Hoilett is the younger brother of Cardiff winger and Canada International Junior Hoilett, and was among the players who Aquino was quick to credit for the team’s success.
“Obviously Hoilett’s a guy, a senior guy, who’s got a lot of experience, winning back-to-back MVPs, but then we had guys like Nicholas Machado scoring big goals throughout the playoffs. Riley Ferrazzo scoring the game winner in the final and then we’ve got a lot of guys at the back… it would be hard for me to just pick one player.”
The Hawks won two of their games in the tournament on Penalty Kicks, beating Langara and NAIT in the Quarter and Semi-Finals respectively. Despite this success, Aquino says he isn’t a big fan of tiebreaker.
“Yeah, I don’t really like them, I think you’d always rather the game end in regulation especially if you’re the better team but we were lucky enough to come out on top in both occasions so I guess it worked out.”
Hawks pose for their fourth straight championship picture
Aquino has been on Humber’s coaching staff for 10 years, four as head coach winning the National Championship in all of those years, but says he isn’t too concerned with other opportunities.
“Obviously were not in a place like Europe, a soccer rich area where there’s jobs all over the place so you never really know what opportunities are going to be out there but for now I’m happy where I am and I’ve enjoyed my time at Humber.”
