EDMONTON – The Ooks men's soccer team is competing at the CCAA National Championship in Calgary, Alberta beginning Nov. 10th. NAIT will be entering the tournament as the 3rd seed in Pool A, after losing to the SAIT Trojans in the finals of the ACAC Championship. The Ooks will face the Nomades de Montmorency who are the 2nd seed in pool A after winning the RESQ Championship. Kickoff for the Ooks quarter-final match is set for 12:30pm (MST) Wednesday.
The NAIT Ooks men's soccer team finished the regular season with a 5-0-1 record, outscoring their opponents 24-6 this season.
Day 1 Recap:
Montmorency College got all the bounces on Wednesday, while the NAIT Ooks did not.
The Nomades received two first-half goals from Alexandre Marcoux, the first just five minutes in, as they defeated the Ooks 4-1 to advance to the CCAA Men's Soccer National Championship semifinal.
NAIT, on the other hand, just could not get the ball to do what they wanted all game and it seemed to frustrate the wildcard team from the ACAC.
Down 2-0 thanks to Marcoux, the Ooks finally got one back at the end of the first half when Mario Deluca scored on a penalty kick to give his team life going into the half.
That momentum ended 10 minutes into the second half when Montmorency's Saad Chaouki pounced on a loose ball and fired an absolute rocket past NAIT keeper Zachary Black to restore the two-goal lead for the Nomades.
Yassine Taitah added the Nomades fourth goal of the afternoon in the 90th minute to round out the scoring.
NAIT now falls to the consolation side, where they will meet the Brandon University Bobcats in Thursday's morning game – 10am MST. The Nomades will take on Humber at 3pm MST.
Chaouki was named Montmorency's Player of the Game, while Julio Umali took the honour for NAIT.
Day 2 Recap:
The NAIT Ooks took control early and never let up.
The Edmontonians received a goal just three minutes into the game, as they defeated the Brandon University Bobcats 6-0 in their CCAA bronze medal quarter-final match played Thursday morning at SAIT's Cohos Commons Field.
The early marker was the first of four for Ousman Maheshe, who also found the back of the net in 47th, 63rd and 67th minutes of the game.
Teammate Matthew Zima had an impressive outing himself, scoring a pair of goals (15', 54').
NAIT goalkeeper Ryan Gillie was not very busy, but earned the clean sheet in the victory.
The Ooks will move on to the bronze medal semifinal game, which will be played Friday afternoon at 3pm MST. Brandon ends the tournament at 0-2.
Maheshe was an obvious choice for NAIT's Player of the Game, while Brandon's Diego Rodriguez earned his team's honour.
Day 3 Recap:
Ousman Maheshe did Ousman Maheshe things Friday afternoon.
Just one day removed from scoring four goals, Maheshe added three more as his NAIT Ooks beat the St Thomas Tommies 7-3 in a high-scoring affair played at SAIT's Cohos Commons Field.
The game itself was relatively quiet until the 30-minute mark and then the switch flipped.
NAIT and St. Thomas combined for four goals in the next 10 minutes of play – three of them coming from the Ooks (one from Maheshe and two from Matthew Zima) and one from the Tommies (Brett Springer).
After the half, NAIT tacked on another when Mario Deluca scored in the 53rd minute, followed up just one minute later by Maheshe's second of the contest. He notched his third in the 70th minute to make it two hat tricks in as many days. His seven goals in three games is good enough to lead the tournament.
Not to be outdone, Springer also recorded a hat trick, scoring again in the 57th and 89th minute to finish things off.
Zima and St Thomas' Ben Davidge were named the Players of the Game.
Bronze Medal Game Recap:
Ooks Win CCAA Bronze Medal!
The NAIT Ooks Men's Soccer Team defeated the Nomades Montmorency 3-2 in extra time to capture CCAA Bronze.
After falling to the Nomades in their opening game, the Ooks got the redemption they were looking for in thrilling fashion.
Umali opened the scoring in the 14th minute when he blasted a ball past the Nomades keeper. From there, both teams traded chances, with excellent skill on display throughout the half.
The Nomades drew even in the 53rd minute when Chaouki scored on a penalty kick. The intensity continued to increase as things tightened up to close out regular time.
A minute into extra time, Maheshe scored his 8th goal of the tournament to put the Ooks up 2-1. A few moments later, it was Gillie's time to shine, making a huge save on a penalty kick.
The Nomades didn't let down, with Camara scoring moments into the second half of extra time. Luckily for NAIT, Zima came to the rescue and finished an excellent display of passing to put the Ooks up 3-2 and capture the eventual Bronze medal!
This is the men's program's first national medal since capturing Gold in 2011.
Congratulations to Lima and Maheshe for being named to the CCAA Tournament All-Star Team.