Men’s soccer Wolves scoop up awards, ground the Falcons and continue quest for medals

After a comeback win against Fanshawe, the Algonquin Wolves have booked their ride to the men’s soccer semifinals.

The quarter-final match on Oct. 19 took place on a warm and dry midday at the Z-building field. The Fanshawe Falcons led for much of the game, but Algonquin walked away as victors with a score of 2-1.

The game saw aggressive play right from the get-go. When Algonquin made an attempt on goal in the third minute, Falcons goalie Dylan DaSilva exhorted his team, “Come on, wake the f— up!”

Two minutes later, they proved they listened. From a corner kick by Dante D’Oria, the Falcons’ Mateja Milidrag jumped high and scored with a header to give them the lead.

In the locker room at halftime, Algonquin was down 1-0. But they came back out with new energy, relentlessly pushing into Fanshawe’s half.

At 58 minutes, after four consecutive Algonquin corner kicks and throw-ins, Gershom Dupuy finally headed one in to score for the Wolves.

This gave the team new life and they pressed even more passionately.

An apparent turning point for the Falcons was at 67 minutes, when defender Carlos Cabral was injured and had to leave the field.

The hammer fell on Fanshawe at 70 minutes. Wolves striker Jaeden Mercure intercepted a flying ball and approached the net while several Falcons moved in on him. Mercure then passed to teammate Alessandro Vivolo, who had slipped his guard, and Vivolo quickly struck a long shot across the box and into the goal.

The Wolves kept up a hearty offence and strong defence to win the game.

“I thought we played a good first half,” said Rob Perreira, head coach of the Fanshawe Falcons. “Second half, we started to succumb to injuries, some of the calls didn’t go our way. It was a good, hard-fought game.”

He said that if he could go back to the start of the match, there’s nothing he would have done differently.

With the victory, the Wolves advance to the semi-finals of the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association Men’s Soccer Championships. Their opponent: the Sheridan Bruins on Oct. 25.

If Algonquin wins, they will face Seneca or Humber for the gold, while if they lose, they will face the other of those for the bronze. The medal games are on Oct. 26, all hosted by Humber College.

Before the game, there was a presentation of awards from the OCAA. Angus Wong, the Wolves’ head coach, was named Men’s Soccer Coach of the Year.

In an interview after the game, Wong was keen to thank his players and fellow coaches: “It’s important to me that the staff is recognized for all the hard work that they do … I’m extremely honoured and happy to share that award with them. I tell the team as well that it’s a team award …(OCAA personnel) see the end product, and that’s the team.”

The Wolves are East Division Champions for having the most wins of the regular season, and were also named the division’s Best Defensive Team.

Algonquin’s Cristian Aviles-Molina, Jaeden Mercure and Nicholas Parry were named to the East Division First Team All-Stars. Claude Byilingiro, Oscar Forward and Kerim Tosun are Second Team All-Stars. Arebi Halab is on the division’s All-Rookie Team.

As the Wolves prepare to visit Humber, they know that the program hasn’t won a medal since 2018, when they took silver. The last gold was in 2015.

When asked about his strategy for the final games, Wong was cagey.

But he did say that “we will try to play with the same identity and principles that we’ve been training with, and that well represents this program.”