HUMBER WINS CCAA MEN'S SOCCER CHAMPIONSHIP

COQUITLAM, B.C. - The Humber Hawks defeated the VIU Mariners of PACWEST for gold in a dramatic 2-2 game that was decided in a 7-6 shootout to end the 2012 CCAA Men's Soccer National Championship on Saturday.

Tournament MVP was goalkeeper Eugenio Garro of Humber. Tournament All-Stars were Sahil Sandhu and Jag Gill of Douglas; Matthew Rios, Euginio Garro and Marcus Nunes of Humber; Zach Kaiser of NAIT; Dan Cato, Jordan DeGraff and Matt Mehrassa of VIU; David Alva of Seneca; and Bastien Bougeault of Garneau. The tournament's Fair Play Award went to Cégep Élans de Garneau. 

Scorers for Humber were Daniel Brago and Matthew Rios in game time, and Alexs Janjic, Matthew Rios, Shezan Singh, Marcelo Cappozolo, Gerardo Magno, Thomas Santibanez-Esponsa and Yousif Yousif in the shootout. 

Scorers for VIU were forward Romain Martin and midfield Jamie Taylor in game time, and Stephen Ewashko, Dan Cato, Jamie Taylor, Romain Martin, Jordan Degraff and Davis Stupich in the shootout.

It was a tense battle for the gold in front of rambunctious VIU fans. The first half saw the teams tied 1-1. In the opening minutes, Humber striker Nunes ran down the right side and peeled off an awesome shot from the top corner of the penalty box, firing just wide. Twenty minutes in, Martin finished during a scramble in front of the Humber net after a penalty kick.

VIU's defender Dan Cato did a good job of breaking up attacks in his end. With less than 10 minutes to go, VIU defender Chris Merriman got hit by a Humber player and limped off the field. Then Humber tied it up. In the dying minutes of the half, Humber forward Brago took a long shot to finish.

Rios finished 15 minutes in hitting a rebound shot in a front-of-the-net melee. VIU evened it up when midfield Taylor got a slice from the right side, setting off the fans with about 20 minutes left in the game. VIU almost broke ahead when A.J. Kambere got a shot off the goal post in the final moments. Humber matched them with a close shot.

It would be a dramatic end to a dramatic game: overtime and then a shootout.

Humber last won a national title in men's soccer back in 2001. It is its third CCAA men's soccer title overall.

Championship Website: www.ccaa.ca/menssoccer2012

Source: Douglas College with files from OCAA Communications