Falcons Win First Ever Men’s Indoor Soccer OCAA Title

(London, Ontario) – The Fanshawe Falcons Men's Indoor Soccer team won the program's first OCAA Provincial Championship gold medal in Vaughan on Thursday afternoon.

The Falcons finished second place in their pool after round robin competition with a record of 2-1-0. They had a rough start, losing to Humber 5-0, but then regrouped to defeat St. Clair 1-0, despite playing short-handed for 10 of the final 20 minutes. Fanshawe finished the day with a commanding 6-1 win over St. Lawrence to secure their spot in the semi-final match.

In the semi-final game versus host George Brown, Fanshawe went down 2-0 with only nine minutes remaining in the second half. The Birds did not let up and came back to make the score 2-1. They followed that with a nice cross from Anas Ayada (London, ON) to Jalen Loague (London, ON), who tied the game 2-2. In extra time, the Falcons played excellent defense, as they were down a man due to a penalty for the final two minutes of play. Neither team was able to capitalize in overtime so the match was decided by penalty kicks. Four Fanshawe players scored their penalty kicks, with Ryan Baker (Strathroy, ON), Justin Wood (London, ON), Mike Sneddon (Mount Brydges, ON) and Loague all finding the back of the net. Goalkeeper Luis Medici (Brazil) came up big for the Falcons, stopping George Brown's first and fourth shots to secure the win for Fanshawe.

The Falcons were in tough, facing the undefeated Humber Hawks in the provincial championship game. Fanshawe struck first, with a rocket from Sneddon giving the Falcons a 1-0 lead in the first half. The Birds then made it 2-0 on a beautiful top-corner strike from Wood. The Hawks cut the lead to 2-1 but Fanshawe goalkeeper Daniel Gonzalez (London, ON) had some key stops to keep the Falcons ahead. Humber had a power play for the final two minutes of regulation time, but Fanshawe would hold on and win their first ever OCAA Men's Indoor Soccer Championship 2-1 over Humber. Baker was named the tournament MVP for his stellar play throughout the tournament, and Wood and Loague were named Tournament All-Stars. The team's Head Coach is Rob Pereira.

The Fanshawe Women's Indoor Soccer squad finished third place in their pool during round robin play on Wednesday with a record of 1-2-0. They fell to Lakehead Orillia 2-0 and St. Clair 3-0 before defeating Laurier Brantford 1-0. Unfortunately, the Falcons did not advance to the medal round.

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