By: Zac Phillips
Vaughan, Ont. – The Centennial Colts indoor men's soccer team finished their OCAA Regional tournament pool play with a 2-2 record, on Monday at the Ontario Soccer Centre.
Duarte Ventura-Oliveira found the back of the net in all four contests, as the Colts split the day with two wins and two close loses.
Keeper Santiago Arroyave Arias was a sturdy anchor for Centennial coming up big in key situations. He made multiple big saves whenever the Colts held a lead, or broke down defensively.
They will now have to play the waiting game to see if they can grab one of the remaining two wild card spots for the OCAA Championships, as they finished third in Pool A. The two third place teams across the three pools with the best goal differential will qualify.
Game one at St. Clair Saints:
The Colts dropped a close one to the St. Clair Saints 2-1 in their opening match.
St. Clair came out of the gate quickly finding the back of the net twice, while the Colts took a few minutes to find their footing.
Despite the Colts pushback, the Saints' 2-0 start was insurmountable and they hung on for the victory.
Ventura-Oliveira got the Colts on the board late in the first half after a clean transition up field, rifling one of the post and in, bringing the score back within one before the end of the first half.
As the back and forth second half produced no scoring, Nitharshan Anuradha had a good look to tie the game with just two minutes remaining, but his strike sailed just over the net.
Game two vs Lambton Lions:
The Colts offence found their stride in game two, dismantling the Lambton Lions 4-0 backed by two goals from Ali Azim.
Strong defensive play mixed with timely goal scoring led them to the win as they regained traction after the tough first loss.
Ventura-Oliveira and Senay Kurban scored the other two goals for Centennial while goalkeeper Arroyave Arias was solid again for the Colts, securing the victory and the shutout.
Lambton wound up losing their starting goalie to injury as the first half was ending. Centennial took advantage and netted three goals in the second half, while playing excellent defence to protect their lead.
Game three at Conestoga Condors:
The Colts dropped a 4-3 seesaw battle, to the Conestoga Condors, after an intense and physical contest.
Centennial kept their high energy throughout the match despite giving up a goal in the first minute. They found a way to consistently respond, battling back to tie the game each time the Condors broke ahead.
Conestoga managed to retake the lead with seven minutes remaining in the game and were able to survive the Colts late efforts to knot it back up.
Scoring for the Colts was Sunmi Oye and Ventura-Oliveira, finding his third of the day. Despite physical play, the high scoring game went up-and-down the field constantly, with plenty of action and close calls around each net.
Game four vs Redeemer Royals:
In their last match of the day the Colts rebounded from a slow start to overpower the Redeemer Royals en route to a 3-1 victory.
Vlasis Papaefthimiou unleashed a strike on the run to beat the Royals netminder, as time expired in the first half breaking a 1-1 tie.
Ventura-Oliveira had tied the game just before, netting his fourth goal of the day and successfully turned the momentum in the Colts favour.
Nitharshan Anuradha added an insurance marker on a nice passing play that left him wide open and with the entire net, he walked the ball across and sealed the victory.
Arroyave Arias again held the Colts in check while they figured out the offence, which came to life in the second half.