The Humber Hawks men’s soccer team remain undefeated, and the women’s squad was defeated after a double header against the Niagara Knights at home on Sept. 17.
This 3-0 win against the Knights puts the men's team in first in the Western Conference with a record of 5-0 to start the season, with Niagara sitting in sixth with a record of 1-2-1 through four games played.
The Hawks, who are ranked number 1 by the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA), continue their hot start defensively for the 2025-26 season with their fourth clean sheet in a row.
Assistant coach Jason Mesa, who has been in the position since 2007 and was inducted into the Humber Hall of Fame in 2009, said the entire team has played well so far this season, especially the defence.
“I could pretty much list everybody on the squad because everyone has really had a great start to the season,” Mesa said.
The game against the Knights started well for Humber, with the team maintaining possession of the ball in the opponents' half.
The Hawks’ patience was rewarded six minutes into the game when second-year striker Marcus Riviere chipped the ball over Niagara goalkeeper Patrick Iwanisik from the edge of the box, giving Humber a 1-0 lead.
This was Riviere’s second goal of the season, his first coming in the opening game against St. Clair.
He said a quick turnaround between games caused some tiredness. The Hawks defeated the Conestoga Condors 1-nil in Cambridge, Ont., just four days earlier
“It's always good to score a goal, but I'm just feeling a little bit fatigued,” Riviere said.
Humber confidently controlled the pace of the game in the first half as both teams traded fouls and offsides.
The Hawks won a corner kick in the twenty-third minute and it was subsequently crossed by midfielder Matias Lescano, where it awkwardly connected with Niagara midfielder Noah Vogel’s arm, and Humber was awarded a penalty.
Fourth-year defender Luca Pinto dispatched the penalty, sneaking it past Iwanisik into the bottom-right corner of the net to give Humber a 2-0 lead through 25 minutes.
The game remained a two-goal lead for Humber until the forty-fourth minute, when a ball was passed through to defender Matthew Smith on the right flank, who crossed it towards the back post for first-year forward Tyler Yasaka to tap home a 3-0 lead for Humber.
That convincing first half by the Hawks was followed by a quiet second half by both teams, with 3-0 remaining as the final score.
This is the fourth straight clean sheet for the team, and their fourth game this season they’ve scored at least three goals.
There were four yellow cards handed out throughout the course of the game, three of them given to Humber players.
This means the team has now received 12 yellow cards through the first five games of the season.
Riviere said the team has a lot of passion towards getting the ball back, saying that sometimes the officials “don’t like that.”
He said the defence is aggressive and they “like to get stuck in on challenges, like to let the other team hear us.”
The women’s team followed directly after and lost a tough game 1-0 to Niagara.
Women’s head coach Jose Caro said the team’s result did not fully represent the effort they showed, saying they need to improve their attacking tempo to create more chances.
“Niagara took advantage of a moment, and we didn’t quite capitalize on ours. In tight matches, those small margins matter, and we’ll work on sharpening that edge,” Caro said.
Both teams were victorious on Sept. 20 away against the Fanshawe Falcons, a 1-0 victory for the men, extending their unbeaten streak to six, and a 2-1 win for the women.
The men then beat the Mohawk Mountaineers 1-0 on Sept. 24, while the women won by the same score.
Their next games are Oct. 1 against Redeemer Royals. Kickoffs are at 4 p.m. for the women and 7 p.m. for the men.
