TORONTO, Ont. – The Durham College men's soccer team walked away with three major awards at the OCAA men's soccer championship banquet on Wednesday night.
Nigel Buckley (Pickering, Ont.) was named east division rookie of the year – the first Lord to do so since
Isiah Passley in 2014. Buckley finished the season in the OCAA's top ten in scoring and second on the Lords squad that finished second in the east with 35 goals for. For his dominant play this season, he was also named an all-star midfielder.
Leading the Lords and OCAA east division as the scoring champion,
Jeremy Bangala (Pickering, Ont.) scored 13 goals in his third season at Durham College. Bangala finished second in overall conference scoring, trailing only Filipe Viela of George Brown who scored 14. Viela was also the reigning OCAA scoring champion. Like Buckley, Bangala was named a league all-star.
For the second time in five years
Dave Ashfield was named OCAA coach of the year, but for the first time Ashfield is the conference's CCAA coach of the year nominee. As bench boss, this season he led the Lords to an undefeated season – finishing one point off the Algonquin Thunder for first in the east with a 6-0-4 record. The defending OCAA champions also finished with three more points than a year ago.
"It's truly an honour to be recognized," said Ashfield. "That said, this award is more for the school, coaching staff and players. It is all of us together that are able to accomplish these things. It's an honour to represent the school and receive this award, but I can't say enough about Jens, John and Bruce on my coaching staff and all the players' dedication this season to allow us as a group to be recognized through this award."
With women's head coach
Alex Bianchi also winning the OCAA coach of the year award, this is the first time that both Durham College coaches have received the honour in the same year. The last time the Lords had two coaches in the same sport win coach of the year awards was the 1999-00 season when volleyball coaches Gord Williamson and Stan Marchut were recognized.
Rounding out the Durham College awards was
Cody Kraemer (Whitby, Ont.), with an all-star award. This was the first time since playing for the Lords that he was not named the east division defensive player of the year, but is back-to-back seasons being named an all-star.
"Cody has been himself for three years in a row," said Ashfield. "At the same time, this season he has been a stalwart captain this season and I can't say enough about how he's led our squad. Nigel has been an exciting rookie for us to watch on the pitch each night and has been a driving force for our offence this season. For Jeremy, who wasn't a starter until this season, came into the year showing his development over the past two years and his understanding in what it takes to be successful in the OCAA. I'm proud that he has been rewarded for that with his all-star recognition and east scoring champion award."
The Lords open the OCAA men's soccer championship presented by belairdirect on Thursday at 6 p.m. against the Sheridan Bruins.
The contest presents a showdown of unbeatens, as neither Durham nor Sheridan have suffered a defeat this season. Coincidentally both sides come in as the runners-up in their division, with the Bruins trailing Humber while the Lords were a point back of Algonquin.
For information on the OCAA men's soccer championship visit:
http://ocaachampionships.com/championships/msoc/2018-19/index
