Varsity Blues Dako, Ridgebacks Salback earn OUA Athlete of the Week honours
Burlington, Ont. – Khadi Dako and Fadi Salback have been named Ontario University Athletics (OUA) Athletes of the Week for the period ending October 6, 2019.
Female Athlete of the Week – Khadi Dako, Toronto Varsity Blues, Rugby
After finishing sixth in scoring across the conference during the regular season, Khadi Dako continued her potent production into the postseason en route to the Toronto Varsity Blues weekend win.
In their consolation quarterfinal, Toronto’s women’s rugby team went toe-to-toe with the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks, with Dako leading the way from start to finish. The fourth-year veteran tallied five tries in the fixture to buoy her squad to the dominant 37-10 victory.
The Markham, Ont. native scored three of her tries in the opening half to all but put the game out of reach early on, but she didn’t stop there. Dako would go on to add another two scores in the second half to seal the deal for Toronto. In nearly matching her regular season try total (7), the winger helped book her team a ticket into the next round.
Male Athlete of the Week – Fadi Salback, Ontario Tech Ridgebacks, Soccer
The Ontario Tech Ridgebacks picked up an important pair of wins this season in their postseason pursuit, with Fadi Salback finding himself at the centre of the team’s electrifying six-point performance.
The Bowmanville, Ont. native opened the scoring in Ontario Tech’s first match of the weekend against RMC. The 13th minute tally proved to be the lone goal in the opening 45 minutes, and was also the deciding one in the game, as the Ridgebacks rolled to a 3-0 win over the Paladins to score an important three points in the standings.
In the team’s encore – a match with further postseason implications – Salback outdid himself by netting a hat trick in his team’s 4-0 win. He tapped in an open ball in the 17th minute to open the scoring before heading in his second of the match off a cross later in the half. Salback closed out the scoring in the 60th minute to become just the second ever Ridgeback to score three goals in a single match.
With his four-goal weekend, the first-year forward is now just one goal away from tying the school’s single-season scoring record (10 goals) and is now second in conference scoring.
