Soccer sniper Hammond commits to Acadia

BY JOHN DECOSTE

Kings County Register

One of the finest pure scorers in Nova Scotia soccer will be donning the colours of the Acadia soccer Axemen this fall.

Acadia Varsity Athletics and the Axemen Soccer Supporters Club announced last week Jonathan (Jono) Hammond of Halifax has committed to Acadia, where he will study toward a business degree - and play varsity soccer.

A 6’1” striker who has been involved in soccer most of his life, Hammond has been a member of the National Training Centre - Atlantic since 2005. He gained invaluable provincial and national experience with the Scotia Olympic U-14 and U-16 teams, which represented Nova Scotia at Club Nationals three years in a row from 2004 to 2006.

During the 2007 NSSL season, Hammond scored 21 goals in 20 games for the Halifax City U-18s. He was even more prolific in high school play, netting a league-leading 30 goals in 15 games playing for J. L. Ilsley.

“Jonathan is technically excellent, and has a proven track record as a goal scorer,” Axemen head coach Findlay MacRae said in a May 23 release. “He is physically strong and fast, can hold the ball up well but can also take defenses on one-on-one.

“I am delighted that Jonathan has chosen to be a key player in the continued development of the Axemen as a top-level team.”

Hammond, playing this summer for the Halifax City Senior Men’s soccer club in the NSSL Premier Men’s Division, is excited to join the Acadia community this coming fall.

“Hopefully, I will be able to have an impact within the team, and that we will have many successful years to come.”

Acadia, in its second season as the only community-sponsored university varsity soccer program in Canada, posted a 1-7-5 record in 2007 in one of the most competitive conferences in the country. An improving team with a solid core of young players, many of them from here in the Kings County area, the Axemen arguably lacked that one “go-to” scorer able to make the difference in close games – an area in which Hammond is likely to make a big difference.