The Carleton Ravens women’s soccer team were handed their first loss of the season by the University of Ottawa (U of O) Gee-Gees on Sept. 3 at Matt Anthony Field.
The Carleton defence did their best to contain a pressing offence from U of O, but succumbed to the pressure late in the second half, and fell by a score of 2-0.
Despite the loss, forward Abby Nicastro said the Ravens played a strong game defensively.
“[It was a] really great game defensively, of course [U of O] is really, really respectful—they’re one of the top teams in the country consistently,” she said. “So defensively we all looked really good, especially not having two of our starting defensemen on the field because they were injured.”
Ravens goalkeeper Rada Mintchev faced 12 shots in the first half, and was forced to make seven saves in the first half of the game.
U of O forward Breanna Burton and midfielder Vanessa El-Asmar led the Gee-Gees offence in the game.
The duo peppered shots at the Carleton net. Burton had nine shots and three shots on goal in the game, while El-Asmar had five shots and three shots on goal.
Meanwhile, the Ravens were only able to send four shots in each half, and Gee-Gees goalkeeper Julie-Anne LaMarche stopped all five shots on goal that she faced.
Despite the lack of offence, the Ravens were able to generate some chances during the game.
Ravens forward Tori MacFarlane added some excitement in the second half, taking the ball into midfield before ripping a shot in the top corner—though it was also stopped by Lamarche.
Nicastro and teammate Vanessa Germano generated their own chance with a give-and-go play along the left field before Nicastro took an intercepted shot at the goal.
The Gee-Gees opened the scoring in the 78th minute when Burton managed to slip a shot above Mintchev, setting the score to 1-0.
Within two minutes of the first goal, Faythe Lou tallied a second goal for the Gee-Gees to extend their lead and seal the victory.
Despite the disappointment of conceding a pair of late goals, Nicastro said she is optimistic.
“We did well adjusting to the adversity we were facing,” she said. “We had two players in the midfield and two in the backfield that had to step up.”
“In the last few minutes we had to pull off one of our rookies who had really stepped up. She had an unbelievable game now that she had the opportunity to shine.”
The Ravens women’s soccer team will be back in action on Sept. 10 when they host the University of Toronto Varsity Blues at MNP Park.
