With a dominating win, followed by a disappointing loss, the Carleton men’s lacrosse team now finds itself just holding on to the last playoff spot halfway through the season.
The Ravens handled Queen’s University with ease on Sept. 26 in an 11-7 victory, but were unable to keep the adrenaline going, losing 12-6 the next day to Trent University.
In their first game, the Ravens looked strong, entering halftime with a 5-2 lead.
It was clear that Carleton’s defence was their biggest asset while both Corey Fowler and Rajinder Wasson were dominating up front, netting two goals each for the Ravens before halftime.
Fowler continued to put the ball in the back of the net, scoring four goals in total.
Throughout the second half, Carleton was able to control the possession of the ball, especially around midfield. After a penalty by Queen’s, Raven player Tim Bergin scored from the centre slot. The Kingston native took a quick shot that connected with the back of the net in the top-right corner.
Although Ravens captain Tom Acton stayed off the goal sheet, he was able to set up plays for the rest of his teammates while leading on transition.
Despite a solid goalkeeping effort from Queen’s, the Ravens stayed strong on their own defence, refusing to allow their opponents to sneak back into the game.
Both teams scored two goals apiece in the third quarter but Carleton ran away with the game in the fourth, scoring two goals in quick succession and securing their victory.
“I try to be my best out there and spread the ball around, it just happened to be me today,” Fowler said. “We realized we had to step it up a gear [in the fourth] and we did.”
Fowler also mentioned the importance of defence stating, “Great defence leads to great offence.”
"Queen’s is a talented team and we didn’t let up,” said head coach Noah Goddard.
Their second game of the weekend against Trent was a different story.
The men were down early and unlike the Queen’s game where they tallied five unanswered goals, the team was not able to control ball possession.
The team kept themselves in the game for the first three quarters, heading into the final quarter tied with Trent.
Although the defence and goalkeeping were solid, Carleton’s offence ran cold and Goddard said he thought the game was an example of the team struggling to make transition plays.
“Our transition game was not very good, you can’t score if you don’t have the ball. We were having trouble giving it up the field to our offence,” he said.
Halfway through the season, the Ravens are 3-2-0. With five games left the team knows the importance of every game, as each one could make or break their playoff hopes.