The Carleton Ravens men’s soccer team extended their winning streak to three games over the weekend, with wins over the Royal Military College (RMC) Paladins on Sept. 16 and the Queen’s Gaels on Sept. 18.
The Ravens entered the game against RMC on a positive note after a 9-1 drubbing of the Trent Excalibur, and continued in similar fashion with a 4-0 victory over the Paladins.
The Ravens seized control of the play from the start of the game. Ravens midfielder Daud Dahir used his speed to get behind the RMC defence and shot past the keeper to give the Ravens a 1-0 lead in the 11th minute.
Two minutes later, captain Julian Piccioli stole the ball on the edge of the box, and thundered a strike into the net to make the score 2-0 for Carleton.
In the second half, Ravens head coach Kwesi Loney sought to rotate a squad that was playing their fourth game in seven days.
“We have a pretty deep squad, you need to try and get guys rest,” Loney said. “With another game on Sunday, we need to make sure we’re going in with the right mentality, giving some guys some confidence, and making sure we give guys rest, so we can play on Sunday with a proper selection.”
Dante Cobisa and Tim Campos tallied goals in the second half to seal the 4-0 victory for the Ravens.
Two days later, the Ravens traveled to Kingston to take on the Queen’s Gaels, and returned to Ottawa with a 4-2 win.
The Ravens scored early in the game once again. Dahir scored his league-leading fifth goal of the game in the ninth minute, while Mekonen Lovemore-White extended the lead with a goal later in the half.
Queen’s forward Tonko Bacelic cut the Ravens lead in half in the 59th minute, though goals from Piccioli and Walker Smith would extinguish hopes of a Gaels comeback.
After the pair of victories, Carleton now sits in second place in the OUA East with a 5-1-1 record.
“Every team in this league is competitive and can take points at any time,” Loney said. “So we just have to stay focused and stay competitive and hopefully we’ll be in a good position at the end of the season.”
Piccioli said the Ravens are aiming to surpass the first-place Ryerson Rams in the standings.
“Right now we are still in the running, we still have a lot of games left and we’re gonna give it our all to win every game,” he said. “We take it game by game, just get the three points, and anyone who gets in our way, we’re gonna get through them, so that’s the goal.”
The Ravens will return to the pitch on Sept.23 when they take on the Laurentian Voyageurs at MNP Park.
