The Carleton Ravens men’s soccer team earned two more victories at MNP Park to extend their win streak to five games. They edged the Laurentian Voyageurs 1-0 on Sept. 23, then thrashed the Nipissing Lakers 5-0 on Sept. 25.
“It was a tough game, playing Laurentian always seems to be a battle,” Ravens head coach Kwesi Loney said of the win over Laurentian. “I don’t think we came out with as much energy and as much zeal for the game as we should have.”
While the Ravens were unable to score a goal in the first half, they were successful in preventing the Voyageurs from registering a single shot through the first 45 minutes.
Five minutes into the second half, Dante Cobisa buried a low shot to give the Ravens a 1-0 lead.
The single goal was all the Ravens would need to get a victory, as Ravens goalkeeper David Monk stopped all three shots he faced to earn the victory.
After the game, Monk said the efforts of defenders Weber Bourjolly, Dondrae Fells, Rowen Martino, and Julian Piccioli have helped him have success in goal this season.
“They’re all solid at the back all the time,” Monk said. “I had to make some saves but for the most part, they closed down when they needed to close down and did their job.”
When taking on the Lakers on Sept. 25, the offence struck early, and often to give the Ravens a big victory.
Ravens forward Gordon Goodkey opened the scoring in the seventh minute for the Ravens, while Bourjolly added a goal in the 39th minute to extend the lead.
At the half, the Ravens had six shots while only allowing the Lakers to earn one shot.
Goodkey found a way to tally a goal early in the half once again as he scored his second goal of the game in the 48th minute.
Daud Dahir and Tim Campos added markers in the final 20 minutes to wrap up the offense for the Ravens.
Monk made a pair of saves to earn his second consecutive clean sheet.
With the pair of victories, the Ravens find themselves neck-and-neck with the Ryerson Rams for the top spot in the Ontario University Athletics East division.
While the Ravens trail the Rams by two points, and have an extra game in hand, both Loney and Monk said there is no added pressure when at the top of the standings.
“For now it’s a good feeling but as coach [Loney] always says, we’re in the business of taking points and we’re coming after Ryerson,” Monk said.
“If you’re going to be a successful team, now you have to expect teams to give you their best always,” Loney said. “There’s not going to be any days off and I think if we have that mentality where we can’t have any days off and working hard in training, then we’ll be okay.”
The Ravens will travel to Kingston on Sept. 30 to take on the RMC Paladins at Navy Bay.
