After a two game road trip Sept. 17-18, the Carleton Ravens men’s soccer team is still sitting atop the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) East Division.
The Ravens lost a tough 2-1 decision to the Laurentian Voyageurs Sept. 17, but rebounded strongly the next day with an impressive 4-0 win over the Nipissing Lakers.
In the match against Laurentian, star midfielder Joey Kewin scored just before the end of the first half to give the Ravens a 1-0 lead into the break.
However, the Voyageurs managed to score two goals in the second half to come back and beat the Ravens 2-1.
The defeat was the Ravens third loss in their last four meetings against Laurentian.
[In] the first game, I’d say we had a very disappointing performance that day, said starting keeper Simon Brown. We came out flat. We scored a goal late in the first half, but they were basically all over us. In the second half, we got into card trouble. They had a penalty shot, a couple of red cards were given out, and it overall just went downhill from there.
But the Ravens shook off the loss and responded with a crucial 4-0 win over Nipissing the following day.
Striker Andrew Latty provided the majority of the Ravens offence, scoring twice in the first half, and burying another goal in the second half to complete the hat trick. Midfielder Sam McHugh sealed the game by scoring a late goal for Carleton, while keeper Matt Krocko earned the shutout.
After splitting the weekend’s games, the Ravens record now stands at 4-2 with 12 points.
Carleton’s alumni weekend is Sept. 24-25, where former Ravens players are coming back to cheer on this year’s team.
They will once again face Nipissing and Laurentian, but this time both matches will be on the Ravens home field.
“It will give us a great atmosphere and we obviously get to play Laurentian again, so that game should give us much motivation to perform, said assistant coach Kwesi Loney.
The team’s strong play so far this season has given them optimism for a deep post-season run. Carleton has never won a Canadian Interuniversity Sport men’s soccer championship, but have finished as the runner-up in 1984 and 2002.
“If we keep developing and growing as a team, we can go far,Loney said. Our goal this year is to get to that provincial semifinal game, and if you put yourself in that position, then you’re one win away from going to the national championship game. You don’t want to look to far ahead but we do have a long-term goal. We want to continue to improve so that we can peak at the right time.”
