The Carleton Ravens men’s soccer team defeated the Trent University Excalibur 4-0 at home Sept. 14.
The Ravens got off to a great start dominating the visiting Excalibur and not giving them many chances throughout the game.
The Ravens opened the scoring early with a goal from fifth-year midfielder Joey Kewin, when he came in on a one-on-one with the Trent goalie, beating him with a hard shot on the left side.
“Everyone definitely played with heart. It wasn’t our best performance, but everyone played hard to the end. The ref allowed a physical game to go on, so it was nice to see guys like the rookies coming in and stepping up and laying out some big tackles for us,” third-year defender Michael Calof said.
Third-year striker Andrew Latty picked up three straight goals for the Ravens, putting the game out of reach.
“Latty always somehow pulls a rabbit out his hat. Out of nowhere seven minutes later he’s got three goals. He’s a consistent goal scorer, that’s what he does and what he’s good at and no one can stop him,” Calof said of his teammate.
In what turned into a physical game with the ref letting a lot of the rough part of the game go on, it ended with the Excalibur receiving a red card late in the second half.
“The [Trent] player was tackled by Smith and he reacted and was justifiably shown his second yellow card, it was a lack of discipline on their part,” Ravens head coach Sandy Mackie said.
Even after this big win, the Ravens know there’s still room for improvement.
“We need to move the ball better. We know we’re not known as the best passing team, but that was even bad for our standards. We’ve been working on moving on the ground for our next games, as we go to Nipissing and Laurentian this weekend,” Calof said.
The Ravens are slated to play away games against the Laurentian University Voyageurs and the Nipissing University Lakers Sept. 21-22.
“Last year we didn’t do well in Nipissing, we came away with a draw and realistically we’ve got to keep the points on the board. We have to be in the right frame of mind because they’re hard games,” Mackie said.
“This weekend is a tough one, with travel, the back to back games and there psychical. But if we keep our focus we should be okay.”
With this win, the Ravens move into first place in the Ontario University Athletics East division and are currently ranked first in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport.
