A crowd of roughly 150 Ravens supporters visited MNP Park Sept. 15 as Carleton’s men’s soccer team played their season home opener against the Nippissing University Lakers.
The game was just one of the two scheduled over the weekend, allowing the Ravens to finally bring their talent home and play in front of local fans.
After Saturday’s evening game, the Ravens claimed three points with a 4-0 win.
During the home opener, the team came out strong against their opponents, using their speed effectively to pressure the opposition, as the supporters in the stands roared.
The quick pace of Ravens forwards Jimi Aribido, Gabriel Bitar, and Ricky Comba routinely gave the Lakers a run for their money.
The first goal came in the 36th minute when forward Emad Houache scored a free kick, giving the Ravens the lead a few minutes before halftime. Houache appeared to open the floodgates for Carleton as goals began pouring in for the Ravens before the end of the first half.
In the 45th minute, Bitar doubled the home side’s lead after a one-on-one encounter with the Lakers’ keeper. Seconds later, defender Christopher Malekos managed to bag a goal of his own bringing the score to 3-0 at halftime.
For the last 45 minutes, the Lakers came out stronger and closed down on the Ravens’ quick attack—but, the visitors could not come back from their deficit.
Bitar only added more pain and suffering when he snatched himself a brace by scoring the fourth and last goal in the 53rd minute.
The team’s head coach Kwesi Loney was impressed by his team’s 4-0 scoreline in the home opener and proved that the team was developing well as a unit.
“A clean sheet means your guys in front did a really good job, Gabi (Bitar) scoring two goals was great and Chris (Malekos), our left centre-back, scoring the third goal before half I think really killed off the game,” he said.
“All around, it was a great team performance, which is what we strive for, putting the team before self,” Loney added.
Sunday afternoon’s game against the Laurentian University Voyageurs was another victory for the Ravens at home, as they earned all six possible points with a 4-1 finish.
While the team played with a more tactical approach, the Ravens managed to be up 2-0 after only 10 minutes through team captain Tristan St. Pierre and Alexander Kulic.
The Voyageurs, however, did not give up any more space in the first half for the Ravens, routinely blocking all open lanes and passing in tight spaces to maintain possession.
Going into the second half of the game, the Voyageurs managed to score a goal of their own in the 53rd minute through Liam Ezzard making the game 2-1.
Carleton would soon clinch their win over the Voyageurs after Jimi Aribido and Scott Mazzotta scored in the 57th and 81st minute—cementing their victorious weekend.
Loney said he was impressed with how the team carried themselves at home.
“Coming home and playing for the first time, there’s always a lot of excitement and nerves . . . but the guys really wanted to come out and play,” Loney said after the match. “I’m happy with the result and I thought we played well.”
The Ravens’ next games are back on the road in Kingston against the Royal Military College on Sept. 22 and Queen’s University on Sept. 23.
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