After starting the season with 10 wins from 10 games, the Carleton Ravens men’s soccer team suffered their first defeat of the season during their away double-header in Toronto.
The team fell 3-1 to the Ryerson University Rams on Oct. 12 but were able to get back into the win column with a 3-0 victory against the University of Toronto Varsity Blues on Oct. 13.
This year’s schedule in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) gave head coach Kwesi Loney’s side an easier start to the season, and the two matches against the Rams, who are the Ravens’ toughest opponents, were not until the end of the campaign. This was a factor in the result, according to Loney.
Heading into the match, the game was always going to be a physical battle and the increase in quality required the team to have “a lot more mental strength,” but the issue was not recognizing that quick enough, according to Loney.
“You never want to lose,” explained Loney. “[But] they took it to us from the beginning of the game.”
Playing at Downsview Park, the Rams were eager to capitalize on having their home advantage with forward Kyle Laborde-Ayres breaking down the strong Ravens defence to bag a brace.
Suddenly, Carleton was down 2-0, their biggest deficit all season.
Both the Rams and the Ravens ended the first half with three shots, but Carleton wasn’t hitting the target. Goalkeeper Nick Jeffs made a save to keep the Ravens in touching distance, 2-0 down going into halftime.
In the second half, Carleton came out with more determination, out-shooting Ryerson 4-1 and forcing three saves from goalkeeper Ali Ghazanfari.
It appeared Ryerson was going to stop Carleton from scoring, yet to happen this season.
The Ravens’ were forced to wait for their consolation goal until 90 minutes had passed, when forward Stefan Karajovanovic scored in injury-time. He now has eight goals across 12 games and is tied for fourth in the OUA standings.
The next day, however, Carleton was able to recover and get back to winning with a 3-0 victory over the Varsity Blues.
Both Carleton and U of T started the game with a fast pace. The game, overall, was a very physical example of intricate, top level soccer.
Carleton went into the game hurting after the loss to Ryerson, and wanted to get back to their usual standards. In the first half there were a flurry of shots, outmatching Toronto 10-1. They finally broke through the deadlock, 16 minutes into the match thanks to Scott Mazzotta.
Driving forward, Mazzotta went around five defenders before sliding the ball past the keeper and giving his team a 1-0 lead which helped lift the team’s spirits after the previous game.
After going down early, U of T was eager to try and rally against a hungry Ravens side who were coming in with tackles from all angles.
Forwards Silvio Simil and Karajovanovic were both putting in work up top and dropping back to help any threats coming from the Varsity Blues.
At halftime, the score remained 1-0 thanks to Mazzotta’s effort.
Coming back into the Varsity Centre, Loney’s side was showing no signs of slowing down.
Karajovanovic was still putting in lots of work and eventually grabbed the Ravens second goal of the game in the 49th-minute. Junior Asare was able to grab the team’s third in the 64th from a rebound.
Along the back, the defence was stepping up and shutting down any attempt of the Varsity Blues moving forward, yet the hosts managed to score a consolation goal in injury time giving the Ravens no clean sheets from the weekend.
The loss was a reality check for the team and both Loney and Mazzotta say the Ravens are ready for action again with the coach in particular mentioning the team has “now awoken.”
“We’re really excited,” said Mazzotta. “Everyone’s bringing the fire in training.”
The team returns to MNP Park to play against the Rams again on Oct. 19 at 3:30 p.m. and then play the Trent University Excalibur on Oct. 20 at 3:00 p.m.
Feature image from file.
