Both Carleton Ravens soccer teams came out on top against the Trent Excalibur Oct. 15 at Keith Harris Stadium.
The women defeated Trent 3-1 and the men followed suit with a 4-1 performance.
Although Excalibur striker Brittany Forester notched the first goal of the women’s game in the 11th minute, the Ravens answered quickly in the 18th minute with a tally from first-year midfielder Tina Lacava.
The Ravens continued their strong play in the second half, creating many scoring opportunities and eventually extending their lead late in the match.
Midfielder Nicole Filipow put the home team ahead in the 77th minute and veteran striker Shayla LaVecchia secured the Ravens’ victory with a late goal in the 90th minute.
“We needed to win, trying to make sure we got the fourth spot. I was happy with the results, even though it wasn’t the best performace,” said Ravens head coach Alex McNutt.
The Ravens are currently tied for fourth in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) East division with two regular season games remaining. Should they remain in fourth place, they’ll enjoy home-field advantage for their first playoff game Oct. 26.
After defeating the Excalibur 1-0 Oct. 2, the men’s team went into their game Oct. 15 excited to play.
“We just wanted to play,” said assistant coach Kwesi Loney. “We wanted to start playing again, right, and they just got really excited for the game and they wanted to go out and enjoy it.
“We knew that the last game that we played was a tough one against them,” Loney continued. “So we wanted to come out and do a good thing and we did.”
Ravens striker Caki Simrooglu, who scored three goals in the first half, carried the game with solid ball possession.
Simrooglu opened the scoring in the fifth minute, and followed that up with another goal 10 minutes later. He propelled the Ravens to a 3-0 lead in the 25th minute, completing a hat trick and recording his ninth goal of the season.
“Last game we came out pretty slow, where as today we came out pretty intense,” said third-year midfielder Joey Kewin. “We came out strong, after that, we kind of just settled in and focused a bit more defensively.”
The Ravens’ fourth goal wasn’t netted until the 80th minute, when first-year midfielder Aleksandar Despotovic sent his free kick into the back of the net.
Two minutes later, midfielder Brian Turton sent half of the audience into an eruption of cheers when he notched Trent’s only goal of the match.
“We should have had a few more goals but overall it was a good team win and we needed that,” Kewin said.
“It was a good win for us, it’s nice to get back on the pitch. This is where we wanted to be and destiny is in our hands now. We get to control our future and where we want to be. That’s our opportunity,” Loney said.
With two games remaining in the regular season, the Ravens need just one victory to secure the top spot in the OUA East division.
If they win both of their remaining games against University of Toronto Varsity Blues Oct. 22 and the Ryerson Rams Oct. 23, they’ll surpass the York Lions as the number one team in the OUA.
The Lions sit in first place in the OUA West division and finished out their season with 33 points.