The Carleton Ravens men’s soccer team continued their perfect play Sept. 8-9 with two wins over the Laurentian Voyageurs and Nipissing Lakers, bringing their record to 4-0-0 on the season.
On Sept. 8, Carleton hosted Laurentian, and while the weather may have been foul, their performance was far from it.
Despite a slow start, the Ravens held a 1-0 lead at halftime, thanks to a 44th minute goal by sophomore striker Andrew Latty.
The second half was a different story. As the rain poured onto the pitch, so too did the goals for Carleton.
The men were able to get past Laurentian goalkeeper Thomas Guscott three more times, with a goal from fourth-year midfielder Joey Kewin in the 58th minute, followed by two more from Latty to round out his second career hat trick.
Despite the large score-line, the coaching staff were not overly impressed with their performance.
“Overall, it’s always great when you can score four goals,” assistant coach Kwesi Loney said.
“Andrew Latty scoring three of them is always good. Performance-wise, you want to be better. We should be doing better.”
The following day, the Ravens battled the Nipissing Lakers in a tight physical affair.
Despite outshooting the Lakers 9-1 and dominating possession, the Lakers defense and stellar play from their goalkeeper Andrew Richard kept them in the game. The Ravens had to fight for the 2-1 win, with a goal from Kewin in the 32nd minute to break the tie.
Even if they weren’t pleased with their overall performance, one thing they were positive about was the opening attack. Latty scored his fourth goal in seven games in the fifth minute.
“The goal sets the tone for the game, shows that we’re here to play,” he said.
However, Latty said some things come before goals.
“Scoring goals is very important, and it’s always a great feeling,” he said.
“But getting the win is more important. The importance of finishing first in the standings is huge.”
Even though the team was able to get the win, the Ravens were not satisfied with their performance. Loney focused on the need for improvement.
“We needed a game like this, it shouldn’t be as troublesome as it was,” he said.
“You want us to focus on moving forward, we need to finish teams off earlier on, we had them on the ropes and we let them it get it tight.”
“We still have a lot to work to do, we’re only four games into the season and we have to make sure we get consistent.”
Whether they were satisfied or not, the Ravens are 4-0 after two weeks of play and are atop the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) East standings. They’ll be looking to continue their strong play in Kingston against Queen’s University on Sept. 16.
