The Carleton Ravens men’s soccer team faced off against the Ryerson University Rams Sept. 6 at Keith Harris stadium, before hosting the University of Toronto Varsity Blues on Sept. 7.
The Ravens took the pitch with strong intensity and good ball control, forcing the ball deep into Rams territory, according to Ravens head coach Sandy Mackie.
“The first 20 minutes we competed with them, ” he said.
Carleton was controlling the game at the beginning, firing shots on goal and forcing Ryerson goalkeeper Christian Maraldo to make key saves.
Unfortunately the Ravens’ efforts did not pay off early as Ryerson’s Marko Miketic was set up perfectly in the six-yard box for the first goal of the game in the 29th minute of play, and two minutes later Viktor Anastasov followed to make it 2-0.
Mackie said he made some early substitutions to give other players an opportunity to play on the pitch after being down early.
“That’s an issue, isn’t it, when you’re down 2-0 you wonder where the character is, it’s the character that brings you back. Recently we’ve been lacking that character. We’ve got to figure that out,” he said.
Mackie said there was some miscommunication and it led to very poorly-handled goals throughout the game.
“We had five shots on net and four of them went in,” he said. “We gave them four Christmas presents.”
Despite late pressure from the Ravens, the Rams scored two more in the second half and won the game 4-0. Mackie said his team has work to do, but ultimately that is the way things go.
“When you’ve got six first years starting it’s a transition. We lost a lot of good players to graduation—that’s university sports. It also wasn’t the first year players who gave away the silly goals,” he said.
The Ravens were able to rebound the following day with a 2-1 victory over the Blues, and Mackie said he was proud of the way his team played in it.
“We put up a better performance and at least had a better result,” he said.
The first 20 minutes the Ravens dominated the pitch. Their strong play was rewarded as Ravens Walker Smith scored in the 13th minute.
Just like the Sept. 6, game the Ravens were not able to sustain the pressure, according to Mackie.
“The first 20 minutes we played well, we scored the first goal but then after that we dropped off, too many free kicks, too many corners and then they scored,” he said.
The Varsity Blues’ Nirun Sivananthan was able to sneak the ball by Carleton keeper Travis Chace in extra time of the first half tying the game 1-1.
The score remained untouched until the 68th minute, when Marco Pozzi beat Blues keeper Mark Rogal to make it 2-1.
The Varsity Blues continued to push heavily against the Ravens, but the Ravens managed to hold them off.
“The last 10-15 minutes we were defending again. We’ve got to learn to take it to the opposition,” Mackie said.
The Ravens will play on the road again as they face the Nipissing University Lakers on Sept. 13 and the Laurentian University Voyageurs the next day.
