The Carleton Ravens men’s soccer team continue their perfect start to the season as Stefan Karajovanovic forced a fortunate own goal from the Queen’s University Gaels to set them on their way to a 2-0 victory.
With the win, the Ravens extended their record to 10-0-0 in front of a home crowd of 125 fans and as a result now rank second in the U Sports standings. However, the win didn’t come all that easy for the hosts.
Queens started well and were showing their strong defensive capabilities early in the match. Physically speaking, the Gaels had a height advantage against an adjusted Ravens side, and were using it to their full advantage.
However, Carleton was not letting down. Both Dario Conte and Scott Mazzotta were having promising performances early and looked eager to challenge Queen’s.
Yet, it was Ricky Comba who had the first chance to break the deadlock 10-minutes into the first half but his attempt fell short. A ‘give-and-go’ with teammate Jimi Aribido was cut out by a Gaels defender.
Carleton continued to press, but it seemed as though every chance was going into empty space.
The game continued on as a battle of defence and the Gaels were doing well to cut out chances for Comba and Gabriel Bitar, with a slight scare when a Carleton penalty appeal was waved away by the referee.
Carleton in retrospect were having difficulty gaining control of the ball in the midfield as Conte was regularly swarmed by navy blue, limiting his ability to get in the game.
Going into the second half, Carleton’s head coach Kwesi Loney opted to make some substitutions to break-up the game, he said.
“It’s always great to know you can bring guys on from the side and that they can have an impact on the game,” said Loney.
“We always refer to our substitutes not as bench players but more [as] impact players because they come into the game either solidify a win for us or to go and get the win for us. So it was good.”
Things started to click for Carleton, who were retaining the ball and dictating the pace of the game.
One of the better chances of the half was from a free kick opportunity and Conte put it on a platter for his teammate, Diego Politis.
But it was the set-piece where Carleton looked most threatening, Conte whipping a free-kick to the back post, but Politis could only sky the chance over the bar.
Two Queen’s substitutes Cameron Wallace and Braeden Levac were doing well to test the hosts with intricate touches, but they were also struggling to find a breakthrough goal as an equally strong Ravens defence was consistently getting rid of chances.
Eventually, it was Carleton substitute Karajovanovic who made the team’s first goal virtually from nothing.
The no. 39 was moving down the right wing, weaving in and out of defenders giving it his all to keep the play moving in his favour.
He played the ball into the box looking for Comba, but the Queen’s defender got to it first, calamitously swiping it into his own net. On the score sheet however, it was given to Karajovanovic.
Karajovanovic and Comba both found ways to test the defence, the goal scorer having three out of his five shots on target, but it was Conte who was able to solidify the teams win.
In the 79th-minute, the midfielder controlled a loose ball and hit a stunner into the back of the net from 20 yards out making it 2-0.
Despite the team coming away with another three points, Loney was not impressed with the way they played in the first half and called on the team to improve
“I mean, no, I wasn’t [happy]. I mean obviously we’ve played better,” said Loney.
“But I mean we didn’t concede or take any shots so you take the positives from it but at the same time it’s not the level we want to be playing at on a regular basis.”
Looking ahead, the team will face two of their toughest opponents up next, the Ryerson University Rams and the University of Toronto Varsity Blues, to try and keep their first place position in the standings.
The first match against the Rams is on Oct. 12 at 3:15 p.m. and the second against the Varsity Blues is on Oct. 13 at 3:15 p.m.
Feature image by Tim Austen.
