The Carleton Ravens were victorious in both men’s soccer games against the Queen’s University Gaels this weekend as both offences exploded for 10 goals.
The season opener on Friday resulted in a 3-0 shutout win for Carleton at Ravens Perch, while the Gaels put up a fight on Sunday but ultimately fell short on home turf in a 4-3 Ravens’ victory.
It took only nine minutes for the Ravens to break Friday’s 0-0 deadlock with a bar-down screamer scored by veteran midfielder Scott Mazzotta. The goal gave life to a max capacity crowd of 750 fans, which made themselves heard from the first minute to the last.
Mazzotta described the goal as a moment of elation and reflection.
“All the work that we’ve put in over the past 700 days, you just lose consciousness,” Mazzotta said. “You’re thinking about all the people who sacrificed for you to be there.”
MSOC | Two views are better than one👀 #CARvsQUE https://t.co/SB8O6pv0xj pic.twitter.com/KkcmkCbivP
— Carleton Ravens (@CURavens) September 25, 2021
It was clearly an emotional night, as it marked the first Carleton men’s soccer regular season Ontario University Athletics (OUA) game since Oct. 20, 2019.
“It’s surreal,” Mazzotta said. “You don’t know how much you miss it until you’re back, and once you’re back, you just have to make [the best] out of every moment that you can.”
The final margin of 3-0 doesn’t show the true makeup of the game. The Ravens are considered one of the best teams in the country, but it was evident they were rusty.
They tend to play with a composed, sharp and clinical passing style, which was missing on Friday. Instead, it was the effective high team press that generated defensive errors from the Gaels, which led to a crucial turnover in the buildup of Carleton’s season-opening goal.
The rest of the game was rather simple. Carleton controlled the run of play—dominating possession—while Queen’s sat back, waiting for a counter-attack or a set-piece opportunity. For most of the game, it worked for the Ravens.
“We knew coming into this game it was going to be scrappy, a lot of emotions, but we wanted to fight,” Ravens head coach Kwesi Loney said. “We had to work … now we go back to the drawing board and fine tune some things.”
It wouldn’t be a rivalry if it didn’t consist of tough tackles, yellow cards and a few moments of conflict. The 33rd minute saw Luca Piccoli with an initial foul on Queen’s midfielder Lucas Booth, who seemed to lash out with a kick at Piccoli as he tumbled to the ground.
Just a minute later, Queen’s midfielder Jason Cho dished out a dirty revenge tackle in the form of a body check, sending Ravens rookie Raphael Garcia to the ground. Garcia quickly returned to the game after medical attention and Cho was given a yellow card.
The Ravens were leading 1-0 for the majority of the match. It seemed like nothing was going to change until a forced error—caused by the vigorous pressure from substitute Emad Houache—led to a second Carleton goal.
This killed any hope of Queens salvaging a draw from Friday’s match. Substitute Moses Kafeero put the game to bed with a Carleton-style goal—full of flair, sharp team passing and a sweet bottom corner finish—all topped off with the famous Cristiano Ronaldo celebration and shouts of “SIUUU” from the crowd.
“Queen’s played a solid mid-low block and it was difficult for us to break through,” Loney said. “Normally for us, we like to play the ball on the ground, we like to combine [passes and plays] like the last goal.”
Sunday: 4-3 Carleton win
Sunday’s game was quite different. Loney made several changes to his starting 11, including dropping Mazzotta.
The changes, however, seemed to work. Carleton had a two-goal lead with a brace from team captain Ricky Comba, who got forward with a solid double-pivot—Mitchell O’Brien and Junior Asare—behind him.
“We recognize we have a lot of talent and depth within our squad,” Loney said. “We want to make sure that players have an opportunity to rotate and showcase their ability.”
The first goal consisted of pure aggression from Tariq Hamad, followed by an excellent cross to Comba, who came flying across the six-yard box to score an athletic tap-in for the opening goal of the game. Comba then converted a penalty kick a few moments later, quieting Gaels supporters.
Unlike last game, Queen’s didn’t roll over. They pushed back and grabbed their opening goal of the campaign before the first half was over. The pattern of Carleton scoring and Queen’s responding continued for the rest of the game.
The last goal for Queens—a penalty at the 90th minute—was too little too late, as the Ravens kept the ball in the opposition end near the corner flag for the remaining seconds of the game.
Carleton will return to the pitch on Friday night with a 4 p.m. road match against the Royal Military College of Canada.
“We want to grow as players and as people,” Loney said. “There’s a lot of development still required from us and a lot of growth still required over the next month or two to get us to where we want to be.”
Featured image by Spencer Colby
