An early goal by defenceman Christophe Laberge-Perrault ended up being all it took for the Carleton Ravens men’s soccer team to get their revenge against the Queen’s University Golden Gaels Sept. 26 at Ravens’ Field.
“It was pretty sweet redemption,” striker Andrew Latty said. “Everyone on the team knew how important this game was. Now we’re on top of the league so it’s basically just ours to maintain.”
With the win, the Ravens return to the top of the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) East division with 21 points. That’s just two points ahead of the Gaels, who trounced the Ravens 4-0 in their last match Sept. 16 in Kingston.
“We’ve been waiting for this game for the past two weeks,” assistant coach Kwesi Loney said. “But the guys came out and showed very good character. As you can see we jumped on them very early in the game and we were able to hold onto it.”
The Ravens enter the second half of their season with a 7-1 record, and moving forward, Loney stressed the importance of consistent performance. The Ravens lost the OUA quarter-final last season and are no doubt hoping to avoid a repeat exit.
“Last year was last season,” Loney said, “and we went out early in the playoffs. This year it’s a new team, new faces new energy, so all you can hope is that the guys continue to perform well, continue to develop and grow and peak at the right time for the playoffs.”
Latty said the key to their success is keeping things simple.
“We went back to basics,” he said. “We read the play, read what they were trying to do, isolated them and on top of that we used our assets. If you stay to that game plan then you shouldn’t have any trouble.”
Latty, who leads the OUA with 11 goals, figures largely in that game plan. He acknowledged that he has had a “great season” so far, but added it comes with the territory.
“We changed up the formation a little bit,” he said. “I’m now at the top so, when you have 10 great players on the field, plus seven on the bench and they’re feeding you the balls, I’m playing 90 mintutes and my job is to score.”
The Ravens will look to extend their lead atop the OUA this weekend when they travel to Toronto Sept. 29-30 to take on the Ryerson Rams and Toronto Varsity Blues.
