Carleton Ravens women’s soccer dropped both games of their opening weekend to the Queen’s University Gaels, losing their home opener on Friday night 5-0 and disappointing again on Sunday 2-0.
Queen’s reached the quarterfinals of the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) playoffs in 2019 without losing a regular season game, while Carleton struggled to a 2-8-4 record that same season.
Despite the intimidating opposition, Ravens head coach Dom Oliveri said Carleton’s return to the field after nearly two years was much-anticipated.
“It’s nice to be back,” Oliveri said. “[It’s] obviously not the way we want to start our season, but it’s just nice to be back and playing OUA soccer again.”
The Ravens came out of the gate on Friday pressuring the Gaels but after the first 10 minutes, Queen’s began to settle in and dominate. They quickly got their first goal with a corner kick in the 15th minute by striker Christie Gray, and then later on in the 41st minute another goal came through, this time by Jenna Leslie.
The second half brought more goal-scoring chances for both sides. The Ravens had multiple opportunities to score but were unable to breach the penalty box and only approached the net with a pair of long-range shots, one of which hit the crossbar in the 61st minute.
This continued the theme of offensive struggles for a team that scored only nine goals in 14 games in 2019. While the defence that season allowed the fourth fewest goals in the division, it was a lack of goal-scoring firepower that doomed the 2019 team. The same issues plagued Carleton on its opening weekend.
Carleton goalkeeper Sophie Ehlebracht and the Ravens’ tight defense limited Queen’s opportunities to score, but the Gaels still broke through on multiple occasions. A steal at Carleton’s end of the pitch allowed Queen’s striker Raya Athwal to score, while speedy winger Cecilia Way scored twice in similar fashion.
Although the score ended 5-0 for Queen’s, the work of veteran defender Youma Konate was one strong and positive influence on all parts of Carleton’s game.
Oliveri said the inexperience of Carleton showed in the loss.
“I said to my staff, we are a young team and we played young today,” Oliveri said. “[Queen’s] was a more experienced team than us. We played a little bit naive. We [will] learn from it and move forwards.”
Tactically, Oliveri said there were few surprises.
“We played them eight times in the past three years. We know exactly how they are going to play,” Oliveri said. “[Queen’s] wanted to win more. They won all the first balls, second balls, third balls, all the balls.”
Sunday: 2-0 Carleton loss
Game two began similarly to game one, with the Ravens coming out aggressively but Queen’s quickly settling in and dominating ball possession.
A collapse of concentration led to the Gaels’ first goal in the eighth minute, when a picked up second ball was shot from outside of the penalty box by Jenna Matsukubo. Way scored the second goal with a brilliant, curled shot from the left corner of the penalty box that went around the goalkeeper and hit the opposite post before bouncing into the net.
Unlike the previous game, there was a marked improvement on Carleton’s forward passing and defence. When passing forward, their accuracy was much better and there were fewer wild punts up the field.
Ravens forward Chloe Doherty had some solid chances to score throughout the game. At times, Carleton was very good at keeping their marks and helping teammates steal the ball from Queen’s.
The defence blocked multiple dangerous chances created by Gaels’ players, especially Gray and Way.
To Oliveri, the improvements between the two games further prove the inexperience of the team and the room they have to grow. Oliveri said the team is “building for the future” this season.
“It’s tough,” Oliveri said on Friday. “You haven’t played in two years … We’re a program that’s still trying to build through recruiting so [it means] not being able to see players. It’s been very difficult for us.”
Carleton women’s soccer will return to the field on Friday on the road with a 6 p.m. match against the Royal Military College of Canada.
Featured image by Spencer Colby.
