The Carleton Ravens women’s soccer team earned a pair of draws this past weekend. They played to a 0-0 draw with the Laurentian Voyageurs on Oct. 15, and then earned a 2-2 draw with the Nipissing Lakers the following day.
“It was a tough team, weather conditions were not great, it was rainy cool and bumpy fields so it was tough to play the normal way that we usually play. We like to play possession so we had to adjust our game a little bit,” Ravens head coach Fred Juett said of the game against Laurentian. “It’s a very small field so it’s very tight and very physical, so there wasn’t very much room to create a lot of chances.”
Ravens goalkeeper Rada Mintchev stopped all nine shots she faced in the game, while Voyagers goalkeeper Dina Mandolesi stopped seven shots.
Carleton found the back of the net early against the Lakers. Ravens defenseman Sarah Zutrayan scored a goal to bring the Ravens up 1-0 in the second minute of the game.
“I thought we played a very good game on Sunday, we were up 1-0 two minutes into the game and then we had a couple of really good chances that we unfortunately didn’t finish,” Juett said.
The Lakers tied up the game in the 39th minute when Nipissing defenseman Renee Clarke put the ball past Mintchev.
Ravens forward Abby Nicastro and Lakers forward Shannon Russell then swapped goals within the final three minutes of the half.
While each team sent plenty of shots on goal in the second half, neither team was able to secure a victory.
“I thought we played a good game on Sunday,” Juett said. “It’s unfortunate that we didn’t get a win.”
Juett said he believes there are a few areas the team can improve in before the final two games of the regular season and the playoffs.
“We need to capitalize on our chances [and] our opportunities—we need to finish those, and we need to do a little bit better defending on set pieces because that’s where the two goals came from in the game against Nipissing,” Juett said.
The Ravens play their next game on Oct. 22 when they travel to Toronto to take on the University of Toronto Varsity Blues.
