The Carleton Ravens women’s soccer team failed to net any goals during a weekend that saw them add a loss and a tie to their overall regular season record.
In only their second game of the regular season, the Ravens faced off against the Nipissing Lakers at home in MNP Park.
Despite out-shooting the Lakers 14-3, Carleton’s offence was unable to break the deadlock and the game ended in a 0-0 draw.
Fourth-year forward Abby Nicastro said the Ravens were able to create a lot of chances on net against the Lakers.
“Offensively it’s definitely there—we just need to finish our opportunities,” said Nicastro.
The next day, the Ravens took to the field against the Laurentian Voyageurs, the current Ontario University Athletics (OUA) East division leaders.
The Voyageurs struck first in the opening five minutes, but saw their goal denied due an offside call. After half an hour of play, the Voyageurs offence succeeded in breaking through the Ravens defence, following a 40-yard free kick from defender Amy Fitzgerald that slipped past Ravens keeper Rada Mintchev.
As the first half ticked to an end, the Ravens had a couple of opportunities to tie things up, but were unable to finish their chances.
Then, only 15 minutes into the second half, Ravens forward Tori MacFarlane was shown a straight red card after going after a loose ball and tackling a Voyageurs player.
Now down to just 10 players for the remainder of the game, the Ravens nonetheless continued to challenge the Voyageurs and managed to create a few chances in front of the net.
An offside call against forward Tina Lacava saw the Ravens denied a goal, while midfielder Vanessa Germano was almost able to net her second goal of the season after a close range shot.
Despite their best efforts, the Ravens were unable to score a goal, and ended up falling to the Voyageurs by a score of 1-0.
“It just didn’t seem to be going for us,” said Nicastro. “We had really unfortunate luck—we got a red card early in the second half which left us to play a man down which didn’t really help our case, but it really just came down to not finishing our opportunities. For the rest of the week we’re really concentrating in practices on finishing and crossing.”
The Ravens are currently tied for fourth place in the OUA East division with the Ryerson Rams, with an overall record of 1-1-1.
Next up the Ravens will be continuing their streak of five home games in a row as they face off against the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) Ridgebacks on Sept. 12, and the Trent Excalibur on Sept. 13.
“UOIT is a really great team,” said Nicastro. “They’re definitely tough competition so we’re looking forward to that game a lot.”
