The Carleton Ravens celebrated Thanksgiving by reigniting their crosstown rivalry with the uOttawa Gee-Gees as the women’s soccer team lost 3-0 on Saturday and played to a 1-1 draw on Monday.
The weekend saw the Ravens struggling to fire shots on net against the Gee-Gees, with a total of eight between both games. However, although the Gee-Gees expected Carleton to have defensive issues, defender Youma Konate and midfielders Mya Van Haaster and Elodie Sylvain maintained a strong back line.
Ottawa entered the games tied for first in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) East division standings and dropped to second following Monday’s draw. Meanwhile, Carleton remained fifth out of seven teams.
Saturday: 3-0 Carleton loss
Clouds loomed as the Gee-Gees took their fourth win of the season Saturday afternoon.
The first 45 minutes were rough on the Ravens, as their crosstown rivals put on the pressure and outshot Carleton 12-2. Carleton spent the majority of the half playing defence, with most of their early offensive attempts brought back near their box by Ottawa defender Trinity Esprit. When the Ravens did find an opportunity to attack, players bunched up near the middle of the box.
Twenty-two minutes into the game, first-year uOttawa midfielder Sadie Sider-Echenberg scored the first goal of her university career to make it 1-0 for the Gee-Gees.
The Ravens did not return the pressure until the 38th minute, when forward Lauren Illman lost a shot that bounced off the goal post and into Gee-Gee goalie Cassidy Joslin’s hands.
Three minutes later, uOttawa was awarded a penalty kick when Carleton’s forward Chloe Doherty took down forward Cassandra Provost. UOttawa striker Emma Lefebvre took the kick and sneaked it past Carleton’s keeper, making it 2-0 and establishing Lefebvre as only the sixth player in program history to score 30 career regular season goals.
Head coach Dom Oliveri took issue with the referees’ call on the penalty and said after the game that the call was one of many inconsistencies apparent in the game’s officiating.
“The players deserve better,” Oliveri said. “They deserved better refereeing today. They deserved a better result and it’s just unfortunate that that’s the way it fell.”
While Carleton picked up the pressure during the second half of the match, the Ravens still could not reach the net.
Fifty-six minutes in, Van Haaster suffered an injury as she collided with opposing midfielder Katie Brzozowski. The injury was minor enough for Van Haaster to return to game action on Monday.
For good measure, the Gee-Gees added another goal at the 80th minute as Provost scored a header off a kick-in from Adriane Devlin.
Monday: 1-1 draw
Sunny skies changed the tide for Carleton on Thanksgiving Monday, but the warm weather was not enough for the Ravens to clinch a win.
While Carleton was able to up their offensive pressure during the first half of the game, they didn’t get a single shot on net. In contrast, the Gee-Gees started the second half with three shots on net in the first seven minutes. The second shot on net would have bulged the rope had Carleton defender Quinn Snell not saved the ball.
Van Haaster, a strong part of the Ravens’ defence, was able to return to the field after her Saturday injury.
“[My injury] was just from the impact,” Van Haaster said after Monday’s game. “I went in for a tackle and my knee hit the ground or the player and it was rough, but it’s nothing serious.”
With the game still 0-0 at the 70th minute, Illman secured the game’s first goal when she scored off a rebound from a free kick.
The Ravens kept the lead for only nine minutes. Ottawa forward Angelina Gendreau kneed the ball into the net assisted by Lefebvre, tying the game at 1-1.
Despite a hard-fought final 10 minutes, the game ended as a draw. Oliveri said he thought the team’s performance improved over the weekend.
“I’m proud of the group. That’s a quality team,” Oliveri said. “We made a couple changes to the plan and I think it worked really well today.”
Those changes paid off against the top-ranked uOttawa.
“That was the goal for today: get a lot of young players a lot of good minutes,” Oliveri said. “We got to play one of the top teams in the nation today.”
Van Haaster also said the team improved from Saturday.
“We definitely played better than last game,” Van Haaster said after the game. “We’ve put in some more aggressive tackles and played our hearts out.”
Carleton will hit the road to face the Ontario Tech Ridgebacks on Friday.
Featured image by Spencer Colby.
