After battling hard with the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees in a 1-1 grudge match Sept. 11, the Carleton Ravens women’s soccer team cruised past the Trent University Excalibur 8-0 Sept. 14.
With seconds to play in the match against the Gee-Gees, and down 1-0, the pressing Ravens were rewarded on their last surge up the field. A pocket of space opened up and Abbey Nicastro moved the ball to Adrianna Ruggiero, who took a moment to get inside the Gee-Gees’ crease and kick the ball into the opposite side of the net.
Her teammates hugged her and the visiting Ravens fans rose to their feet, but Ruggiero said she was stunned.
“I didn’t think I was going to score. It was a weird angle and I was so far from it,” Ruggiero said. “It was probably one of the best moments I’ve had at Carleton with the soccer team.”
The third-year forward’s late equalizer, which put a halt to an Ottawa victory, is significant in that it broke a three-year plateau.
“Since I’ve been here we’ve only scored once on Ottawa U. So three years now,” she said.
Fourth-year defender Alex McIntyre said she was in her first year when Carleton last tied Ottawa U.
“We’ve always seen Ottawa U as the team to beat and this year we feel like we are on a level playing field to compete, we feel like this is our year,” she said.
“It is very positive,” head coach Alex McNutt said. “Our confidence is sky high at the moment. Apart from the last twenty minutes against RMC, our performance level . . . has been very high.”
The games helped the Ravens move to within one point of first place in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) East Division, a point shy of Ottawa and Queen’s who are tied with 14 each.
Two fourth-year Ravens, forward Andrea Way and midfielder Samantha Nealon, scored hat tricks in the game against Trent.
Even with seven goals on the board, Way completed her hat trick moments after Nealon.
“Sam comes out with three goals and then I get put back on and I say ‘I’m going to get a hat trick too,’ and I did,” Way said.
The milestone is extra special for Nealon, who scored three goals a day from her twenty-first birthday.
“It feels great, right before my birthday. It’s a nice birthday present,” she said.
She is looking ahead to Oct. 11 when the Gee-Gees enter Keith Harris Stadium for their second meeting of the season.
“We’re going to win next time,” Nealon said.
The Ravens will now head on a northern road trip, Sept. 21-22, to take on the Laurentian University Voyageurs and the Nipissing University Lakers.
