The Carleton Ravens women’s soccer team rounded off a successful weekend tour with a 4-0 drubbing of the Trent University Excaliburs Sept. 26 in Peterborough, Ont.

The win came on the heels of an exciting goalless draw Sept. 25 against the University of Toronto Varsity Blues at Varsity Centre. The draw saw the Ravens goalkeeper, Rachel Bedek, make some stunning saves to help her team hold on for a well-deserved point.


Showing lightening quick reflexes and superb anticipation, Bedek made save after save to keep the U of T strikers at bay. The second-year goalkeeper was named one of Carleton’s athletes of the week Sept. 27, after her strong weekend performance.

Any signs of fatigue from Saturday’s hard-fought draw against U of T were not shown as the Ravens took apart a hapless Trent team the next afternoon.

Striker Shayla LaVecchia got the Ravens off to a quick start just four minutes into the game when she smashed in a strong right-footed finish to get her team an early lead.

After continuing to pressure the Excalibur defense, the Ravens went on to double their lead on the stroke of halftime with a goal by first-year midfielder Samantha Nealon. The Ravens headed for the dressing room at half time with a well-earned two-goal cushion.

It is often said that a two goal lead is the most dangerous in sport, but LaVecchia rubbished any ideas of that theory as she scored her second goal of the game just a minute into the second half.

With a comfortable three-goal advantage, Nealon also netted her second of the game for good measure. The goal was scored in the 75th minute, and drove any thoughts of a comeback out of the Excalibur minds.

Despite being on the defensive for most of the match, the Excaliburs did come close to scoring when a promising corner kick from Amy Walsh was met by a strong header from Britney McIntosh. But McIntosh’s header could only find the meat of the crossbar. The miss summed up what had been a frustrating day for the home team.  

Trent’s chances were few and far between, and when the final whistle sounded, the Ravens celebrated a convincing 4-0 victory. The win brought them to sixth place in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) East standings, and betters their season record to 2-2-2.

Veteran member of the Ravens women’s soccer team Kayla Wood said she was pleased with the attitude of her team.

“We played with the desire to not only win, but to hit the back of the net, and we were more than successful in doing that,” Wood said.