M-SOCCER ROUNDUP: Ridgebacks move into a playoff spot with third straight win

Friday, October 10

Algoma 1 @ Guelph 4

Guelph, Ont. - The Guelph Gryphons men's soccer team played the Algoma Thunderbirds Friday at home at the Gryphons Soccer Complex. The 4-1 final moves the Gryphons to a season record of 7-2-3. Guelph dominated the play and finished the first half with a score of 3-0 and a hat trick for Jared Agyemang Brampton, Ont.)
 
From the beginning of the game, Guelph controlled much of the play. Starting centre Zachary Rushe (Mississauga, Ont.) contributed in pushing the play into Algoma's net, and defender Justin Springer (Burlington, Ont.) contained the play in the offensive end. Jared Agyemang (Brampton, Ont.) scored the first goal on a breakaway during the fourth minute of the game, quickly followed by another in the seventh. The Gryphons utilized a different strategy, passing the ball more up the sidelines thanks to defender Stephen Veenema (Ottawa). Algoma was able to score their only goal on Gryphons keeper Braden Taylor (Oakville, Ont.) in the 22nd minute after an initial save, but Agyemang recovered the lead a few minutes later with another breakaway goal.
 
In the second half, Guelph continued to control the majority of the play and keep the action in Algoma's end. Timothy Flynn (Scarborough, Ont.) worked hard to push the play to the net, and halftime substitution Estevan Carles applied offensive pressure to the Thunderbirds. Flynn's efforts were rewarded by a goal in the 88th minute after several opportunities in the second half, bringing the final score to 4-1.

Source: Guelph Gryphons

Waterloo 2 @ Laurier 4

WATERLOO, Ont. (October 10, 2014) – The Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks men's soccer team snapped their six-game losing streak on Friday night with a convincing 4-2 win over the Waterloo Warriors at University Stadium.

The Hawks came out flying in this incarnation of the Battle of Waterloo as they fired 11 shots towards the Warriors goal in the opening 45 minutes. They would be rewarded twice for their efforts as Nikola Miokovic of Kitchener, Ont., and Joren Ramsay-Marshall of Brampton, Ont., found the back of the net to give the Hawks a 2-0 lead at the half.

Laurier would increase their advantage to three goals just five minutes into the second half when Donald Chmura of Waterloo, Ont., scored his first goal of the season.

Despite the deficit, the Warriors showed some life late in the match. In the 76th minute, Nicholas Rebeiro of Bolton, Ont., ruined the shutout bid of Hawks keeper Julien John of Oakville, Ont., and just three minute later, Nicholas Karavanas of Markham, Ont., cut Laurier's lead to just one.

However, in extra time, the Hawks put the game out of reach when Tyrrel Wilson of Hamilton, put home his seventh goal of the year to round out the scoring.

John earned his third win of the year as he made six saves on the night while Anthony Spanopulis of Waterloo, Ont., took the loss for the Warriors, stopping four shots.

The victory improved Laurier's record to 4-8-2 on the season and moved them one step closer to clinching a playoff spot. The Hawks are six points up on the Brock Badgers (1-7-5) and any combination of a Brock loss or a Laurier victory will wrap up the sixth and final playoff spot in the OUA West division.

As for the Warriors, they fall to 1-11-2 on the year.

Up next for the purple and gold, they will close out the home portion of their regular season schedule against the Guelph Gryphons (7-2-3) on Wednesday, October 15. Game time is set for 2 p.m. at University Stadium.

Source: Laurier Golden Hawks

Saturday, October 11

Algoma 1 @ Guelph 16

Guelph, Ont. – The Gryphon men's soccer team scored 16 goals on Saturday afternoon in one of the most lopsided games in school history.  Four different Gryphon players recorded hat tricks en route to a 16-1 win over the Algoma Thunderbirds.  The Gryphons swept the double-header with Algoma after having recorded a 4-1 victory on Friday. 
 
With some beautiful fall weather and a good crowd on hand at the Gryphon Soccer Complex, the Gryphons put on an offensive display for the ages.  Michael Bijman (Brantford, Ont.), who is usually not known for his scoring touch, had already completed his hat-trick by the 21^st minute of the game.  The best of Bijman's three goals was his first, which was a beautiful, curling strike that found the top corner. 
 
Jared Agyemang (Brampton, Ont.) out-classed the Algoma defenders racking up four goals on the day, while Josh Seguin (Niagara Falls, Ont.) and Estevan Carles (Barrie, Ont.) each finished with three goals in the blowout.  Owen Botelho (St. Catherine's, Ont.) and Ethan Danielli (Guelph, Ont.) rounded out the scoring for the Gryphons who improve to 8-2-3 on the season.  The Gryphons will now make the short trip to Waterloo for a Wednesday (October 15) afternoon kickoff at Laurier.  Guelph beat Laurier 2-1 in their meeting earlier this season.  Game time is set for 2pm at University Stadium.

Source: Guelph Gryphons

Laurentian 4 @ UOIT 0

OSHAWA, Ont. – The UOIT men's soccer team earned their second straight victory as they blanked the Laurentian Voyageurs 4-0 on Saturday afternoon.
 
The Ridgebacks (3-6-4) trail Laurentian (4-7-2) and Nipissing (3-5-5) by a single point for the final two playoff positions in the OUA eastern conference. The win for UOIT sets up a showdown on Sunday afternoon as the Ridgebacks host the Lakers at the Civic. Game time is 2:15 p.m.
 
UOIT wasted little time to get on the scoreboard on Saturday as defender Cody Kraemer (Whitby, Ont.) scored his first career OUA goal just two minutes into the contest. Thirty minutes later, Alexander Cuccovillo (Ajax, Ont.) would break out of his scoring slump as he put the Ridgebacks ahead 2-0.
 
In the second half, the Ridgebacks continued to find the back of the net as freshmen Curtis Apeah (Mississauga, Ont.) and George Meditskos (Toronto, Ont.) each scored in the final ten minutes of the game. For both players, it was their first career OUA goals.
 
Travis Martin (Whitby, Ont.) went on to earn his second cleansheet of the season. UOIT would outshoot Laurentian 8-7 in the win.

Source: UOIT Ridgebacks

Brock 2 @ Windsor 2

In their final two regular season home games, the Lancer men's soccer came up short against McMaster after drawing a 2-2 tie against Brock on Saturday.
 
After a scoreless first half, Brock takes the first lead of the game just three minutes in with a goal from Aquan Morgan.
 
Windsor's Chris Lanni tied the game in the 56th minute before Jumbo Iyowuna found a hole in a sea of Badgers to put the Lancers up by one.  
 
Windsor held a one goal lead over the Badgers heading into injury time at the end of the match.  Badgers goaltender Jake Sweetzer came out of the net to take a corner kick in the Lancer end, which was knocked into the Windsor net by Phil Keely to tie the game on what turned out to be the final play of the game.
 
On Sunday, a number of injuries and suspensions cause the Lancers to start a number of new players causing a different dynamic on the field.
 
Windsor struggled to put any strong pressure on the McMaster defence throughout the game. With twenty minutes remaining and the score still deadlocked at zeio, Iyowuna was ejected from the game putting Windsor down a man for the remainder of the match.
 
Being shorthanded proves too much for the Blue & Gold, as the visitors score in the 82nd and 90th minutes to take the win.

Prior to the game the Lancers honoured their graduating seniors Akbal Gill, Will Al-Youssef, Mike Pio, Derrick Amankwa, Joe Camaj, Tony Falkestajn, Sam Atkin Chris Lanni, John Bahdi and Peter Valente.

Source: Windsor Lancers

McMaster 1 @ Western 1

LONDON, Ont. – Two first half goals proved to be the only markers on the day as the Western Mustangs men's soccer team recorded a 1-1 draw with the McMaster Marauders on Saturday afternoon at Mustangs Field.

"I'm very pleased with how the team performed [today]," said Mustangs head coach Rock Basacco. "We created some good chances, but they also created some good chances, you have to give credit to McMaster they're a good team. I thought the boys played really well, we held defensively, and we managed to get a goal."

With the draw the Mustangs unbeaten streak increases to five games with four wins and a tie over that span. Overall Western holds a 8-4-2 record, good for fourth in the OUA West Division standings, while McMaster moves to 8-2-3 and a tie with Guelph for second place in the West Division.

In an intense first half the Mustangs were the first side to hit the scoreboard as Chuka Ononye headed in a corner kick from Parker Seymour to give the home side a 1-0 lead just over five minutes into the game. The two teams would continue to trade attacks before the Marauders tied things up off of a strike from Aleksander Vincic in the 17th minute.

Despite a few chances for both sides throughout the remainder of the first half, neither team was able to solve the other as the score remained tied 1-1 at halftime.

The intensity and physicality picked up in the second half, with each team picking up a yellow card in the second. Both Western and McMaster would control the play for short periods of time, however neither side was able to gain a significant advantage for more than a few minutes in a row.

Although neither side took full control, both teams saw a couple of good scoring chances, and fittingly enough given the back and forth nature of Saturday's game, the teams traded chances in added time. Gersi Xhuti had a great chance for the Marauders, sending the ball toward the Mustangs net off of a corner kick, however netminder Ben Cowman punched the ball away. Not to be outdone by their opponents, the Mustangs made a final push of their own as Seymour fired a shot in the final seconds, however it sailed just high, leaving the game to finish tied at 1-1.

The tie leaves Western with 26 points in the standings, just one point out of second, heading into two games with the top two teams in the division in York and Guelph.

"We've got a whole week of sessions, so that's going to be a good opportunity to reflect back on the game against Mac and see where we need to put some more time, in terms of our attacking play, our defensive play," said Basacco.

The Mustangs now have seven days to rest and prepare for their final regular season games of the season as they host the Guelph Gryphons on Saturday, October 18 at 3:15 p.m. before finishing up with the York Lions on October 19.

Source: Western Mustangs

RMC 0 @ Toronto 2

TORONTO, Ont. - The University of Torotno Varsity Blues men's soccer team defeated the RMC Paladins 2-0 on Saturday afternoon (Oct. 11) in Kingston, Ontario.  
 
With the win, the Blues improve to 8-3-1 and sit in third place in the OUA East, with two games in hand over the second-place Queen's Gaels (8-2-4).
 
First half action was scoreless before Woodbridge native, Mario Kovacevic hit one on target and beat the RMC keeper in the 42nd minute.  
 
Kovacevic struck again in the 72nd minute to give the Blues a 2-0 lead. 
 
U of T defence was solid and goalkeeper Rab Bruce- Lockhart was only forced to make one save, earning the shut out for the Blues. 

The Varsity Blues return to action tomorrow as they take on the Gaels in Kingston, Ont. Game time is set for 1 p.m.

Source: Toronto Varsity Blues

Ryerson 1 @ Queen's 2