November 1, 2014

Marauders advance past Rams on penalties to play for gold

The previous two OUA champions will meet in the gold medal game after the McMaster Marauders downed the Ryerson Rams 5-3 on penalty kicks in the OUA men’s soccer semi-final.

McMaster

Ryerson

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The previous two OUA champions will meet in the gold medal game after the McMaster Marauders downed the Ryerson Rams 5-3 on penalty kicks in the OUA men's soccer semi-final.

Like the women's semi-final earlier in the day between the UOIT Ridgebacks and the Western Mustangs, the Marauders and Rams were scoreless through 120 minutes of regulation play and extra time, and required penalty kicks to decide a winner.

With the Rams trailing 2-1 after the first three shooters scored, Ryerson's Jackson Tooke was stopped by Marauders goalkeeper Angel Cavalluzzo when his shot to the middle left side of the net couldn't get above the diving goalkeeper who correctly anticipated which side Tooke would aim for.

The next four shooters would all be successful, setting up the opportunity for McMaster's fifth shooter, Kieran Doyle-Davis, to send his team to the OUA gold medal game and secure a berth at the CIS National Championship tournament in Charlottetown next weekend.

Doyle-Davis was substituted into the game in the 119^th minute as a penalty kick specialist and did not disappoint, ripping a shot off the top left corner of the crossbar and down into the net.

Ryerson goalkeeper Christian Maraldo dove in the opposite direction, but would likely have been helpless against the well-placed kick.

Several McMaster fans stormed their home field to celebrate with the team.

The game was a chippy affair that saw several fouls called along with five yellow cards; three against Ryerson and two against McMaster.

The Marauders dominated play in the second half and launched 14 shots at the Ryerson net in the game, only four of which landed on target. Cavalluzzo turned aside both Ryerson shots that made it on target.

With several Ryerson fans making the journey via a school bus trip, and with McMaster playing on its home field, the boisterous crowd was heavily involved in the action as play between the two teams heated up on the field. Of particular notice was the battle taking place between McMaster striker Mark Reilly and Ryerson defender Kyle Stewart. The Rams defender did an excellent job of shutting down Reilly, McMaster's co-leading scorer, and getting under his skin.

McMaster' s Brandon Gutierrez left the game in the 56^th minute with a knee injury from last week that he re-aggravated on a slide tackle from Jackson Tooke. The Ryerson midfielder would receive a yellow card later in the second half for kicking the ball directly at the Marauders bench after it was already a yard out of bounds. Tooke was substituted out shortly after and did not return until extra time.

The Rams were also without a key player. First-team all-star midfielder Marko Miketic suffered a concussion in his team's quarter-final game last week and is absent from the OUA Final Four.

With the win, the Marauders will now face the York Lions in the gold medal game Sunday at 5:30 p.m. at Ron Joyce Stadium in Hamilton. Both teams have clinched a berth in the national championships but CIS seeding and provincial bragging rights will be on the line at kickoff.

McMaster won back-to-back OUA titles in 2011 and 2012, while York took home the championship banner last season, defeating Ryerson in the final.

The Rams will now face the Toronto Varsity Blues in the bronze medal match taking place at 12:30 p.m, also at Ron Joyce Stadium.