AROUND OUA: First half brilliance leads Warriors past Hawks 4-0 in Battle of Waterloo

SCOREBOARD

UOIT 4 @ Trent 2

Laurentian 2 @ Carleton 0

Laurier 0 @ Waterloo 4

Windsor 1 @ McMaster 2

Western 7 @ Algoma 0

Brock 0 @ York 2

Toronto 3 @ Queen's 0

Ryerson 3 @ RMC 0

First half brilliance leads Warriors past Hawks 4-0 in Battle of Waterloo

The Waterloo men's soccer team picked up their first win of the season in style topping cross-town rivals Laurier 4-0.

Waterloo scored early and often in the opening half with Jae Jin Lee (Toronto) leading the way with goals at the 5 and 25 minute marks.

Yusuf Khaled (Burlington) provided a brilliant goal at the 30th minute off a free kick. The third year management engineering student booted one from 30 feet out into the top right corner as Laurier keeper Ryan Mantric could only stand and watch helplessly.

Nicholas Ribeiro (Bolton) provided the other goal for the black and gold to give Waterloo the 4-0 victory and their first win of the season.

Hansel Paico-Avilez (Oakville) was credited with the win but had to come out late in the second half due to an injury. Tristan VanderHoef (Kitchener) came in and closed out the shutout win.

Waterloo will be back at Warrior Field tomorrow to take on Guelph at 3:15pm.

Source: Waterloo Warriors

Strong second half lifts UOIT to victory over Trent

PETERBOROUGH, Ont. – Behind three second half goals, the UOIT men's soccer team remains unbeaten in OUA play with a 4-2 victory over the Trent Excalibur.
 
Tied 1-1 at halftime, it looked as if UOIT's offence was snake bit as they hit three posts and could not convert on two breakaway attempts. However, the Ridgebacks struck early and often in the second half scoring three goals over the next 45 minutes en route to their second straight win.
 
UOIT captain Erik Petrovic (Serbia) scored the game winning goal eight minutes into the second half. The strike was his second of the day as he scored the Ridgebacks lone first half goal.
 
Sophomores Lee-Victor Massunda (Mississauga, Ont.) and George Meditskos (Toronto, Ont.) recorded the Ridgebacks other goals, with each being their first of the season.
 
Travis Martin (Whitby, Ont.) stopped five shots on target for the win.
 
With a 2-0-1 record, the Ridgebacks have gotten off to their best start in program history. UOIT sits in first place in the OUA east region, three points ahead of the Ryerson Rams (1-0-1) who have a game in hand.
 
UOIT will have the rest of the weekend off as they prepare for a playoff rematch in Ottawa against the Carleton Ravens (Sept. 12). UOIT defeated Carleton in penalty kicks last year to advance to the OUA quarter-finals.
 
On Wednesday evening, the Ridgebacks will take on the Durham Lords in the seventh annual Campus Cup. Game time at Vaso's Field is 8:15 p.m.

Source: UOIT Ridgebacks

Carleton suffers 2-0 setback to Laurentian

(Ottawa, ON) – In a contest with few opportunities, it was the Laurentian Voyageurs who made the most of their chances to defeat Carleton 2-0 on Saturday afternoon.

The scoring began in the 34th minute when Voyageurs captain Omar Allison escaped two Ravens defenders in near the corner to setup Gabriel Rodrigues at the top of the box who then blasted a laser shot underneath the outstretched arm of Ravens goalkeeper Felix Daigle for the 1-0 advantage.

The first half presented few opportunities for either side as the shots on goal total was equal at 2-2 after 45 minutes. The Ravens had a difficult time producing sequential strings of passes together leading to limited chances in the opening 45 minutes.

The play of midfielders Tristan St Pierre and Dante Cobisa picked up in the second half as the two Ravens players connected well down the pitch on several occasions, providing the Ravens with an offensive spark. Cobisa had a great opportunity in the 68th minute when he found himself open at the top the box, but his ensuing one bounce volley shot went wide of the goal.

Ravens forward Mekonen Lovemore-White earned his team a free-kick in the 85th minute from 25 yards out, but a Cobisa free-kick was driven straight at the goalie.

Cobisa continued to be a factor on the offensive end as he dodged a few Voyageur players before setting up Daniel Saladini alone in the 18-yard box. Saladini mistimed his shot though and could not get enough power behind the kick as the Laurentian goalie made a simple save.

The Ravens also pressed in the waning moments on back-to-back corner kick opportunities, but could not reach an equalizer.

Laurentian scored their second goal of the game on the last kick of the match, when a Voyageur player won a race to a loose ball at the halfway line against Carleton's Felix Daigle. Laurentian had numbers and with Daigle unable to protect the net, Mackenzy Kropa who scored on a shot which made its way past two Ravens defenders standing in the 6-yard box.

Source: Carleton Ravens

Marauders ride first half double to 2-1 victory over Lancers

A heartbreaking result in their last appearance called for a bounce-back performance, and McMaster delivered just that on Saturday. The Marauders rode two first-half goals to a deserved 2-1 victory over the resilient Windsor Lancers at Ron Joyce Stadium.

Sasha Ricciuti had his second goal of the season, and Nic Vecchi contributed one from the back line for the home side. Iyowuna Jumbo had the lone goal for the Lancers in defeat.

The win was the no. 4-ranked Marauders second in three matches to open the OUA season, while the Lancers suffered their first loss.

Momentum swung in favour of the hosts early, and veteran striker Gersi Xhuti nearly had the game's first goal in the 16th minute, when his point-blank header rocketed off the bar and the goalkeeper — nearly causing an own goal as it rattled out of bounds. Just two minutes later, the speedy winger Ricciuti got the best of his defender along the left to open the scoring, executing a devastating cut-back and curling a shot inside the near post to complete the move.

Windsor exploited a rare mis-step from the Marauder back line to craft their best scoring chance of the opening half in the 30th minute, when Leighton Speechley out-ran his defender to a lobbed pass from the goalkeeper and cracked a low shot that forced a parry from McMaster goalkeeper Angelo Cavalluzzo.

Deep into injury time, the Marauders found a second goal from an unlikely source, as the captain Vecchi beat his marker to a ball in the air and headed a looping effort into the top corner of the Windsor goal.

The Lancers dominated possession for much of the second half as they desperately searched for the goals needed to scrap out a point. Their efforts were largely thwarted at the back, until a loose ball squirted to Junior at the far post, who easily tapped in to half Windsor's deficit.

That was as close as the Lancers would get, however, and the Marauders re-entered the win column when the final whistle blew.

McMaster will look to clinch all six available points this weekend when they return to play on Sunday, as the Brock Badgers are set to visit Ron Joyce Stadium. That match will kickoff at 3:15 p.m., following the preceding women's match.

Source: McMaster Marauders

Mustangs shut out Thunderbirds for first win of the season

SAULT STE. MARIE, Ont. – A pair of goals from both Connor McFall and Mark Serjeant powered the offence while Ben Cowman and Adam Majer split time in the Mustangs net as the Western men's soccer team earned a 7-0 win over the Algoma Thunderbirds on Saturday afternoon at Superior Heights Field.
 
The win was Western's first of the young season, and brings the Mustangs record to 1-1-1, putting them into a three way tie with Laurier and Guelph for fourth place in the OUA West Division. With the loss Algoma's record stands at 0-2-1 on the year.
 
Serjeant didn't wait long before recording the first of his two goals on the day, scoring in the first minute to give Western an early 1-0 lead. He'd bookend the game's scoring as well, also notching the contest's final marker in the 86th minute.

McFall followed up on Serjeant's first goal in the 42nd minute to give Western a 2-0 lead heading into the half before he made it 3-0 with his second goal of the day in the 55th minute. The Mustangs offence only picked up from there, scoring in the 59th, 65th, and 71st minutes off of goals from Taso Bujouves, Jacob Peplinski, and Owain Evans, before Serjeant's second goal rounded out the scoring and gave Western the 7-0 win.

The Mustangs have one more game on the schedule for this weekend with a return matchup against the Thunderbirds set for Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. at Superior Heights Field.

Source: Western Mustangs

Lions shut out Badgers 2-0 in home opener

The York University Lions men's soccer team recorded a 2-0 victory over the Brock Badgers in their home opener at York Stadium on Saturday afternoon (Sept. 5). 
 
The home squad dominated its opponents throughout the game but could not find the back of the net until the 62^nd minute, when Michael Cox (Calgary) finally broke the scoreless deadlock with his second goal of the season to give the Lions a 1-0 lead.
 
They added to it in injury time at the end of the game on a goal by Matt Stinson (Toronto), who potted his first of the year thanks to a back heel pass by Jarek Whiteman (Brampton, Ont.).
 
The score could have been significantly more lopsided if not for the tremendous play of Brock goalkeeper Matthew Zaikos, who stood on his head throughout the contest to keep his team in the match. He finished with an impressive 12 saves, and overall the Lions fired 37 shots towards the net.
 
York goalkeeper Colm Vance (Bradford, Ont.) had to make just one save and earned the cleansheet.
 
With the win, the Lions extended their unbeaten streak against OUA competition to 29 games dating back to Oct. 5, 2013, and they are one of only two undefeated teams in the OUA West this year.
 
Next up for the Lions is a game against the Windsor Lancers on Sunday afternoon (Sept. 6) beginning at 3:15pm.

Source: York Lions

Varsity Blues down Gaels 3-0

KINGSTON, Ont. (September 5, 2015) - The Gaels (0-1-1) dropped their home opener 3-0 to the visiting Toronto Varsity Blues on Saturday afternoon at Miklas McCarney Field.

Toronto got ahead in the game when they scored two early goals in the first half coming from Niran Sivananthan and Dakar Charles. The Gaels had quality chances to get back into the game before halftime but could not beat Toronto's goalkeeper Rab Bruce-Lockheart.

Queen's got their best scoring opportunity of the first half when Rory McParland (Halifax) crossed the ball into Chris Wellsman (Victoria) who had a point blank shot punched aside. 

In the second half the Varsity Blues continued their shut down defensive play and Queen's was unable to get much going offensively. Late in the match Toronto sealed the win with a goal from Nikolay Saveliev in the 90th minute.

Bruce-Lockheart finished the day with two saves for the clean sheet while the Gaels Taylor Reynolds (Kingston, Ont.) made four saves as he picks up the loss.

Source: Queen's Gaels