Paladins draw level in final minutes to earn tie with Ravens

(OTTAWA, ON) — A flat performance from the Carleton Ravens men's soccer team in a 1-1 draw with RMC on Wednesday evening cost them valuable points in the OUA East standings.

Carleton's inability to capitalize on their scoring chances as well as create any consistent offensive rhythm had them shaking their heads at the sound of the final whistle.

A seemingly quiet first half by both teams turned lively when Ravens forward Mekonen Lovemore-White (Ottawa, ON) and an RMC player got tangled up in the RMC 18-yard box before the two players were separated by the referee and some teammates. The bust-up was accentuated with an friendly exchange of words shared from one team bench to the other between Ravens head coach Sandy Mackie and Paladins head coach Victor Mendes.

The Ravens had a lackluster first forty-five minutes, but manged to tally a goal less than ten minutes from halftime when a defensive blunder between the RMC goalie Tobin Semple and a defender gifted Carleton's leading scorer Andrew Bryan (Montreal, QC) his 5th goal of the season on a freebie shot into a wide open net.  Carleton led 1-0 at the half.

The Ravens started the second half well, pressuring the Paladins with some threatening opportunities. Dante Cobisa (Ottawa, ON) was provided with a wide open net from 30 yards out after a poor clearing attempt by Semple, but the first-year Raven blasted it high over the goal.

Carleton's glaring misses would come back to cost them as they failed to put away the Paladins. With few shots produced by RMC for most of the game, the Ravens were gutted in the 83rd minute when Paladins' first-year midfielder Andrew Dutch rifled a dipping 25-yard volley over the head of a stunned Ravens keeper Felix Daigle (Gatineau, QC) for the tying goal.

With only a few minutes remaining, Carleton turned it up a notch but they were unable to regain the lead, settling for the draw.

"The only thing that worked tonight were the lights," described Ravens head coach Sandy Mackie after his team conceded a late goal to the Paladins. "Credit to the RMC player for that strike."

With the tie, RMC earned just their 5th point of the season. It will certainly be a tough pill for Carleton to swallow as they had hoped to use this game as a stepping stone for their difficult weekend matches against Toronto and Ryerson, two of the country's premier men's soccer teams.

Source: Carleton Ravens