Men’s soccer drops three more points

Carleton tops Queen’s at Richardson Stadium

Gaels’ midfielder Mike Arnold clears the ball away from Carleton’s Matthew D’Angelo Wednesday. Queen’s lost 2-1.
Image by: Tyler Ball
Gaels’ midfielder Mike Arnold clears the ball away from Carleton’s Matthew D’Angelo Wednesday. Queen’s lost 2-1.

For the men’s soccer team, a sub-par season only got worse Wednesday night. The Gaels struck first against the fourth-ranked Carleton Ravens in their matchup Wednesday afternoon, but the Ravens recovered to win the game 2-1.

With the loss, Queen’s falls to 2-4-2 on the season. The Gaels’ eight points from eight matches leave them in fifth in the OUA East, 13 points behind the division-leading Ravens.

The game got off to an auspicious start for the Gaels when midfielder Steve Irish crossed the ball into the Carleton 18-yard box and Mike Arnold fired it home. The goal gave Queen’s an early lead and the momentum, which they used to forge ahead and take advantage of a stunned Carleton team who had their 31-game regular-season winning streak abruptly halted by the University of Toronto Varsity Blues Sunday.

Though the Gaels sustained some pressure in the Ravens’ end, Carleton responded midway through the first half with a goal almost identical to Arnold’s. A cross into the Gaels’ 18-yard box led to a strong shot, parried by Gaels’ keeper Sean Martin-Courtright. Carleton’s Matthew D’Angelo buried the rebound, though, making the score 1-1 at the half.

Early in the second half, Carleton took advantage of a lapse in Queen’s defence. A long ball eluded the entire backline, and it was chipped over Martin-Courtright by D’Angelo to given the Ravens a 2-1 lead, which they would maintain until the final whistle.

Queen’s head coach Carlo Cannovan said he thought Queen’s fell victim to unfortunate incidents.

“We played fairly well,” he said. “An unlucky bounce, a defensive error and a goaltending error, that was the difference between the win and the loss today. It’s a loss, we’re disappointed, but we took it to them all game and we’re looking forward to the next one. We know we can beat them if we play well.”

Cannovan said he felt that, despite the Gaels’ recent poor results, his side’s been playing well.

“We’re losing, but we’re not getting beat,” he said. “We’ve got to execute and make our chances count. It’s a young team and hopefully it’ll be a learning curve for the team.”

Defender Andrew Nador, who created multiple chances for the Gaels with powerful throw-ins during the second half, said losing on the goals they conceded was difficult.

“It’s tough,” he said. “We had a little breakdown, they got a lucky one. We’ve just got to bounce back from it and click.”

As for improvements, Nador said the team possesses the skill to win, they just didn’t have the chemistry to get their game together.

“We’re all good enough players,” he said. “We’ve just got to step our game up. We need to come together as a team as we go on. We need to keep putting effort in at practice, we’ve got to keep givin’er. We’ve got a good group of core guys. We know we’ve got to be in that top six. We’ve got to give it heart. If we keep picking each other up in practice, we’ll be looking to the playoffs.”

Queen’s spot in the standings could worsen, though. They currently sit in fifth place in the OUA East, but are only one point ahead of the Nipissing Lakers and three points ahead of the Ryerson Rams. Nipissing and Ryerson have one and two games in hand respectively over Queen’s, so both teams could pass the Gaels with a single win.

The Gaels take on the Royal Military College Paladins at RMC and the Trent Excalibur in Peterborough Oct. 4 and 5.

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