Men’s soccer draws one, gets rained out of other

Queen’s 2, Ryerson 2

Queen’s striker Adrian Rochford goes in for a tackle against Rams midfielder Alex Bratelic Sunday at Richardson Stadium.
Image by: Tyler Ball
Queen’s striker Adrian Rochford goes in for a tackle against Rams midfielder Alex Bratelic Sunday at Richardson Stadium.

The men’s soccer team drew their only complete game this weekend, a 2-2 decision against the Ryerson Rams on Sunday at Richardson Stadium. The team also traveled to Peterborough the day before to face the Trent Excalibur, but the game was abandoned due to severe weather.

Head coach Carlo Cannovan said the team is filing a complaint with the OUA regarding Saturday’s game. The Gaels were leading 3-0 in the first half before storm clouds halted the game. Cannovan said the Excalibur were unwilling to wait for the weather to improve.

“The game was called off numerous times due to lightning, rightfully so,” he said. “[Canadian Soccer Association] rules state that it is a 30-minute wait. Two teams are involved in this, obviously. We were willing to play and wait out the game and one team was not.”

On Sunday, midfielder Michael Arnold scored two goals en route to a 2-1 halftime lead for Queen’s. The Rams evened the score with 15 minutes left in the game.

The Gaels have a record of 4-1-6, good enough for second place in the OUA East.

Cannovan was pleased with his team’s effort over the weekend.

“The boys worked hard,” he said. “We weren’t as sharp as we usually are. We battled through and got unlucky in a few instances but I’m certainly happy with this weekend.”

Cannovan said he wanted to engage his top players, especially Arnold, more in order to keep improving as a team.

“We need to take some load off [Arnold] and free him up more,” he said.

Arnold said the Rams put up a strong challenge.

“I thought that’s the best Ryerson team we’ve ever played,” he said. “They’re showing that they’re definitely getting stronger as the year goes on. I don’t think we played our best game today but we showed that even when we don’t play our best we can still get points and even potentially win games.”

Queen’s seemed to be on its way to an easy victory after controlling play for most of the first half, but Ryerson’s grit reminded them the game lasts 90 minutes.

“I think part of it is when you’re up you’re in the mindset that you’re going to win the game as it stands and we felt that we’re a stronger team, so whenever that happens you lose your edge a bit mentally and begin to sit back,” Arnold said.

Queen’s embarks on a difficult road trip next weekend to northern Ontario where they will take on the Nipissing Lakers in North Bay and Laurentian Voyageurs in Sudbury.

Arnold said the Gaels need to be prepared for the travel.

“It’s a tough road trip,” he said. “In the past it’s shown that the results haven’t been as easy with the conditions. We’ve been preparing for it and are looking to take six points from it.”

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