Men’s soccer starts their season on the right foot

Jacob Schroeter leads his team to back-to-back victories with three goals

Schroeter (right) scored two goals in Sunday’s win against Laurentian.
Schroeter (right) scored two goals in Sunday’s win against Laurentian.

The Gaels had a dominant weekend as they opened their regular season with back-to-back victories against the Nipissing Lakers on September 3 and the Laurentian Voyageurs on September 4. 

In their season opener against Nipissing, the Gaels maintained a generous lead throughout the majority of the game. 

Forward Patrick Van Belleghem got Queen’s on the scoreboard early in the first half with a goal 14 minutes into the game, followed by two more courtesy of Tommy Hong and Jacob Schroeter in the 17 and 19 minutes respectively, giving the Gaels a 3-0 lead going into the second half. 

Nipissing managed to score on a free kick in the second half, but were forced to play one man short after receiving a red card — leaving the door wide open for the Gaels to attack. 

The Gaels easily maintained their lead throughout the second half, adding on two more goals from Kyle Owens and new recruit Michael Chang, to win the game 5-1. This was rookie Chang’s first career goal. 

The Gaels faced a much fiercer competitor on Sunday against Laurentian, as the teams battled for the lead throughout the game. 

The match was much more physical than their season opener, featuring six yellow cards in total — four for Laurentian and two for Queen’s — for a slew of chippy plays and heated exchanges. 

The Voyageurs scored early in the first half and maintained their 1-0 lead until Gaels’ defender Sam Abernethy tied the game with a header to keep the score locked at 1-1 going into half time. 

With both sides missing a few scoring opportunities, the Voyageurs took the lead once more 12 minutes into the second half. While the game looked like it belonged to the visitors after taking the lead for the second time in the game, Gaels’ striker, Schroeter, took matters into his own hands. 

Schroeter scored two goals in two minutes to claim the Gaels’ first lead of the match and sealed the Voyageurs’ fate with an assist on Patrick Van Belleghem’s breakaway goal late in the second half, making the final score 4-2.

For Schroeter, it was important for the team to start the season strong. “It’s always good to get points when it’s a hard game and yesterday was a little bit of an easier game,” he said. 

“We were due a challenge to start the season to see our character and I think we pulled through.”

Schroeter also remained focused on improving before the upcoming away games next weekend. “I think a well-rounded approach to the next game will hopefully make it easier on ourselves at the start but I think we are all very confident going in.” 

The team will look to continue their winning streak on the road this weekend for the first time this season against UOIT and Trent. 

Tags

Jacob Schroeter, Laurentian Voyageurs, Men’s Soccer, Michael Chang, Nipissing Lakers

All final editorial decisions are made by the Editor(s)-in-Chief and/or the Managing Editor. Authors should not be contacted, targeted, or harassed under any circumstances. If you have any grievances with this article, please direct your comments to journal_editors@ams.queensu.ca.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Skip to content