One of the greatest rivalries in southern Ontario took to the pitch on Wednesday afternoon as the unbeaten Golden Gaels travelled to the Royal Military College to play the Paladins for Kingston soccer supremacy.
Steve Irish netted two goals and fellow Gael Jordan Brooks scored the first goal of his OUA career in a 4-0 Gaels triumph.
The game was out of RMC’s reach after four Gael goals in the first half. Shortly after defender Wade Ennis’ goal in the 12th minute, forward Brent Lukowski unlocked the RMC defence with a pass to Jordan Brooks who then had a breakaway and slipped in underneath the goalkeeper in the 38th minute. Midfielder Steve Irish connected with a cross and gave the keeper no chance to stop it, making the score 3-0.
In extra time of the first half, Brooks had another opportunity to convert, but wound up striking the crossbar with his effort. However, the ball fell to Irish’s feet at the top of the 18-yard box, and he effortlessly directed his second goal of the game past the goalkeeper.
While Queen’s played flowing soccer, relying on speed, agility and skill, RMC, coming off a 7-0 loss to Carleton last weekend, leaned heavily on their size advantage and played a much more physical style. “We expected rough play coming into the match,” said Queen’s head coach Chris Gencarelli. “We just moved the ball around quickly and … opened them up, leading to four quick goals”. Queen’s made healthy use of the wings all game, which led in part to Brooks’s goal.
“[Gencarelli] told me to run the wings,” Brooks said, “but I saw a chance to run through the middle and luckily [Lukowski] read the run, and we caught the defence off-guard”. Perhaps the only negative aspect of Queen’s performance came back to their slow start, which Gencarelli said has been a problem in previous games this season.
“I don’t know how to get them going early,” said Gencarelli. “But once we broke the ice [with the first goal], we started to loosen up”.
After the first goal, Queen’s fell back to their game-plan of strong possession and quick passes which surely made the first half almost unbearable to watch for RMC fans. After the Gaels’ four-goal first half, the second half was, by contrast, a match of containment. Gencarelli said he used his halftime talk to tell his team to take advantage of their lead.
“I told them to keep possession, slow the game down and ultimately keep the clean sheet.”
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