Soccer still slumping

Men come away from weekend matches with a single point

Queen’s defender Jordan Brooks evades several Laurentian players Sunday at Richardson Stadiums as goalkeeper Tyler Lewis and fellow defender Chris Deckert (2) look on.
Image supplied by: Justin Tang
Queen’s defender Jordan Brooks evades several Laurentian players Sunday at Richardson Stadiums as goalkeeper Tyler Lewis and fellow defender Chris Deckert (2) look on.

After a poor showing on the road last weekend against the Nipissing Lakers and Laurentian Voyageurs, the men’s soccer team hoped to redeem themselves in this weekend’s homestand against the same teams.

But home turf was no more advantageous for the Gaels and they again picked up just one point out of a possible six for the second consecutive weekend. The losses leave Queen’s in fourth place in the OUA East division with eight points from seven games, one better than Nipissing but five back of Laurentian.

Head coach Carlo Cannovan said picking up two points in four games against the Lakers and Voyageurs, who both finished below the Gaels in the standings last year, was highly disappointing.

“It’s not acceptable,” he said. “Our second-year players, who are on the field starting for the first time, have got to relish this opportunity and take advantage of it. They’re part of the show and they have to step up.”

The Lakers held Queen’s to a scoreless draw Saturday and the Voyageurs beat the Gaels 1-0 Sunday. In Sunday’s match, the Gaels recorded only five shots on target and only managed one shot before halftime.

“We were very, very poor in the first half, physically outmatched in our own backyard,” Cannovan said. “[Laurentian] set the tone physically, they were going to come in here and win every ball and we took a backseat to them in the first half. … We were second to the ball throughout the game.”

Cannovan was particularly upset with the play of his strikers.

“The strikers have got to be in the right positions, they’ve got to make the right runs and they’ve got to put the ball in the back of the net,” he said. “That’s their job. … They have to stay awake, run their lines and attack the ball.”

Midfielder Steve Irish said the Gaels wasted scoring opportunities against Laurentian.

“Throughout the game, we played some better soccer than them,” he said. “We just need to bury our chances.” Defender Justin Vermeer said the team needs to play with more passion.

“We’re starting to get our play together, but we just don’t have the grit and determination that we’re going to need to try and take in points,” he said.

The Gaels take on the OUA East-leading Carleton Ravens at Richardson Stadium Wednesday at 3 p.m.

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