First off, what a weekend!!!!!  Thank you to everyone involved in the tournament and a big thank you to the men’s and women’s varsity teams for organizing everything and keeping all of the teams on schedule with zero delays or issues (apart from the refs..) 

Thanks also go out to the Ravens athletic therapy team who helped mend many old injuries, some dating back to the 90’s… (Nadine please pass along our thanks to your staff) A big thank you goes out to Rob Leroy and his team for arranging the change rooms and facilities.  Most of all a big thanks to over 40 alumni for participating in the weekend’s festivities!  Please read through for a recap.

Start of the weekend: CSAA passion lives on!

We had over 40 Men’s Carleton Soccer Alumni Association members at the weekend’s events, with 35 taking part in the action on the field.  This is the most participation we have had from alumni in the tournament and we will look at potentially entering 3 teams in next years event! Thanks to the younger alumni who graciously suited up to play with the junior Ravens recruits: Theo Lopez-Castillia, Michael Calof, Alex Despotovic, and Mike “Robocop” Reynolds.

A shout-out to all the alumni that travelled far and wide to attend the weekend festivities with the furthest visitor being Caki “Jackie” Simrooglu who flew in from Turkey!  We also had Mike Zaborski fly in from New York city and a handful of alumni make the drive down from Toronto including Greg Gallo, Mitch Hoolahan, Arjun Langford, Junior Sefic and Eric Lamoureux who got the much coveted day pass from his wife and drove up from Montreal.  It was also a pleasure to see so many future Ravens babies at the game including Gallo’s boys, Oba’s boys (Spiderman and Iron Man), Kwesi’s boy, Johnny “Never Missed a Practise in 5 year’s” Legakis’ boy, Ian Rosso’s boy and Brian Rogic’s girl —– look out baby Rogic!

Great to see all of those who came out to watch and cheer on the lads: Dimitri Koutras, Kriss Brauns, Will Murray, Danny Obaseki, etc.

It is pretty unbelievable when you take a minute to think that we had guys who played for Carleton back in the 1980’s playing alongside fellow alumni who graduated as early as two years ago and all the way in between – yet that familiarity and passion of being a Raven was still as evident on the pitch and off.  It is a special bond being a Carleton Ravens Men’s Soccer player and the CSAA ensures that bond continues to live on.  So again, thank you to all that participated and we hope you are back next year and bring more alumni who missed all of the action. Let’s continue to grow and improve as an organization!

Friday March 18th = Opening Games:

Carleton Alumni 1: The Legends (Old Boys) vs. Ottawa U. 

The old boys came out to play this year.  They started with a mixed line-up of Legakis, Da Costa, Roberto in the back and Jorge, Park, Zaborski and Gallo.  Everyone held their own and the boys hardly broke a sweat.  Their top draft pick and young ringer Andrew Latty did not disappoint as he scored all three goals showcasing different areas of finishing ability. The first was a smashing finish from outside the box, the second a classic Latty crashing the net for his own rebound and running over the defence. The third goal highlighted came off a long pin point pass from Roberto “Mexican” Guttierez as he finished with a smashing header to give the Legends a big 3-0 victory.  Stevie Ball earned his first shutout in 20 years as he displayed his classic dummies and fakes each and every goal kick. Mike Hoefler’s key contribution was he stopped and turned to the bench and asked “hey, did you see the balloon” – while pointing to the balloon in the ceiling of the fieldhouse while his man received the ball for a breakaway.  A fantastic opening game where the boys looked to be the title favorites!

Carleton Alumni 2: The Prodigy’s (Younger Lads) vs. Ravens (Varsity).

The Prodigy’s started with a powerful first line that included many recent greats including Joey Kewin, Sam “Rooney” McHugh, Raz (Toni) El-Asmar, Berjawi, Caki and more.  The alumni looked to dominate in the opening stages with many chances just merely going wide however it was Varsity who opened up the scoring with a bit of a sloppy goal.  Varsity then went up 2-0 off a smashing direct free-kick.  Alumni pulled one back with Hamoudie “Pay your dues…” scoring a long distance chip over the keeper.  Varsity however ended the hopes of a comeback with a third goal.  It was a disappointing start for the younger alumni but perhaps the dust from the St. Patty`s day celebrations had not yet worn off.

Saturday March 19th

Carleton Alumni 1: The Legends (Old Boys) Saturday.

This game was a knock back to reality as we were down 3-0 fairly early on a poor team effort.  After a lengthy breakfast watching the Chelsea vs. West Ham game at the pub it was back to action versus  UofOttawa  Alumni.  We started strong and it was a great back and forth match.  Andrew Latty again gave us a 1-0 lead on a smashing free kick.  Eric Lamoureaux then headed in for the second goal off a far post corner ball played in from Gallo which Andrew Latty headed across for the assist.  A well-deserved win!  The last game was against a feisty local  West Ottawa u17 team.  We had some good chances that just narrowly missed and an own goal lead us to a devastating 1-0 defeat and ultimately leading to the Legends being knocked out of the tournament. 

All in all – it was a great tournament for the “Legends”

 

Carleton Alumni 2: The Prodigy’s (Younger Lads) Saturday.

The first match of Saturday’s scheduled had the Prodigy’s face the Queen’s Golden Gaels Alumni. The team pulled out an incredible win with the lone goal coming from Toni “Raz” El-Asmar. Subs were low on account of Friday night’s festivities. The Prodigy’s should have lost the game but some shocking finishing by Queen’s Alumni gave the Ravens the win!! Next up the Prodigy faced the much younger OSU u17 and took home another win 4-2. Goals came from Caki, Toni “Raz” (2) and Joey “Lady’s Man” Kewin. It was a comfortable victory for the Prodigy and not much to mention apart from Parks coaching prowess as he rallied the Alumni to two straight victories. The Prodigy would face the uOttawa Alumni in the final match of the day with Coach Parks leading the team to a third victory 2-1. Goals coming from Caki and Hoolahan. This match should have been a sure victory for the Ravens but it turned out to be a nail biter with Parks coaching decision to bench Stefano for the last 8 minutes of the game. uOttawa scored seconds later and then Caki bailed out the Ravens with a goal in the last few minutes of the game.

Junior Ravens: 

Coach Sandy Mackie coached the Junior Ravens of some promising new recruits and some of the younger alumni.  They made it to the Semi-Finals losing to Varsity.  Highlight was for the youngest of the Alumni to be yelled at one last time from Coach Mackie and Theo first words from Sandy as an alumni was “you’re not starting – sit next to me!”

The Pizza Dinner was well attended by all Alumni and Sam McHugh ate enough garlic sauce to fill his belly and breath fire until Sunday!  The dinner dragged on to the changeroom where the Gutti’s showed off their free fit bodies and discussion over the individuals top 2 players who they ever played with aty Varisty ensued.  Not one player hasd the same two picks and many worthy warriors were mentioned including but not limited too: Timo, Dewar, Anson Brewster, Declan Bonnar, Javier, etc, etc….

The Pub was epic and we’ll leave the stories out of this type of informative email with the sole exception of saying it was an UNREAL turnout with even a few real Carleton Legends present – Mr. Davy McFall and Phil Craig – in addition to Alumni screaming out our outlandish yet heartfelt “Carleton Carleton we’ll be there for you, soaking in the rain, freezing in the snow” chants which looked to put true hooligan fear in the waitress’ and bartenders that evening.

Sunday March 20th: Semi-Final/Final.

Sunday Alumni Prodigy’s vs. Ottawa Bacardi

The Ravens Alumni 2 aka Young Guns played an inspired performance against some of Ottawa’s most hated footy faces – this one was a barn burner. This matchup had a fiery start, but two quick goals by our in-form Turkish Delight Caki Simrooglu had them backed up against the wall. Two more goals by Sam “Making Some Soup” McHugh and Toni “Pectoral” El-Asmar had it wrapped up. Mitch “Houlahanna” Houlahan deserves considerable mention for taking a slap to the face from our favourite Iraqi FC opponent, subsequently causing a near-bench brawl and the game being called four minutes early.  Special mention to Travis Chace for standing on his head during our playoff run (Thank God Krocko wasn’t there), earning the well-deserved clean sheet on this occasion.

Sunday Final: Alumni Prodigy’s vs. Carleton Varsity

An all-Carleton final was the storybook ending to an excellent, fun filled weekend. The younger legs stole the show in the finals, winning a nail-biter that went to PK’s. After an early goal by varsity,  Caki Turko quickly came back with his own rebuttal in broken-English with a goal of his own. Theo (who ref’d a hell of a game) awarded a PK for varsity, but Travis Chace came to the rescue making an excellent stop. Theo awarded Mitch for a Leo-esque topple in the box, and Peter “Pano” Manginas stepped up. “The head’s up; the neck’s twisting like Linda Blair in The Exorcist. Wonderfully hit” is definitely not the words Ray Hudson would have employed in describing Pano’s pen, as it rolled slowly into the hands of the waiting keeper – much like the shots Kwesi’s toddler was taking between games. The game finished 1-1, not to be decided in the 5-minute overtime. Varsity scored all five, while alum missed a vital pen to squander the championship (sole miss from Toni).

 

An all Carleton Final ensured that the Trophy will remain in RAVEN’S ownership.  Thank to Berryman’s Pub for the sponsorship of the trophy.  A fantastic weekend which has given us all new memories and stories to look fondly back on.  It was truly a blast and we are already eagerly looking forward to next year and the following CSAA events.  

 

KAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA KAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA