A decent start to this year’s campaign which kicked off with three consecutive road matches. The lads finally returned home to Carleton for their home opener this past Saturday versus a strong Ryerson Rams side. Carleton came out aggressive right out of the gate, demonstrating their speed and willingness to go shoulder to shoulder to challenge for 50/50 balls. A few Carleton mistakes lead to a disappointing home debut, falling 4-0 to the Rams. Carleton’s Game Analysis Manager Kyle McHenry (Alumni Member and former Varsity Ravens Assistant Coach) wasn’t discouraged by his team’s performance saying, “It’s a young team and it’s early in the season so I think the team should be based on their second performance against Ryerson.”
The Alumni in attendance were disappointed with Saturday’s result but still showed up in numbers to support the lads on Sunday versus University of Toronto Varsity Blues. After a slightly scattered beginning with both teams hammering the ball from one end to the other, the Ravens settled down when Marco Pozzi’s (Ottawa, ON) attempt on goal was collected by Aleksandar “Despo” (Waterloo, ON) who slotted it across the box to Walker Smith (Ottawa, ON) who smashed it into the back of the net. Toronto tied it up 1-1 before half following a sloppy defensive play from the Ravens. The second half kicked off with many strong tackles, with #4 of the Varsity Blues receiving much of the physical attention from the varsity lads. The Varsity Blues were awarded a questionable penalty early in the half but were unable to convert with the shot coming squarely off of the post. The Ravens kept pressing and were rewarded with a penalty in the 80th minute as the Carleton striker was pulled to the ground. Marco Pozzi scored from the spot to make it 2-1 to take the victory. Head Coach Sandy Mackie remarked, “We’re still inexperienced, we take the lead then we drop off, it was a better performance but every game is going to be a battle this year, you just have to look where you are at the end of October.”
Hopefully the Ravens website is updated in time for the next home match so that the guys can properly cheer on all of the new additions to the Varsity squad. With all of the changes to the squad this season the alumni had a hard time cheering on the quality new rookies!
Baby Mila Brauns and Baby Victor Rosso attended their first ever Ravens home games! Alumni are encouraged to bring their kids to matches and they are invited to storm the pitch following the game!
The Varsity boys are on the road this weekend to play Nippissing and Laurentian.
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