Weekend roundup - Oct 8/9

This weekend's schedule featured two college home games and eight university away games.

Both St. Lawrence teams played at home on Friday, with the men's team playing their first game at home after a rough 0-2-2 road trip to start their season. A goal with less than 10 minutes left gave their opponents, Seneca Sting, a 1-0 win on the day. This leaves the men's Vikings team in the difficult position of having to win both of their last two games to have a chance at the playoffs.

The women's team fared much worse losing 3-0 to the Seneca Sting squad. Two Vikings players left the game due to injury, one of their midfielders (#14) and their starting goalkeeper, Jessica Dodge. The women are in a three-way tie for fourth place, and winning both of their last two games would give them a good shot at the playoffs.

Both the Queen's Gaels and the RMC Paladins traveled up to Toronto to face off against the Ryerson Rams and the University of Toronto Blues.

Queen's played UofT on the Saturday at Varsity Stadium near St. George subway station. Both games were aired on SSNCanada. I was able to watch the women play, and despite their outplaying the University of Toronto from beginning to end of the game, Toronto came away with a 1-0 win on a headed goal by Elish McConville in the 12th minute. Queen's put in a number of shots on the Toronto goalkeeper Sara Petrucci, but could not make any of them count. Summer Rybicki took a caution late in the game for a clumsy tackle in front of the benches on the sideline.

The men followed and took revenge for their loss against the University of Toronto two weeks prior. Left back Adrian Rochford put Queen's on the board in injury time at the end of the first half, and Kingston's Lucas Lobo doubled the lead very late in the second half to give Queen's a 2-0 win. Marco D'Ella took a caution in the game.

RMC faced Ryerson at Lamport Field on Saturday. Ryerson won both games on the day, with the women winning 4-1 over RMC. Michelle Hamilton scored RMC's lone goal, while Paige Campbell took a caution. RMC's goalkeeper Olivia Clarke was able to return from her injury and shared the goalkeeping duties with Kelli Milliken. RMC's men lost by a 2-0 scoreline with Gregory Theriau taking a caution and Jhordan Dorrington making an astounding eight saves on the day. Most goalkeepers in the OUA do not face as many shots in a weekend as Dorrington makes saves in a single game.

For Queen's, Sunday was a reversal of Saturday with the women winning 2-0 over the Ryerson Rams and the men dropping their game by a 3-2 result. Both games were played at Birchmount Stadium in Scarborough. For the women, Kelli Chamberlain put Queen's on the board in the 17th minute and Jacqueline Tessier added a second in the 74th minute. That goal was Tessier's 9th of the season, putting her back in the lead for Ontario, albeit with two more games played than both Krista Cellucci and Emily Brown of Laurier.

In the men's game, the Ryerson Rams scored in the 17th and 24th minutes and took a 2-0 lead into the half. It stayed that way until the 72nd minute when Queen's striker Jordan Brooks halved the lead. Eight minutes later, Ryerson extended their lead, and Robert Lannan was able to claw the scoreline back to 3-2 in the 85th minute, but Queen's could get no closer.

RMC traveled to Varsity Stadium to play the University of Toronto, and the women lost 3-0, giving up three goals in the first half of the game. Stephanie Bengle took a caution during the game. The men gave up a goal in the 18th minute, but were able to tie the game in the 68th minute on a goal from Michael Lachance. Unfortunately, goals in the 76th and 77th minutes (less than 20s apart according to the game statistics!), and another in the 89th relegated RMC to a 4-1 loss. RMC cautions were awarded to Steven Bartholomew, Sully Heraud, and Ryan Merriman.

This coming weekend, both Queen's and RMC travel to play against Nipissing and Laurentian with women's games at 1pm both days and the men playing at 3:15. The St. Lawrence Vikings face off against Fleming College at home on Wednesday with kickoff times scheduled for 4pm (women) and 6pm (men). Both men and women close out their regular season on Sunday the 16th against Centennial College, with the women kicking off at 1pm and the men at 3pm.