CIS men's soccer Saturday roundup: Pena's hat trick lifts No. 1 Lions over Warriors

SUDBURY, Ont. - The Voyageurs took to the field this afternoon as they were matched up against the 4-1-1 Toronto Varsity Blues. Both teams battled for the complete 90 minutes, with each team having a variety of scoring opportunities. However, it was the Blues who made those opportunities count and walked away with a 2-0 victory.

The Blues got off to a quick start and dominated the early minutes of the game. Laurentian Goalie, Matt George (Georgetown, Ontario) made key saves in the 25th minute to keep the game tied at 0-0. In the later part of half, Laurentian began to put the pressure on the Blues. In the 39th minute, the Voyageurs failed to capitalize on a passing play between speedy forward Davor Alisic (Charlottetown, PEI) and Stephen Fattore (Brampton, Ontario). The shot on net was turned away from Blues Keeper John Smits (Mississauga, Ontario). The Blues found the score sheet in 45th minute, after George attempted to clear a ball and it deflected off Blues Midfielder Veljko Lukovic (Belgrade, SRB) and into the net. The Blues took the 1-0 lead going into half.

The Voyageurs came out strong in the second half. However, forward Dieri Drame was booked for a hard tackle in the 53rd minute and received a yellow card. The Voyageurs came close to tying the game when defenseman Liam Dougherty (Scarborough, Ontario) attempted a header in the 55th minute. The voyageurs continued to battle, with Alisic displaying some fancy footwork as well. In the 80th minute, the Blues capitalized on a penalty kick being taken by Darragh McGee (Donegal, Ireland), which was the result of a hard tackle in the in the goaltenders box. After an altercation in the 85th minute, Voyageurs veteran Brian Kavaratzis (Midhurst, Ontario) received his second yellow of the match resulting in being ejected from the game and a red card. Both teams continued to compete until the final whistle with the Blues walking away with a 2-0 victory.

After the game, Voyageurs coach Carlo Castrechino stated "Our boys battled hard out there, and we didn't catch any breaks." He continued to say "We will regroup for tomorrow and hopefully bring the same intensity." The Laurentian Voyageurs are matched up against the Ryerson Rams on Sunday, Oct.2 and will begin at 2:15 pm. Be sure to check www.luvoyageurs.com to stay up to date on all the Voyageur news.

Source: Laurentian Sports Info

KINGSTON, Ont. - The Queen's Gaels lost 4-2 on Saturday afternoon to the No. 7 Carleton Ravens (7-2-0) at Richardson Stadium.

The Ravens set the pace scoring early and often in the first half with goals in the 6th, 13th and 26th minutes.

Queen's managed to cut the lead to only one with quick second half strikes from Nathan Klemencic of Trenton Ont. and Patrick Zanetti of Carp, Ont. but the Ravens' Samuel Mchugh of Russell, Ont. would complete the hat trick and put the game out of reach for the Gaels.

Marshal Peacock of Toronto started in net for the Gaels making 11 saves on the day.

Queen's will travel to Toronto next Saturday to take on the Varsity Blues at 3:15pm.

Source: Queen's Sports Info

TORONTO - Adrian Pena earned his second hat-trick of the season and Sotiri Varlokostas was unbeatable in goal as the York University Lions men's soccer team blanked the Waterloo Warriors 4-0 in a Saturday afternoon (Oct. 1) match-up at York Stadium.
 
Varlokostas (Toronto) only had to make two saves en route to his fifth shutout of the season, while Warriors goalkeeper Alberto Tinebra (Hamilton, Ont.), who was much busier, made seven saves on the day.
 
With the win, the Lions (6-0-3) remain undefeated this season and retake sole possession of first place in the OUA West with 21 points, while the Warriors drop to 2-7-0 on the season but remain in eighth place.
 
The Lions dominated the game at both ends of the pitch, firing 11 shots on the Warriors' goal while allowing only two against.
 
The Lions opened the scoring in the 23rd minute on a beautiful passing play between midfielder Martino Belligero (Toronto) and Pena (Woodbridge, Ont.) that almost looked scripted. Deep in the Warriors' box, Belligero, from his backside, chipped a pass through a defender and onto the boot of a wide-open Pena, who made no mistake, burying a low shot past a down-and-out Tinebra.
 
The Lions dominated possession for the remainder of the first half and had a chance to go up by two late, but Giancarlo Rella (Woodbridge, Ont.) could not convert an uncontested header from deep inside the Warriors' box.
 
In the second half, Pena single-handedly took control of the game. In the 57th minute, he fired a beautiful chip shot over the head of Tinebra to put the Lions up by two, and then, in the 64th minute, he completed the hat-trick on a great individual effort that saw him break into the Warriors' zone all alone, chip a pass to himself around a charging Tinebra and bury a shot into the open cage.
 
Alex Marchese (Woodbridge, Ont.) added another goal in the 83rd minute to cap an impressive performance by the Lions. It was Marchese's first of the season.
 
The Lions will look to extend their undefeated season when they visit the UOIT Ridgebacks (1-7-1) on Sunday (Oct. 2). Game time is set for 3:15pm in Oshawa.
 
Source: Cody Powell, York sport writing assistant

ABBOTSFORD - The UVic Vikes men's soccer team extended their unbeaten streak to five games with a 0-0 tie while on the road at the University of Fraser Valley. The tie broke the Cascades' five-game losing streak at Bateman Park on Oct. 1.

The Vikes now sit at 3-2-2 in Canada West standings, while the Cascades advance to 7th place with a 1-5-1 record.

Victoria's offence led by the scoring duo of Craig Gorman and Thomas Mallette kept Cascades second-year keeper Jacob Kubanski on his toes. UFV also had several scoring opportunities but in the other end it was keeper Elliot Mitrou who once again would stand his ground, earning his third straight shut out.

The Vikes will re-match against the Cascades on Sunday, Oct. 2 but this time it will be on home soil. The game will kick-off at 2:15 p.m. following the women's game at Centennial Stadium.    

Source: Victoria Sports Info

LANGLEY, B.C. – With three goals from three different scorers and a clean sheet from goalkeeper Andrew Fink, his third of the year, the Trinity Western men’s soccer team knocked off the Lethbridge Pronghorns 3-0 at Rogers Park Saturday night.

The Spartans, coming off a devastating 1-1 tie against Calgary in which the Dinos scored in stoppage time, were the better of the sides from the first whistle to the final whistle as they extended their unbeaten streak to six games and, with the win, moved into second place in Canada West.

Trinity Western’s Spencer Schmidt opened the scoring for the second straight night with his fourth goal of the season in the 7th minute. Then, in the 39th minute the Spartans Goran Vitic doubled their lead with a nice finish on a nifty passing play. And then, in second half stoppage time, Garrett Peters iced the win as he scored his third goal of the campaign.

“We had timely goals and a little bit more composure on the ball tonight,” said Spartans coach Pat Rohla. “I thought we were pretty good but there’s still a lot to work on. We changed our formation a bit and I thought Brayden Gant and Jordan Whitehead in the middle of the park were fantastic. It allowed Ioannis [Tsoulouhas] and Spencer [Schmidt] to show and keep balls and it allowed the outside of the pitch to open up for us.

“We did a lot of things right. I still think we could have had a bit more finish but that’s just me trying to push our guys."

The win moves the Spartans record to 4-1-2 and has them just one point behind conference-leading UBC, while the loss drops the Pronghorns record to 1-7-0.

Trinity Western opened the game oozing with energy as they immediately worked the ball into Lethbridge’s zone and basically kept it there until Schmidt buried the first goal of the game. The Spartans striker capitalized on a Lethbridge turnover as he found a loose ball at the top of the 18-yard box, walked in alone on Pronghorns goalie Colin Pattison and ripped a no-doubter past the fifth-year keeper.

Despite the early goal, the Pronghorns seemed undiscouraged as they responded by generating a couple of quality opportunities of their own shortly thereafter. In the 14th minute, Lethbridge’s Chris Rushworth hit a well-timed strike from just outside the box low and hard that forced Fink to scramble to his left to make what was likely his toughest top of the night. Five minutes later, Dario Pasquotti had an open look from the top of the box but his shot sailed just over the crossbar.

With just the one-goal advantage, the Spartans continued to press for more goals and were rewarded with Vitic’s 39th minute strike. Tsoulouhas started the play when he sent a ball to first-year midfielder Brayden Gant who then quickly fired it inside the area to an awaiting Vitic who whipped it into the bottom right corner for his first of the season, giving TWU a 2-0 lead going into the break.

In the second half, the Spartans continued to maintain control of the match and, even more so than the opening half, smothered the Pronghorns offence.

Lethbridge, who managed four shots on target in the first half didn’t once challenge Fink in the second half.

While Lethbridge was skunked in terms of shots on goal in the second 45 minutes, the Spartans weren’t much better as they only hit the target twice in the second half. Lethbridge goalie Pattison, who had to leave with an ankle injury in the 65th minute and was replace by Tyler Boast, made one save and the other Spartans shot found the back of the net when Garrett Peters notched his third of the season in stoppage time.

Gant, with his second assist of the night, sent Peters streaking down the right side and the Spartans speedy striker beat Matt Medoruma to the outside and chipped it past Boast.

The Spartans next game sees them travel to UBC for a match Oct. 7 against the Thunderbirds at 7:15 p.m. When they met earlier this year, the Thunderbirds and Spartans played to a 1-1 draw at Rogers Park.

The Pronghorns have the next week off as they don’t play until Oct. 15 when they will host Saskatchewan at 2:00 p.m. local time.
 
Game Notes: The Spartans outshot Lethbridge, 14-13 and had an 8-4 advantage in shots on goal…TWU had nine corners to Lethbridge’s three…the Pronghorns Morgan Brownjohn (59’) and Rushworth (78’) were each shown yellow cards.

Source: Trinity Western Sports Info