Men’s Soccer News

Two quick goals by the Montreal Carabins helped propel them to a 3-1 victory over the Carleton Ravens in the second quarter-final of the 2017 U SPORTS Respect Group Men’s Soccer Championship Thursday Afternoon. 

The game was played in slick conditions at Hillside Stadium in Kamloops, B.C. The Carabins scored two goals inside the first 10 minutes of the contest.

Montreal opened it up in the fifth minute as Carleton keeper Nick Jeffs had the ball go off his hands and right to Guy-Frank Essome Penda who buried it for a 1-0 lead. 

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In the 10th minute, Montreal went up by two when Jeffs couldn’t handle the ball on the wet turf and the ball wound up on the foot of Jonathan Makaya. He made no mistake and the RESQ champs were up 2-0.

Montreal had a great chance to go up by three in the 39th minute when U SPORTS First Team All-Canadian Omar Kreim drove towards the net and wound up deflecting a shot off the back of his foot but the ball went just wide.

The match was very physical with four yellow cards - three to Montreal - being dished out in the first half alone. 

Carleton outshot Montreal 11-10 in the first half. 

Montreal had a great opportunity to go up by three in the 66th minute but Carleton keeper Jeffs madeseveral point blank stops, including a leap from the left side of the yawning cage to the right to keep the ball from crossing the goal line.

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Louis-Phillipe Simard held the Ravens at bay until the 62nd-minute mark when Carleton’s Emad Houache out-jumped two Montreal defenders and put his right foot on a high ball sent into the box by Danta  to cut the deficit to 2-1. 

To add insult to injury, Montreal scored their final goal with eight minutes left when Frederic Lajoie-Gravelle scored on a long shot from almost midfield. 

We have an offensive minded team and the boys love to run.

Pat Raimondo - Montreal head coach

“We have an offensive minded team and the boys love to run,” said Montreal head coach Pat Raimondo of the combined 51 shots  between the two teams. “We get quite a few chances.  I think early on the conditions (weather) were a little difficult. We were able to get the ball to bounce for us and went up early. That put Carleton on a bad foot. They are a well-coached team and a young team. They should be back here in a couple of years.” 

“At this level of competition you can’t give up mistakes like that,” stated Careton coach Kwesi Loney. “All credit to Montreal, when they got the lead they held it really well. I thought once we finally got playing the ball we created quite a few chances and showed some good stuff.” 

When asked about weather conditions being a factor early on, Loney added, “It was in the beginning, any ball will be dangerous. Every time your goalkeeper makes a mistake it is magnified by 100. 

With the victory, Montreal will meet up with the UBC Thunderbirds in Friday’s championship semifinals. Carleton will battle the UNB Varsity Reds in a Friday consolation semifinal. 

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