By Alexander Mayhew, for the Lambda
On Sept. 26, both of the Laurentian Voyageurs soccer teams played on home soil against the Nipissing Lakers.
While the women’s soccer team was victorious, winning 5-2 to the Lakers, the men’s team was defeated, with a final score of 4-2 for the Lakers.
In the first and second half of the men’s game, the crowd watched as back-to-back goals were scored.
Shortly after Nipissing’s first goal on the Voyageurs during the first half, Omar Allison, Voyageurs #19, received a yellow card for a neck grab on Nipissing’s #13, Darius Tignanelli.
Before the end of the first half Voyageurs #9, Luke Ewach, also scored, levelling the score to 1-1.
After the short break at half time Nipissing started off strong to retake the lead, scoring again, although Voyageur Dean Pizolinas, #14, didn’t leave Laurentian trailing behind for long, scoring with a header into the net and delivering the second and final goal of the game for the Voyageurs.
However, the game took a turn for the worst halfway into the second half when Nipissing scored another two goals, leaving the final score of 4-2 Lakers.
Allison, the men’s soccer captain for the 2015 season, commented that the team played “weak, and didn’t show heart. He also stated that the goals against the Voyageur’s team were given out like “Christmas presents.”
Allison noted that in future games, his team should be “more physical, (play with) more heart and more eager to win games and score.”
The men and women’s teams also travelled to Nipissing University on Sept. 30 for another match against the Lakers, the final games in an annual series held between Laurentian and Nipissing in competition for the Riley Cup. The final game of the Cup saw the Voyageurs men team defeated 3-1, and as the women’s teams’ game ended in a 1-1 draw, the Voyageurs ultimately surrendered the Cup and title to the Lakers.
The Voyageurs men’s soccer team will be back in action on Oct. 3 and 4, as they face the Royal Military College of Canada Paladins and the Queen’s Gaels on the LU home field.
–Photos by Alexander Mayhew