While it wasn’t exactly the weekend the Nipissing Lakers men’s soccer team had in mind, they did salvage the pair of road games with a draw Sunday.
After suffering a loss in Saturday’s season opener against Ryerson, the Lakers bounced backed and played to a hard fought 1-1 draw versus the Toronto Varsity Blues.
The Lakers scored their first goal for the season as Ryan Mantle found the back of the net at the 14-minute mark of the game, giving the Lakers a 1-0 lead.
The lead, however, only lasted about six minutes as the Blues tied things up on a free kick and the teams entered the half tied at one.
In the second half, the Blues continued to out-chance the Lakers and finished with a 13-2 shot advantage, with 10 of the Blues shots reaching target.
Lakers goalkeeper Grainger Munro made nine saves – six in the first half and three in the second.
Mantle had one of the Lakers shots and made no mistake scoring his first goal of the season.
Mantle led the Lakers with six goals last season.
Jean Michel Paulin had the other Lakers shot, but was unable to find the back of the net.
The Lakers return home from Toronto with a loss and a draw and will now look ahead to their games in Kingston when they face RMC and Queens next weekend.
