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Lakers gain soccer splits (new)

By Marc LaRochelle, Sports Information Officer, Nipissing University Athletics GUELPH - The Nipissing University Lakers teams split a pair of games in Ontario University Association soccer action on the weekend.
By Marc LaRochelle, Sports Information Officer, Nipissing University Athletics

GUELPH - The Nipissing University Lakers teams split a pair of games in Ontario University Association soccer action on the weekend.

The men’s squad took the field first as they faced the Guelph Gryphon’s Saturday trying to turn around their short season and the Lakers certainly did that, winning 3-1.

The Lakers took the lead very early in the game when Ivan Lulic was taken down on a breakaway and Carlo DeVuono capitalized on a penalty kick to make the score 1-0. The Lakers maintained possession for most of the first half and scored their second goal when Dave Orlando rifled a beautiful shot in the corner of the net to give the Lakers a 2-0 lead at the half. The Lakers continued to pressure in the second half producing many scoring opportunities and finally got the third goal of the day when Eric Yung was sent on breakaway by a great pass from Matt Prikken.

Guelph scored a late goal but its wasn’t enough. The Lakers player of the game was Tyler Commanda of Sturgeon Falls.

“We came out flying today and we stuck to our game plan and got some early opportunities and capitalized,” said Laker head coach Rob Celebre.


Sunday the Lakers played Ryerson, coming off a 4-0 win over the Laurentian Vees the previous day. For the second straight day the Lakers got off to a really strong start and controlled the play for most of the first half however the Lakers couldn’t capitalize on several scoring opportunities and they dropped a 3-2 decision.

Ryerson scored on their lone shot in the first half at the 25 minute mark. The Lakers put forth constant pressure and bounced back to tie the game at 1-1 when Cam Culbert, named the player of the game, scored a highlight goal when he kicked in a one touch pass from Matt Prikken at the 18 yard box. Ryerson then scored two goals at the 71st and 75th minute to make the score 3-1. The Lakers again battled back to make it 3-2 with another penalty kick goal from DeVuono when Lulic was taken down in the box. The Lakers continued to press with several scoring opportunities, but were unable to tie the game.

"I thought the guys showed plenty of character battling back, unfortunately we were unable to tie the game. We had a mental lapse for 10min and they capitalized on two turnovers," said Celebre. "We needed points this weekend, especially on the road we wanted six, we came up short with three."

On the women’s side the Lady Lakers didn’t start the road trip as planned against Guelph, losing 4-0. The Lakers came out strong but fell behind early as Nicole Peckham opened the scoring at the nine-minute mark. The Lakers were clearly outplayed by Guelph.

“We did not play well today. Guelph controlled the game. It was a disappointing loss,” said Lady Lakers head coach Vito Castiglione.

The Lakers player of the game was Courtney Cherrett.

The Lady Lakers, facing a must win to stay alive in the playoff hunt, showed some determination by putting together their first 90 minute game of the season and defeated Ryerson 5-1.

The Lakers came out strong and finally found the back of the net. Tracey Cudmore opened the scoring at the 15 minute mark drilling a shot in the corner of the net as she broke away from the defence on a great thru ball pass from Cherrett. Stephanie Muldoon scored the Lakers second goal on a penalty kick at the 35 minute mark. The Lakers Bernadette Dec then scored the third goal as she made a great volley off of a Lakers corner kick (48 minute). Ryerson’s Michelle Anderson scored the Rams’ only goal at the 55 minute mark however the Lakers responded with two answered goals as Cudmore and Cherrett each scored to close out the contest.

“We finally put it all together today. We controlled the tempo of the game creating one scoring opportunity after the other. We player a great team game and played to our potential. It was a great win for us,” said Castiglione.

The Lakers will be back in action with a pair of home games Oct. 2 vs Brock and Oct. 3 vs McMaster at the Education Centre Field. The men start things off at 1 pm followed by the women at 3 pm.