Lakers making waves with weekend split

The Lakers’ men’s soccer team is now tied with Toronto for second place with six points in the OUA East division standings after a weekend split.

Saturday, under hot conditions the Lakers edged the Ryerson Rams 1-0 to secure their second victory of the season.

Both teams came out strong however the Lakers managed to control ball possession early.

Matt Likuski the first year keeper for the Lakers received a red card at the 40th minute for touching a ball outside the 18 yard box preventing a goal as Ryerson’s Duca Muscillo was sent in all alone.

The Lakers played the rest of the match down a man as Ed Swan took the relief in goal for Likuski.

In the second half the Lakers came out energized as they knew they would have their work cut out. “We knew we needed to come out with more energy because we down a man.” said striker Eric Yung.

In fact the Lakers scored in the 68th minute as Mohammed Nyangado volleyed home a cross from teammate Jeff Portugues.

The Lakers then protected the lead and keeper Ed Swan made an athletic save, diving to his left to push the ball past the post at the 70th minute to preserve the shutout.

“We showed a lot of character,” said head coach Peter Bitonti. “We didn’t give up in adverse conditions. The guys really came together today.”

Sunday, the Lakers would face the team that knocked them out of the 2006 OUA playoffs, the University of Toronto Blues.

Both teams pressed early on in the match and the Lakers nearly capitalized early as Jeff Portugues was taken down aggressively in the box however no call was made.

The game remained scoreless until Evan Milward scored at the 38th minute off a set piece to give Toronto a lead they would relinquish.

Both squads had numerous corner kicks and Lakers midfielder Patrick Mallan hit the post as he kicked a ball from outside the 18 yard box. That is as close as the Lakers would get as the Blues came out with a 1-0 victory. The Lakers are now 2-2 on the season.

Lady Lakers Drop pair

The Lady Lakers didn’t fair out as well as their counterparts as they dropped a pair of games.

Against Ryerson the Lady Lakers dominated the first twenty minutes of the contest as they controlled possession and created several quality scoring opportunities. Lakers midfielder Stephanie Muldoon took a shot from outside the eighteen yard box that was deflected by the keeper and rang off the crossbar and was eventually cleared out of harms way by the Ryerson defenders.

The rest of the first half remained rather uneventful as the Lady Lakers had trouble penetrating the Ryerson defensive corps. Half time arrived and the contest remained scoreless.

The Lakers came out strong in the second half spending the majority of time in the Ryerson end however as they did in the first half the Ryerson defensive corps held it’s own frustrating the Lakers forwards.

Ryerson’s Jassie Hayer opened the scoring at the 54th minute as she converted a well placed kick to the corner that keeper Samantha Boehm got a piece of however it found it’s way to the mesh to give the Rams the 1-0 lead. As the Lady Lakers pressed to equalize Andrea Raso put the contest away as she scored a late goal giving the Rams the 2-0 victory.

“We played a good game,” said head coach Vito Castiglione. “We just couldn’t find a way to pass the Ryerson defenders effectively.”

Sunday, the Lady Lakers took the field at the new look varsity stadium. The speed of the turf created some initial problems for the Lady Lakers as they spent some time chasing the ball in the early parts of the contest.

Once again the Lady Lakers couldn’t find the answer to pass the defense. Both teams had numerous corner kicks however the game remained scoreless at the half.

In the second half the Blues’ Briony Demott opened the scoring off a corner kick that Lakers midfielder Hiliary Jacko got a head on however it bounced off the crossbar and found the mesh.

The Lady Lakers did control possession for most of the second half and as has been the case so far this season haven’t found a way to create consistent quality scoring chances.

The Blues put the game out of reach by scoring their second goal of the contest as Danielle Marquis found herself alone with only the Lakers keeper Boehm to beat. Marquis made no mistake giving the Blues the 2-0 victory.

“We had some really solid performances from our midfielders and defense this weekend,” added Castiglione.

“We just need to find some ways of creating some quality scoring chances.”

The Lakers will be back at home on the weekend for a pair of important games. Saturday the Lakers face Queen’s University while RMC visits Sunday. The women kick things off at 12 while the men follow at 2:15 p.m.