OUA Soccer - Lakers get 1 point on Toronto road trip

TORONTO, ON. – The Nipissing Lakers (2-5-5) men’s soccer squad came away with a single point but failed to make up any ground in the OUA East standings after a 0-0 draw against the Ryerson Rams Friday at BMO field.

The Nipissing squad came out strong out of the gate and created several quality scoring opportunities, two of which came off of corner kicks.

Early in the half Mohammed Nyangado (Latir Kunda, KMC) connected off a corner kick pass but the ball was stopped by Rams goalkeeper Anthony Volpe (Brampton,Ont.). A second corner kick later in the half gave the Lakers another quality chance when Volpe missed the ball which landed right in front of Ryerson's net. After a quick scramble Ryerson's defence was able to clear the ball and scoring threat.

The Rams had a few chances in Nipissing's territory as well with their best opportunity coming when Dimitri Karapoulos (Scarborough, Ont.) connected with a header off a corner kick by Alex Braletic (Toronto, Ont.) however the ball sailed just high over the net.

Lakers keeper Cory Schwartz (Owen Sound, Ont.) recorded the shutout.

Saturday the Lakers dropped a 1-0 decision to the OUA East division leading Toronto Varsity Blues (10-1-2).

Toronto’s Nordo Gooden (Kingston, Jamaica) opened the scoring at the 15 minute mark when he converted a nice pass from teammate Seung Bok Lee (North York, Ont.)

Schwartz was solid in net as he made several key stops to keep the Lakers within striking distance. The Lakers were able to press and get four corner kicks however the offense couldn’t convert on any of its chances and the score remained 1-0 at half.

In the second half the Blues were looking to put the Lakers away and were awarded nine corner kicks however the defence and Schwartz held their ground.

Nipissing spent most of the half defending and were unable to muster much of an offensive threat, as the Blues would take the victory by a score of 1-0.

Schwartz was the standout player for the Lakers, making several key stops against Gooden in close. He collected seven saves in the loss.

The Lakers will be back in action when they host their Northern Rivals the Laurentian Voyageurs Wednesday evening at 5:15 p.m. at the Education Centre Field.

Submitted to BayToday.ca