Ravens end Lady Lakers season

The Nipissing Lady Lakers soccer season has come to a disappointing end after the visiting Carleton Ravens scored twice in three minutes late in the game to notch the 2-1 come from behind victory on Wednesday afternoon at Nipissing University.

The Lakers got off to a terrific start generating numerous chances early in the match. Kim Tait put the Lakers up 1-0 when she placed a beautiful strike from a corner kick to the top left corner of the net eluding Carleton keeper Rachel Bedek.

The Lady Lakers continued to press and created some quality scoring opportunities collecting four additional corner kicks in the half however none would find the back of the mesh.

Carleton’s best chance came when they penetrated the Lakers zone and rang a shot off the post that was tapped in however the play was called back on an offside violation.

During injury time Stephanie Stubbert made a great run down the left flank as she carried the ball and fired a shot that deflected off a Raven defender. The Lakers were awarded a corner however the referee blew her whistle indicating half time before the Lakers could take the kick.

In the second half it was Carleton who came out with renewed intensity and generated several opportunities one of which included a partial breakaway by Amanda Ngwafusi that was denied by a diving Sam Behm.

Behm came to the rescue again minutes later when she made a spectacular diving save taking away a sure goal from Natalie Griffith who blasted a ball that landed at her feet inside the 18 yard from the resulting corner kick.

Ngwafusi would exact her revenge as a ball skipped passed a Lakers defender and she was sent in all alone and this time made no mistake chipping the ball over an outstretched Behm.

The Lady Lakers responded quickly by sending in Leesa Church on a through ball but she could not beat Bedek who caught the ball.

Lakers midfielder Alex Instance had a chance to put the Lakers up however her strike drifted past the right cross bar.

Carleton’s Shayla Lavecchia who entered the game minutes before scoring found herself in the right place at the right time. The Lakers defence attempted to clear the ball and it bounced off a Carleton player right to Lavecchia who chipped it high past Behm giving the Ravens the 2-1 lead.

The Lakers pressed hard for the equalizer creating three quality chances however one shot sailed wide and Bedek made two key saves down the stretch to preserve the victory for Carleton. The Ravens now move on to the second round of the playoffs.

“The girls played their hearts out today,” said head coach Vito Castiglione. “I think the difference was that we sat back more in the second half and didn’t take the play to them like we did in the first. We played a solid game defensively and if we had scored the second goal I feel we would have come away with the win today.”

Castiglione went on to say that the coaching staff was very proud of the girls and the effort that was put forth. He also expressed his sincere gratitude to graduating players Didiane Chollet, Kathleen Fuller, Melissa Snedden and Alexandra Instance for all their years of commitment and dedication to the program.

The Lady Lakers finished the season in forth place in the OUA East division with a 6-7-3 regular season record.

Submitted to BayToday.ca