Written by Ravens Sports Information
Kingston, Ont. – Under sunny skies at Kingston’s Richardson Stadium, the Carleton Ravens defence shone brightest in a 1-1 draw.
Facing the OUA’s defending champions the Ravens quickly settled into a solid defensive posture as the Gaels looked to remove any doubt that they were no longer the top team. Ravens keeper Chloe Lachance-Soulard (Ottawa, Ont.) would prove up to the task making a number of key saves in the first half, including making a brilliant diving save as Queen’s pressed into the fiftieth minute.
Throughout the second half, the Ravens’ back line continued to hold off the Gaels looking to create some offence of their own. When the Ravens did finally gain possession over half a Gaels foul gave Elodie Sylvain (Ottawa, Ont.) a free kick from the right touchline 24 yards from goal. Devellis measured the set perfectly delivering a strike just under the bar to give the Ravens the lead.
The Gaels would respond under 10 minutes later, finally capitalizing on a number of quality chances they had thrown at Lachance-Soulard throughout the matchup. With twenty minutes to play in the second half, the two teams would exchange opportunities winning key set pieces but not being able to generate much in terms of progress.
The two teams would trade late chances with Queen’s having the last opportunities off a corner, but the Ravens’ defence was solid once again holding on for key road points.
“When you get the schedule and you get Queen’s first, one of the top teams in the country, it’s a challenging start but the players certainly did really well today. It felt even a little disappointing – we felt we almost came out of here with three points.”
On the defensive form…
“[The defence] did a fantastic job. It took 80 minutes for Queen’s to really break us down. There weren’t a lot of opportunities that we felt were dangerous, and that was the plan, to limit their opportunities and see if we could hit something on the counter.”
On Keeper Chloe Lachance-Soulard…
“We know how talented Chloe [Lachance-Soulard] has been for her time here at Carleton, it was just a matter of being patient and waiting her turn to be a starter here, especially today. She did a lot of the little things really, really well in helping us organize.”
On coming home next weekend…
“Hopefully there is some excitement behind this team, it’s a talented group, a young group and now it’s time for them to come out and perform.”