Photo by Valerie Wutti
The Carleton Ravens men’s soccer team earned themselves a 3-0 Halloween victory over the Trent Excalibur in a match where the home side dominated in front of the fans at Raven’s Perch.
Sunday marked seniors’ day, and Carleton coach Kwesi Loney honoured 10 of his players that are in the final year of their respective undergraduate degrees. Before the opening kickoff, the fans at Raven’s Perch had a chance to honour Jimi Aribido (Part Harcourt, NG), Junior Asare (Ottawa, Ont.), Jeremy Aweya (Kanata, Ont.), Gabriel Bitar (Ottawa, Ont.), Ricky Comba (Ottawa, Ont.), Dario Conte (Ottawa, Ont.), Mitchell O’Brien (Chelsea, QC.), Scott Mazzotta (Ottawa, Ont.), and Emad Houache (Ottawa, Ont.).
When asked about seniors’ day, Kwesi Loney reflected on his team’s off-field achievements.
“As much as they are all amazing players, they’re students first. Today is us celebrating the completion of what these guys came here to do, and that’s get an education. It’s really hard not to be proud as a coach on days like this,” Loney said after the match.
Carleton followed up their on-field ceremony with some stellar play to open Sunday’s match. Just 14 minutes into the game, Ravens defender Moses Kafeero (Ottawa, Ont.) played a beautiful ball into the box for Jeremy Aweya (Kanata, Ont.) who made no mistake using his chest to redirect the ball past the Trent goalkeeper for a 1-0 Carleton lead.
The Ravens held possession for almost the entirety of the first half but could not break down Trent as easily as they had done Friday night in Peterborough where Carleton beat the Trent Excalibur by a lopsided 9-0 scoreline. Carleton nearly added a second goal just before halftime, but Dario Conte’s (Ottawa, Ont.) free kick tipped the top of the crossbar and went behind for a goal kick.
Early in the second half, Trent got their best chance of the game. A mix-up from the Carleton defence’s backline saw a great made by Ravens goalkeeper Kyle Potter (Ottawa, Ont.) to preserve the clean sheet.
While Trent defended valiantly for the opening 60 minutes of the match, the Ravens ultimately proved to be too much for the Excalibur defence. Emad Houache (Ottawa, Ont.) and Ricky Comba (Ottawa Ont.) celebrated seniors’ day with some terrific build-up play that saw Comba finish a lovely feed from Houache to put the Ravens up 2-0. Ten minutes before the final whistle, Quinn Honeyman-Wootton (Chelsea, QC.) played a beautiful ball for Kevin Kaba Kalonji (Ottawa, Ont.) which he put past the Trent goalkeeper to secure the 3rd goal for Carleton, and a 3-0 win on the day.
The Ravens now head into the OUA playoffs after a strong 7-1-2 regular season. Carleton looks to get off to a strong start Wednesday, November 3 when the playoffs kickoff against the McMaster Marauders. Be sure to come out to Raven’s Perch as they fight to become champions of Ontario, and then compete for a national title.
