Photo by Robin Kasem
KINGSTON – After an electrifying 3-0 victory in their season opener at the Raven’s Perch, the Carleton Ravens men’s soccer team travelled to Kingston for a rematch with the Queen’s Gaels.
It took Carleton only nine minutes to score in their Friday night matchup against Queen’s, and once again they scored an early goal in this match. Just 18 minutes into the game, Ravens defender Tareq Hamad found midfielder Ricky Comba (Ottawa, Ont.) inside the box for an easy tap-in and a quick lead for Carleton.
The Gaels came back quickly the other way with a great chance in the 21st minute, but Carleton goalkeeper Kyle Potter (Ottawa, Ont.) made a terrific save. Potter looked confident early in the match coming off a clean sheet on Friday night.
The first half also saw some hard fouls from both sides, including a yellow card to Carleton forward Jimi Aribido (Port Harcourt, Ont.). There was animosity between the two teams after Friday’s heated meeting, and some of that frustration boiled over at times.
At the half-hour mark of the first half, Queen’s forward Daniel Lee pulled down Ravens midfielder Matteo de Brienne for a Carleton penalty kick. The opening goal scorer Ricky Comba made no mistake putting the penalty away, and Carleton looked to be in the clear with a 2-0 lead in the opening 30 minutes.
Just before halftime, got a late goal off a free kick rebound that dropped to Queen’s defender Miro Berger in the box to make it a 2-1 game at the break.
Carleton came out with a purpose in the second half, scoring two quick goals from set-piece free kicks by a pair players from Chelsea, Quebec. Midfielder Quinn Honeyman-Wootton finished the first chance to make it 3-1 in the 54th minute, and defender Mitchell O’Brien made it 4-1 in the 58th.
Queen’s pushed hard in the final 30 minutes of the match scoring a pair of goals to make it a 4-3 game. After midfielder Andrea Gortana scored on a 90th-minute penalty kick, both teams were shoving trying to retrieve the ball out of the net behind Carleton goalkeeper Kyle Potter (Ottawa, Ont.). The referee called the match soon after, and the Ravens were given their second win in three days to open the OUA season.
Carleton Ravens head coach Kwesi Loney was upbeat in his post-game interview.
“You’re always happy when you can come away with six points in your first two games, so I’m proud of the guys for that.”
One player that particularly impressed Kwesi was midfielder Ricky Comba (Ottawa, Ont.) who scored a pair of goals on the day and had two good chances for a hat-trick.
“He puts his whole heart and soul into these matches, so it was great to see him get on the scoresheet today wearing the captain’s armband.”
The Carleton Ravens will be back in action Friday, October 1, on the road against Royal Military College (RMC) before returning home to play RMC Sunday, October 3, at 1:00 p.m. at Ravens’ Perch.
