TORONTO - Although the weather literally put a bit of a damper on their return home after six straight games on the road, the Ryerson Rams scored twice in the first ten minutes to defeat the Laurentian Voyageurs 2-0 in OUA men's soccer action Sunday afternoon. The win improves the Rams' record to 11-0 and keeps them atop the OUA East division. Laurentian falls to 5-5 and are now tied for fourth-place with the Queen's Gaels.
BOXSCORE
Rain, heavy at times, fell throughout warmups and into the early part of the game at Downsview Park. That didn't impact Ryerson's ability to score though.
Following a number of early opportunities, the Rams struck in the sixth minute. Some nice ball movement up the pitch led to the ball on Andrew Dias' (Toronto) foot. He sent a perfect pass over to Jamie Baker (Aurora, Ont.) who fired it past Laurentian's goalkeeper Connor Vande Weghe to make it 1-0.
Five minutes later, fullback Robert Boskovic (Mississauga, Ont.) launched a perfect ball from the left side of the park up to Luka Lee (Toronto) on the right. Lee went for a fantastic run, beat a couple defenders and crossed it to Baker. The senior striker finished the pretty play off by depositing the ball between the pipes to double the Rams' advantage.
“It started raining, it was cold and I knew that would suit them a little bit,” said Ryerson's head coach Filip Prostran after the game. “(Laurentian) came out with a bit of fire and I think the first two goals really settled our nerves and really broke their spirit.”
Baker almost completed the hat-trick a little later in the half. A through ball sent him in on a breakaway in the 28th minute. Sprinting down the right side, he shot from the top of the 18-yard box. The ball eluded a diving Vande Weghe before hitting the far post and rolling out of bounds.
“The last couple of games we've been scoring really quickly which gives the team a chance to settle in,” said Baker. “And once we get in and got the lead, we get into our rhythm and we keep the ball for the whole game.”
Ryerson dominated possession for most of the first half and into the second. As the game wore on, it became clear that the Voyageurs were getting frustrated. A number of fouls by Laurentian presented the Rams with a few opportunities to extend their lead further but, Vande Weghe and his backline were resilient.
The Sudbury native made a huge save on Nick Lambis (Pickering, Ont.) in the 70th minute. In for Baker at the top of Ryerson's formation, Lambis was sprung past the Voyageurs' fullbacks and shot from just outside the 18-yard box. A sprawling Vande Weghe got just enough of it with his hand to send it wide of the post.
Vande Weghe finished with eight saves in the losing effort while Praveen Ahilan (Unionville, Ont.) only needed to stop one shot to preserve Ryerson's eighth clean sheet of the season.
“Every game, every team is coming to take points but, I think we've done a really good job this year of not conceding,” said Baker. “That's been the difference for us. We can talk all that we want about how many goals we're scoring. That's great. But when we're not letting goals in at the back, that's a sign of a championship team.”
The Rams will look to make it twelve straight victories when they host the Queen's Gaels (4-3-3) on Saturday and RMC Paladins (0-9-1) on Sunday. Both games will be 3:15 p.m. starts at Monarch Park.
D WHAT?:
By picking up their eighth shutout of the year, Ryerson moves into first in the country in that category. Their 0.28 goals against average is also best in Canada.
BAKER'S BRILLIANCE:
With his eighth and ninth goals of the season, Baker is now third in OUA scoring. A couple of goals by Laurier's Niklas Bauer in a 3-2 loss to York Sunday moves him back to the top of the list with 11 tallies while Guelph's Jace Kotsopoulos sits in second after back-to-back hat-tricks against the Algoma Thunderbirds this weekend.
