TORONTO – The Ryerson Rams men's soccer team is headed back to the OUA Final Four championship next weekend thanks to a 3-0 blanking of the Carleton Ravens in quarter-final action on Sunday night at Downsview Park.
BOXSCORE
In their two meetings earlier this season, both games between the Rams and Ravens resulted in 0-0 draws. It took just seven minutes on Sunday for Ryerson to break the scoreless streak between the teams and the Rams never looked back.
Fifth year captain Martin Dabrowski (Barrie, Ont.) corralled a bouncing ball in the attacking midfield and slid a perfect through ball forward to Nick Lambis (Pickering, Ont.) who made no mistake in the seventh minute to give the Rams the lead.
Carleton's best chance of the night came in the 29th minute when Mekonen Lovemore-White found a streaking Andrew Bryan for a partial break. Rams keeper Praveen Ahilan (Unionville, Ont.) came charging out to cut down the angle and came up with the big save before also scooping up the rebound.
The teams headed to halftime with the Rams leading 1-0.
Ryerson scored another early goal in the second half, doubling their lead to 2-0 in the 50th minute when Lambis connected for a second time.
Lambis flicked the ball out to the wing for Dabrowski who worked the give-and-go back to Lambis who fired his shot into the top corner.
“Nick is the unsung hero on this team; hardest working, great student-athlete, all that stuff. Nick played a great game – he had his two chances and buried them,” commented head coach Filip Prostran following the game.
Neither team generated too many offensive chances throughout the rest of the half until substitute Jamie Baker (Aurora, Ont.) finished a great individual effort in the 77th minute. Defender Kyle Stewart (Kingston, Jamaica) cleared the ball up to Baker who took it down under control before dipsy-doodling his way around three defenders and sliding the ball into the bottom left corner.
There was no shortage of chippy play in this one, with a total of seven yellow and three red cards handed out between the teams.
All three red cards were assessed to the Ravens in extra time; one to Theodore Lopez De Castilla who was sent off the pitch and two to members of the Ravens on the bench.
Ryerson's Ahilan finished with eight saves in the victory while Carleton's Felix Daigle stopped just one of four shots against in the losing effort.
“Although it was an emotional game…I don't want us to exhaust all of our emotional energy here, nor to be satisfied here,” said Prostran following the game. “There are moments every year where we can celebrate. For me it's the OUA championship or the national tournament. Other than that, a high level program should expect to get to the Final Four and we're fortunate enough to get back there.”
This marks the third straight year the Rams will head to the Final Four and fourth time in the last six seasons.
The York Lions will play host to this year's Final Four championship with the Toronto Varsity Blues and McMaster Marauders rounding out the field. Those are the same four teams who participated in the 2014 Final Four in Hamilton.
As the top seed in the east, the Rams will crossover and play the second highest seed remaining in the west, the McMaster Marauders. Ryerson lost to the Marauders in the OUA semifinal last season and will be looking for redemption on Saturday, November 7.