MONTREAL -- Laval struck for a pair of goals early in the second half, then held on for a 2-1 victory over McGill in a hard-fought, flag-filled game to open the RSEQ men's soccer season before a spirited crowd of 625 at Percival Molson Stadium, Friday.
The game featured a lofty 11 penalty cards, believed to be among the highest totals in league history, including seven to the Rouge et Or. Laval hung on for the victory despite being forced to play one-man short over the final 30 minutes when
Vincent Lavigne, was tossed after drawing his second yellow. He will have to serve an automatic one-game suspension. Laval was also assessed 10 of the 17 fouls called in the testy affair.
All the scoring was done by natives sons of France.
Striker
Quentin Lacombe opened the scoring in the first minute after the halftime break. Less than three minutes later, the visitors led 2-0 on a marker by senior forward
Wassim Chaouki.
The Redbirds narrowed the gap some 14 minutes into the final stanza when veteran striker
Florian Bettelli, a mathematics and computer science senior, struck paydirt.
The shots on goal were even at 6-6 but Laval held a slight 9-8 edge in shots attempted.
Horace Sobze-Zemo, a 6-foot-2 goalkeeper from Cameroon, made five saves for the win.
Making his first career start between the pipes for McGill was 19-year-old
Victor Henry, a 6-foot-1 freshman from France,
who registered four saves in a losing cause. Henry was filling in for veteran starting 'keeper
Chris Cinelli-Faia, who was scratched after suffering a lower-body injury during practice during the week.
McGill (0-1) will now focus on preparing to host UQAM (0-0) on Thursday, Sept. 16, at 8:15 p.m., while Laval (1-0) plays next on Sept. 17 at Concordia (0-1).
REDBIRDS RAP: The Redbirds 18-man dress-roster featured seven players making their university debut, three of whom were sophomores who sat out the 2020 campaign, canceled due to the COVID pandemic.... Of the 31 players listed on McGill's roster, seven are seniors to go along with five juniors and 19 players who have never dressed for the team's outdoor season. Seven of them are sophomores in their rookie campaign and 12 are true freshmen.
BOXSCORE
McGILL STARTING LINEUP vs. LAVAL
G: Victor
Henry*
D: Bilal
Bouchemella*
D: Christopher
Marton
D: Martin
Baudelet*
D: Jack
Macdonald
M: Nicolas
Destaing
M: Jake
Gerenraich
M: Sebastian
Cobuzzi
M: Reese
Carlow*
F: Florian
Bettelli
F: Jean-Marc
Yao
*freshman
2021 RSEQ MEN'S SOCCER STANDINGS
SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
514-398-7012 (Off.)
m.athletics.mcgill.ca (mobile website)
www.mcgillathletics.ca
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca
