M-SOCCER ROUNDUP: Battle of nationally-ranked teams ends in draw

The draw prevented the Lions from clinching their sixth straight OUA West Division title, but they still hold the top spot with a 12-0-2 record. The Marauders, who won last year's OUA championship, remain three points back at 11-1-2, and the Lions can secure the top seed in the playoffs with a win in either of their remaining two games of the season.

The first great chance of the game came in the 11th minute courtesy of Adrian Pena (Woodbridge, Ont.). He fired a hard shot on net that went off the chest of McMaster goalkeeper Angelo Cavalluzzo (Hamilton, Ont.) and up in the air. Pena tried again on the rebound but the ball bounced up off his foot and into the corner of the pitch.

Pena finally got the Lions on the board in the 38th minute with his 15th goal of the season. Defender Branko Majstorovic (Mississauga, Ont.) deked around a defender and sent a beautiful cross pass into the front of the net, which Pena promptly headed behind Cavalluzzo for the game's first goal.

The Lions carried their 1-0 lead into the half, and continued to dominate for the first part of the second. They nearly took a two-goal lead in the 61st minute when Pena sent in a great cross pass, but the ball was just out of the reach of Shaun MacDonald (Mississauga, Ont.).

After that the Marauders quickly took control of the game as they tried to find the equalizer. They nearly got their first goal in the 64th minute on a lucky bounce when Majstorovic nearly headed the ball into his own net, but MacDonald cleared the ball off the goal line just before it rolled in.

One minute later Andrew Pastoric (Oakville, Ont.) hit a shot off the post, and in the 74th minute he took another shot that beat York goalkeeper Sotiri Varlokostas (Toronto) but hit the crossbar.

Varlokostas then made a pair of tremendous saves on Gersi Xhuti (Etobicoke, Ont.) to maintain his team's lead, punching the ball over the net in the 79th minute and then just getting a finger on the ball to push it wide in the 81st.

In the final minutes Dan Niksic fired a pair of shots at Varlokostas, but the goalie made the save on both to preserve the tie.

The Lions had one final chance on the final play of the game, but Pena's free kick sailed wide.

Overall, the Marauders outshot the Lions 9-1 in the second half. Varlokostas made nine saves in the game while Cavalluzzo needed to stop just two.

The Lions will look to clinch the top spot in the division in their next game, scheduled for Friday night (Oct. 19) in Waterloo, Ont., against the Warriors. They will wrap up the regular season on Sunday afternoon (Oct. 21) against the Laurier Golden Hawks.

Source: York Sports Info

Guelph @ Brock

ST. CATHARINES, Ont. - The Brock University men's soccer team tied 1-1 against the Guelph Gryphons Wednesday afternoon at the Brock fields. Over the Badgers last six games they are 1-1-4.

A through ball by Anthony Bove (Niagara Falls, Ont.) fell into the path of Omar Hamadi (Oakville, Ont.) in the 4th minute, who would get away from two defenders but turned his shot wide.

Despite the home team's constant pressure, a free kick was awarded to the visitors in the 18th minute. Although the shot ran straight into the wall, the rebound was perfectly struck by Ethan Daniel (Guelph, Ont.) to make it 1-0 for Guelph.

The Badgers kept pressuring their counter parts and successful give-and-go's were disappointingly wasted. The first one by Sam Orlando (Woodbridge, Ont.) who kicked it low, the second one by Hamadi, who turned his defender with great technique and shot it wide and third, captain Erik Van Wissen (Georgetown, Ont.) who hammered the crossbar within the dying minutes of the half.

Marcus Bernard (Thornhill, Ont.) recorded three shots in the seonds frame, but couldn't put any of them away. Just like most of his teammates; anxiety was building upon them to tie the game.

Deep into injury time, the Badgers would pull one back after Bove controlled a ball wide and sent it into the box. Josh Marinelli (Pickering, Ont.) was there for the header, but hit the crossbar and bounced into the path of sophomore Benjamin Haggith (Paris, Ont.), who was tapped it in to tie the game.

In goal, the Badgers Jake Sweetzer (Mississauga, Ont.) recorded seven saves for the tie. Guelph starter Chad Paparoni collected six saves. 

The Badgers will play home against the Western Mustangs this Saturday, October 20th at 3:15 pm.

Source: Brock Sports Info

Toronto @ Trent

PETERBOROUGH, Ont. - Mario Kovacevic scored two goals to lead the Varsity Blues men’s soccer team to a 5-0 win over the Trent Excalibur on Wednesday night (Oct. 17) in Peterborough, Ont.
 
With the win, the Blues improve to 6-5-1 and sit in fourth place in the OUA East.
 
Veteran defender and Toronto native Killian Elkinson opened the scoring in the 18th minute. Kovacevic (Woodbridge, Ont.) then added two quick goals in the 40th and 41st minute to give the Blues a 3-0 lead at the half.
 
Mehdi Salemi and Jermaine Burrell added single tallies in the win.
 
The Varsity Blues return to the field this Saturday, October 20 as they host the Nipissing Lakers at Varsity Centre. Game time is set for 2:15 p.m.

Source: Toronto Sports Info