November 9, 2012

CIS men's soccer championships: Carleton come from behind, eliminates Alberta

QUEBEC CITY (CIS) – The Alberta Golden Bears scored in the first minute of play but the Carleton Ravens dominated the second half to come from behind and win the first consolation semifinal 2-1 at the CIS men’s soccer championship Friday morning at TELUS-UL Stadium.

Carleton will play in the fifth-place game Saturday at 11 a.m. EST. The OUA finalists now have the opportunity to match their finish from their last CIS championship appearance in 2008.

As for the Bears, who were ranked fourth in the country before the championship, their season ends unexpectedly with three straight losses, including last weekend’s Canada West final.

With his team down 1-0 early on, Ravens’ head coach Sandy Mackie was thrilled to be able to play one last match. “After the first fifteen seconds, I thought we were in for a long 90 minutes, but we played well the rest of the first half. We got one back, a nice goal, and a second one right after”, Mackie said.

“The last 15 minutes were long ones because they put a lot of pressure on us, but we held on and it’s nice to have another game to play,” he added.

After a tough loss to UQTR in Thursday’s quarter-finals, Alberta coach Len Vickery had no explanation for his team’s collapse. “You think things can’t get any worse, after losing a tight game against Trois-Rivières yesterday. Well, they can. It did get worse today.”

The Bears struck early, after only 12 seconds, when Scott Gilroy kicked the ball over the Ravens’ defence, allowing striker Marcus Johnstone of Edmonton to break free and take a precise shot to the keeper’s left side, making it 1-0 Alberta.

Carleton had a few good chances to level the game before halftime. Joey Kewin had an opportunity after beating the Bears’ defence but his shot went wide to the left.

The tide turned in the second half. At the 49-minute mark, first-team all-Canadian striker Andrew Latty escaped in the Bears’ territory but his strike was squeezed against the goal post by keeper Jay Vetsch. Carleton kept on attacking and finally had success in the 62^nd minute when Latty jumped on a rebound off a Joey Kewin’s shot and put it in the back of the net.

Kewin, who hails from London, Ont., gave his team the lead less than two minutes later, accepting a long pass from Julian Piccioli and finding himself all alone with Vetsch. His perfect shot left no chance to the Bears’ goalkeeper, who saw the ball roll slowly to his left.

Ahead 2-1, Carleton continued to make the Bears’ defence look bad, when Latty had another shot at the goal on a breakaway in the 69th minute, but couldn’t beat Alberta’s keeper.

The Bears had one last gasp at the start of the added time. Ariel Lugoma took a powerful shot from the edge of the box but Carleton keeper Mark Krocko dove to his left to make the save and secure the win for the Ravens.

SCORING SUMMARY
CAR: 0-2:2
ALB: 1-0:1

First half
ALB Marcus Johnstone (1) (Scott Gilroy), 1^st

Second half
CAR Andrew Latty (1) (Joey Kewin), 62^nd
CAR Joey Kewin (1) (Julian Piccioli), 64^th

Goalkeepers:
CAR: Mark Krocko (W, 1 GA, 3 saves, 90:00, 1-1)
ALB: Jay Vetsch (L, 2 GA, 7 saves, 90:00, 0-2)

Team stats
Shots: CAR 24, ALB 10
Shots on net: CAR 13, ALB 4
Corners: CAR 5, ALB 2
Offsides: CAR 4, ALB 3
Fouls: CAR 20, ALB 14
Yellow cards: CAR (Ryan Beckford), ALB (Marcus Johnstone, Eddy Sidra)
Red cards: CAR (none), ALB (none)

Players of the game:
CAR: Joey Kewin
ALB: Eddy Sidra

SCHEDULE & RESULTS

Official championship website: http://english.cis-sic.ca/championships/msoc/index

Thursday, Nov. 8
11:00 Quarter-final 1: Cape Breton 1 Carleton 0 (4-3 kicks)
13:30 Quarter-final 2: UQTR 2 Alberta 1
16:00 Quarter-final 3: UBC 4 UNB 0
18:30 Quarter-final 4: Laval 1 McMaster 0

Friday, Nov. 9
11:00 Consolation 1: Carleton 2 Alberta 1
13:30 Consolation 2: UNB vs. McMaster (CIS-SIC.tv webcast)
16:00 Semifinal 1: Cape Breton vs. UQTR (CIS-SIC.tv webcast)
18:30 Semifinal 2: UBC vs. Laval (CIS-SIC.tv webcast)