The Men’s and Women’s Soccer teams faced off on Sept. 14 with a double header against the University of Toronto Varsity Blues.
Coming into the game, both teams looked to bounce back from a rough patch in performance from the past week.
On the Women’s side, their double-header in Ottawa on Sept. 6 and 8 resulted in a draw to Carleton, and a 0-1 loss to the number two ranked Ottawa Gee-Gees. Dropping them out of the top 10 in the national rankings from seventh to 11.
With a win, they could find themselves back in the top 10, and more importantly gain some confidence back for the remainder of the season.
For the Men’s Team, things have been much more dire having lost their first three games and drawing their most recent to the 43rd ranked Laurentian Voyageurs.
It’s a horror start for new head coach, Kasy Kiarash, who hoped for a better performance from the team this far into the season. The Men’s Team has fallen from 16th place in the preseason national rankings to 29th and will continue to tumble with a loss this past weekend.
In front of a home crowd at Richardson Stadium, this weekend represented the perfect opportunity for both teams to get the season back on track.
The women took to the field first and led the action off early when Morgan Fenton, ArtSci ’26, was assisted by Lily Goss, Kin ’26, to make the score 1-0 just four minutes after the kickoff.
The team didn’t look back, adding to the total with another goal from Mattson Strickler, ConEd ’26, assisted by Seema Sakran, Kin ’26, in the 63rd minute. Fenton quickly followed suit with a brace in the 67th minute to add to a 3-0 win against the Varsity Blues.
It was a dominant performance on both sides of the pitch; offensively, the team outshot Toronto 15-5 with nine shots on goal. Defensively, the clean sheet marked their of the season.
With a 1-0 win they added to their clean sheet total, and the sole goal courtesy of Marissa Gravel, ArtSci ’25.
With a successful weekend campaign at home, the Women’s Team should find themselves in the nation’s top 10, and with lots of confidence going into their game against
The same can’t be said for the Men’s team, who dropped their fourth game of the season 0-2 to the Varsity Blues.
Despite holding the score at zero for the first 80 minutes, with 18 total shots, including 9 on goal from Toronto. It was only a matter of time before their opponent found the back of the net, which they did in quick succession in the 81st and 85th minutes.
The Gaels also continued their goalless streak, having failed to score since their first game of the season. What didn’t help was their inability to find shots, having recorded zero in the second half against the Varsity Blues.
Being outscored 14-1 in all games this season, problems offensively and defensively continue to echo throughout their season.
The team’s one saving grace is their next two games against the RMC Paladins. For as dreadful as the Men’s Team has been this season, the Paladins have been worse. Conceding 28 goals over five games while scoring zero, they deservedly are the worst ranked team in the nation.
It’s the last chance for this Men’s Team to turn this season around and get in the win column, or it’s time to look ahead to next year.
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