MSOC | Voyageurs Season Comes To an End in OUA Playoffs Round 1

With the Laurentian Voyageurs Men's Soccer team earning a spot in the OUA Men's Soccer postseason and drawing a match against the Carleton Ravens in Round 1. With the Ravens having the higher seed in the regular season it meant that the Voyageurs took a trip down to the nation's capital to try and upset Carleton on their own turf. 

The only other meeting between the two teams was the first match of the regular season, a game that saw Laurentian let a 1-0 lead slip with the match ending 3-1 in favor of the Ravens.

The first half was tightly contested as both teams knew the game was a "win or go home" scenario. This meant both defenses did their best not allow any clear cut opportunities for the attackers. Laurentian especially did a great job of standing tall looking to go into the second half at 0-0 and staying within striking distance of the number 5 ranked team in the country. 

However with less than five minutes to go in the first half a move that began with a great lofted pass over the Laurentian defense by Caden Tomy found the Ravens right winger who crossed the ball into striker Ousman Maheshe. His first time shot hit the back of the net giving the Ravens a 1-0 lead going into the break.

The second half saw the Voyageurs do their best to push back and find an equalizer as the game stayed at 1-0 going into the final 15 minutes. With the desperation increasing Laurentian began committing more men forward and leaving the defense vulnerable to a Ravens attack. This would lead to Carleton putting up 2 more goals in the 79th and 84th minutes meaning Timi Aliu's goal in the 87th minute ended up being too little too late as the home team would end the game victorious by a score of 4-1. 

With that loss the Voyageurs season comes to an end in a first round loss of the OUA playoffs. With many highlights Laurentian's overall record on the year ends with 4 wins 3 draws and 6 losses looking to build on a fairly successful 2024 season into the 2025 campaign. 

- Andrew Lemieux