MSOC | Varsity Blues Outlast Voyageurs
A bitter pill to swallow for the Voyageurs on Saturday as a halftime lead would not be enough and the men had to settle for defeat against the Toronto Varsity Blues by a score of 3-1.
The Voyageurs came out flying with a number of early scoring opportunities. One such opportunity came via the cleats of Jacob Gramegna whose shot grazed the gloves of the opposing goalkeeper and then the post but went out of bounds for a Laurentian corner kick. Soon after, a beautiful pass from Arshjit Pelia found Nick Esperanca in the box who was wide open and made no mistake in netting the ball in the far left corner for the opening marker of the match. The Voyageurs were jubilant and both teams pushed for further advantage but were unable to find it. The Voyageurs however had a stronger offensive play in the half than their opponents but were unable to add to their lead. The first half would then come to an end with the Voyageurs up one goal to nothing.
Early in the second half, the Varsity Blues earned a free kick near the Voyageurs' penalty box; which they successfully converted into the equalizing goal of the match. The goal came courtesy of Atchu Sivananthan with an assist from Kenny Lioutas. Following the equalizing goal, the Varsity Blues stepped up their offensive pressure to score the go-ahead goal but Adam Scanlon denied them in their efforts. In the 55th minute, Scanlon saved a, what seemed like, sure-fire goal as the shooting Varsity Blues' player was wide open. Soon after, Scanlon came running in to dispatch away a ball that saw a wide open Varsity Blues player chasing the ball and was all-alone on net.
Following these chances, the Vees managed to get possession back and pressed on for the go-ahead goal but it would not come. To their dismay, in the 66th minute, an incoming cross from the Varsity Blues found a fellow teammate, who was all alone and had a go towards the net but Scanlon made a superb sprawling kick save but unfortunately the resulting rebound went straight to Nicholas Osorio who tapped the ball in to give the Varsity Blues their first lead of the match. Next, in the 81st minute, the Varsity Blues were awarded a penalty kick and Nikola Stakic made no mistake in depositing the ball at the back of the net for an insurance marker and the Varsity Blues would seal a 3-1 victory.
The Voyageurs now sit three points out of a playoff spot and they will surely look to occupy it in the next couple of weeks, starting with the Ryerson Rams tomorrow at 2:15 pm tomorrow.
Wali Khan