MSOC | Voyageurs Bounce Back, Blank Marauders
It seems the Voyageurs men's soccer team was just missing their home fans as they had an immensely improved performance against McMaster just two days after a humbling 6-0 loss to the Marauders. In a thrilling one-nil victory, the boys in yellow had a cracking winner in the 88th minutes with Ryan Jovanovich burying the cross from the corner into the bottom corner of the net, leaving the goalie no chance of saving it.
The game started with McMaster controlling possession and the tempo, having played with the ball in the Voyageurs' half. A couple of great saves by Keeghan Ezzard and a miss on a completely wide-open net by McMaster allowed the game to stay tied. McMaster also dominated the aerial battle, winning nearly every 50/50 ball in the air. However, Edward Opoku-Dapaah caught the defence of McMaster napping and had a great chance to put the Voyageurs ahead just before halftime but Tristan Joyce stymied him.
Whatever the coaches told the players at halftime clearly worked as the whole dynamic of the game changed in the second half with the Voyageurs starting to control the midfield, thanks to the play of Giancarlo Galluzzo. He had a fantastic game and contributed heavily in springing the Laurentian attack to life with some incredible through balls to the strikers. Around the midpoint of the half, McMaster sprang a counter-attack forcing Ezzard to make a save, which ricocheted off his arm and was rolling toward the net until Graeme McLean came through with an unbelievable effort and cleared the ball off the line, keeping the game scoreless.
Towards the end of the ninety minutes, Joyce was standing on his head to keep the game scoreless making save after save until finally, the pressure of the Laurentian attack was too much. The constant barrage of attacks forced a McMaster defender to put the ball out for a corner in the 88th minute. Nicolas Patenaude whipped in the corner across the face of goal, reaching the right foot of Jacxsen Cress who crossed the ball back into the danger area and, after a couple of ping-pong shots off the players, Ryan Jovanovich struck the ball beautifully into the left corner of the net.
The team's first goal of the season was enough to earn them their first victory of the year as they improved their record to 1-2-0. The men are next in action on Oct. 8th when they host the Algoma Thunderbirds at the James Jerome turf at 6:30pm.
Owen Brown