MSOC | Voyageurs Winning Streak Continues with Home Win over RMC

After winning both their home games last weekend the Laurentian Voyageurs Men's Soccer team continued their final homestand of the year with a match against the RMC Paladins, Saturday afternoon. 

Sitting third place in the East Division of the OUA regular season going into this weekend the Voyageurs knew that home wins this weekend would be vital to stay near the top of the standings come the end of the season. 

However things didn't start the way Laurentian had planned. In just the 10th minute of the game it was RMC who got on the board first as a charging run down the right wing saw the ball swung into the box and onto the head of forward Chris Knock who calmly headed the ball into the Laurentian net giving the Paladins a 1-0 lead minutes into the game.

From there though it was almost like a switch had been turned on for the Voyageurs. Laurentian completely dominated the rest of the first half culminating with three key chances. In the 21st minute it was Joseph Martins who got the Voyageurs on the scoresheet as he finished off a beautiful passing move with an emphatic strike into the top corner to make it 1-1. Then just 5 minutes later a free kick taken by Martins was stopped by the RMC keeper only for Joey Coppola to pounce on the ensuing rebound to make it 2-1.

Laurentian wasn't done there though, in the 37th minute they built on their lead with Martins involved again. This time it was a fantastic piece of hold up play by Roy Solarin who then slipped Martins through with a fantastic pass. From there the Laurentian midfielder calmly put the ball in the bottom corner to make it 3-1 going into halftime. 

With the game still in the balance RMC tried to push in the second half. However the Laurentian game management was on point limiting their opponents to just three shots in the second half. There was a small scare late in the 89th minute when the Paladins pulled one back to make it 3-2 but the nerves lasted mere moments as Joshua Geddes put the game to bed in the 90th minute to make it 4-2 securing the Voyageurs a 3rd straight victory.

Laurentian will host the Queen's Gaels Sunday afternoon in their final home match of the season. Timi Aliu, Nicolas Patenaude and Xavi Pimbu will be highlighted as the 2024 senior class with kick-off set for 2:15 at the LU Fields.

- Andrew Lemieux