MSOC | Voyageurs Earn Vital Late Point Against Gaels

After winning their third straight game Saturday against the RMC Paladins the Laurentian Voyageurs Men's Soccer Team took on the Queen's Gaels in their final home match of the season. 

The reverse match in Kingston in mid September saw a 0-0 draw in which both teams would have felt like they let the three points slip away from them. From a Laurentian perspective another result on Sunday would be key to stay near the top of the OUA Eastern Division standings.

As the game began the Voyageurs seemed to struggle out of the gates and the backline was put under continuous threat during the majority of the first half. This culminated with a Gaels goal in the 32nd from George Papadopoulos who made a great run between the Laurentian defense and smashed his shot past goalkeeper Nate Shull to make it 1-0 Queen's going into the second half. 

 With both teams stepping back out on the field it was clear something needed to change in the second half if Laurentian wanted to extend their unbeaten run to 4 games. Within minutes you could tell the game plan changed as the Voyageurs began creating some key chances giving the Laurentian faithful hope that an equalizer was in the cards. 

With time winding down a Laurentian free kick was flung into the Queen's box,  with Jaiden Santo coming on to attack it the Queen's defender marking him clipped the back of his legs leading to the ball harmlessly rolling out of play. All eyes turned to the referee who hesitated momentarily before pointing his arm  to the spot indicating a Laurentian penalty kick.

As though it was written in the stars, long serving Laurentian attacker Timi Aliu who was minutes away from finishing his final home game for the Voyageurs was tasked with converting the game tying penalty with moments left to play. As he struck the ball the Queen's keeper was able to get a hand on the shot but luckily for Laurentian the deflection ricocheted the ball into the top corner of the net tying the game at 1-1. With virtually no time left the Voyageurs would steal a vital point and finish the weekend with 4 of a possible 6 points. 

With Laurentian still sitting in third place in the OUA Eastern Division they will take a trip to Peterborough and a matchup next weekend against the Trent Exclibur looking to extend their 4 game unbeaten streak. Gametime is for 3:15 on Saturday afternoon.

- Andrew Lemieux