Adamo Marinelli
Sept. 18
The Carleton Ravens kept their undefeated season alive with a 1-0 win over the Nipissing Lakers, who have three of the OUA’s top scorers, in a tight defensive game.
The Lakers started the game strong and full of confidence. They controlled the possession battle, moved the ball effectively, and generated plenty of chances. They timed passes to perfection, playing their teammates onside as they split through Carleton’s backline.
The Lakers got a few quality chances early on, but Lachance-Soula stood tall and confidently made the necessary saves to keep the game scoreless.
“I think our team played really well today. We knew this was a tough opponent, especially offensively and we came prepared. We played our game and everyone did their job,” Lachance-Soula said.
The Lakers spent much of the early parts of the game in the Ravens’ end, dominating possession time early and generating plenty of scoring chances. Defensively, they played with a tight press starting past midfield and didn’t give the Ravens a ton of time to move the ball.
Head coach Dom Oliveri knew the Lakers’ high defensive press was coming and was ready for it.
“We watched them play a bunch last week and we worked on how to break that down in training. We discussed certain gaps we’d try to exploit and creative ways to beat the press. The players did a really good job,” Oliveri said.
In the 17th minute, that all changed on the counterattack when Salena Devellis placed a perfect pass through the Lakers’ back four which found the foot of Chloe Doiron, who after calmly controlling the ball, slotted it into the bottom-left corner of the net to give the Ravens a 1-0 lead.
After the goal, the Ravens took back some momentum from the Lakers and played with more confidence. They moved the ball precisely, created more quality scoring chances with their ball movement and counter-attack, and began to even out the possession battle.
The Lakers remained in a high press defensively which led to chances in transition for the Ravens but also led to takeaways in the midfield and scoring chances of their own. Before halftime, they had two chances to equalize, one was called back for offside, and then a perfectly placed corner kick was headed inches over the net.
The Ravens’ defense played very well with the one-goal lead. They were physical, limited the amount of quality key scoring chances the Lakers generated down the middle, and forced most of their chances outside. When the Lakers crossed it in, Lachance-Soula made the save or a defenseman cleared it out of harm’s way.
Oliveri believes his team played a really good first half, especially on defense.
“We had a really good tactical plan coming in and I think it worked really well, especially in the first half,” Oliveri said.
He added that in the second half, their defense and midfield shifted back tactically, allowing a bit more pressure, but his team still handled the pressure well and did what they needed to win.
“They're one of the best teams in the nation right now, when you beat a team like that, it’s a good day,” Oliveri said.
The Ravens controlled possession in the midfield and created takeaways to turn defense into offense with their lethal transition attack.
Oliveri says having tactical flexibility and being able to shift easily from defense to offense whenever they need to is the program’s goal and what they’ve been trying to do for five years.
“It really speaks volumes about the great mix of players we have at Carleton… who can be productive offensively and can also lock it down defensively,” Oliveri said. “So we have a lot of players with unique skillsets for any given game situation based on what we need. We’re really excited about what that will look like moving forward.”
Midway through the second half, Chloe Doiron nearly got her second goal of the night to double the Ravens’ lead with some fantastic dribbing to create a shot, but it was saved.
The Lakers pushed their backline up beyond midfield and shifted to a high 4-4-2 formation in the second half in an attempt to generate chances in transition to equalize the game.
In response, Oliveri made a tactical change and instructed his players to sit back a bit to be able to better absorb the pressure from the Lakers’ attacks. It worked, the Ravens didn’t concede.
The Lakers generated many quality scoring chances in the second half, especially in the last 15 minutes, but the Ravens’ defense locked them down and Lachance-Soula made many quality saves to sustain her team’s 1-0 lead.
In the 69th minute, Lachance-Soula made a huge save by deflecting a Lakers’ shot from inside the six-yard box into the crossbar, which was then cleared out. Arguably her best save of the match came in the 72nd minute after she dove across the net to stop a shot before getting up and clearing the ball off the line.
Lachance-Soula says she has been playing well but believes the whole team is the reason why they’ve only conceded once this season.
“Having a solid back four and excellent midfielders is amazing and helps me immensely. They keep shots out of the box, they put their bodies in front of the ball, and get the ball out of danger,” Lachance-Soula said. “They know nothing can go through them, if it does I’m there.”
“She had a great game and she’s been doing that all year. She made a couple really big saves to sustain our 1-0 lead, but we see that every day in training from her,” Oliveri said.
The Ravens defended well for the rest of the game and Lachance-Soula made a few more quality saves to earn her second clean sheet of the year and seal the second victory in three games for the Ravens.
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