Adamo Marinelli
Sept. 18
The Carleton Ravens remained undefeated after a dominant 4-1 win against a talented Nipissing Lakers squad thanks to excellent defending, fantastic passing and playmaking, and clinical finishing in the second half.
The Lakers' game planned well for the Ravens and set up a mid-low defensive block, making it hard for the Ravens to generate quality scoring chances in the attacking third.
“Nipissing did a great job defensively which caused us a lot of problems offensively. It took us a little longer to break them down,” head coach Kwesi Loney said.
However, the Ravens’ excellent ball movement, great passing, lethal transition attack, speed, and ability to get players into open spaces led to scoring chances which started breaking down the Lakers’ defense.
In the 16th minute, off the counterattack, the Ravens took a 1-0 lead after Danny Asaf dribbled past two defenders before tucking it home for his third goal of the season.
Loney said that as soon as his team scores their first goal, their game plan is not to sit back defensively but instead to keep attacking to immediately get another goal.
“At 1-0, we took our foot off the gas offensively until late in the first half and allowed them to play in our end a bit more. Our defense held up, but we have to change our mentality to align with our game plan.”
Even after conceding, the Lakers continued pressing on defense and weren’t afraid to move the ball upfield to generate chances.
Late in the first half, the Ravens retook control of the midfield and their physical defense continued to play well. They created a handful of turnovers which led to transition opportunities. The Ravens’ defense didn’t give their opponents a lot of time or space to pass or advance the ball downfield with their sound on-ball press.
The Ravens did a good job limiting the number of quality chances generated by the Lakers. The Ravens forced their opponents to the outside and limited their presence in front of the net. Also, goalkeeper Tyler David made numerous clutch saves.
Loney said there was a lot to be proud of, but also things to continue improving.
“Our possession was really good today. We controlled the tempo of the game. We moved the ball well too,” Loney said. “I didn't think it was as purposeful as it could have been though, particularly in the final third where we need to be more decisive and finish all our chances, which we didn’t do in the first half.”
Midfielder Quinn Honeyman-Wootton agreed, adding being clinical in front of the goal is crucial.
“I think we’re doing really well getting on the ball, keeping the ball, and controlling possession, but we still have another gear we need to hit,” Honeyman-Wootton said. “We had so many chances that we didn’t capitalize on last week vs UofT and this week too, so improving our finishing is key.”
Despite being down 1-0, the Lakers were dangerous. Lakers’ forward Ayden Harris gave the Ravens’ defense something to think about with his off-ball aggressiveness that led to turnovers and scoring chances.
Harris forced Ravens’ defender Mandela Singh Sharpe to cough up the ball but Harris couldn’t capitalize on his takeaway; his shot from inside the six-yard box was saved. A few minutes later, Harris received a nice pass from a teammate and found himself on a breakaway, but David came up with another huge save to keep the game 1-0.
“David is my man of the match today. We had a lot of the possession against UofT and today but in both games, he’s made some huge saves to keep us in it,” Honeyman-Wootton said.
The Ravens knew how dangerous the Lakers were offensively and needed to keep pressing early in the second half for another goal. Scott Mazzotta had a chance to make it 2-0 but fanned on his shot. He would get another chance a few minutes later but was robbed by a beautiful diving save from Lakers’ goalkeeper Ryan Miners.
The consistent attack from Ravens continued throughout the second half and it led to more goals. They created turnovers in the midfield and used stellar passing to set up offensively. They spent a lot of the second half in the Lakers’ half.
After a few nervy moments for the Ravens on defense that saw the Lakers get a few shots on goal - including a free kick from just outside the box - that required David to make several great saves to ensure his team kept their advantage, midfielder Quinn Honeyman-Wootton beautifully struck the ball from just outside the box and into the top corner of the net to give the Ravens a 2-0 lead in the 64th minute.
“I've always played the role of a number six - someone who does the simple things and doesn’t necessarily get all the glory, but still tries to play smart rather than be flashy or chase stats,” Honeyman-Wootton said. “I think it’s definitely important to be a leader on the field because I’m in the middle of the park.
“Quinn is the glue that holds the team together. He is sound defensively, his ball movement is excellent and he is a senior guy that brings a lot of leadership and confidence to the squad,” Loney said. “Not everything he does shows up on the stat sheet, but it speaks volumes in terms of all the work he does for the team on and off the pitch.”
Three minutes later, striker Bouzidi Mohamed gave the Ravens a 3-0 lead with a nice strike after stellar passing from his teammates set up the chance.
Mohamed scored his second goal off of a corner kick perfectly delivered by Mazzotta in stoppage time to give the Ravens a 4-1 lead after Lakers’ forward Jack Collins scored on the counterattack to cut the Ravens’ lead to 3-1 in the 81st minute.
The Ravens have won three of their first four matches this season and look dangerous in all phases of the game.
No comments:
Post a Comment