Lakers score draws against northern rivals

Women’s Game - Nipissing 1 - Laurentian 1The Nipissing Lady Lakers picked up their second point of the season as they battled their northern rivals the Laurentian Voyageurs to a 1-1 draw recently at the Steve Omischl Sports Complex.It was a different game from the September 2 match in the Nickel City, according to head coach David Bitonti. “I thought the difference was that today we played a disciplined game for 90 minutes compared to last week, where we played a strong first half only.  What is very encouraging is that the plays we have been working on in practice are translating to game situations and we are gaining confidence which each game.”
The Lady Lakers opened the scoring in the 13th minute when Sara Dorval converted a rebound that was initiated off a free kick. The Lady Lakers continued to apply pressure and came close to scoring when Valaine Confessor was sent in on a partial breakaway and fired a hard shot that was stopped by the charging Laurentian keeper.
With 10 minutes remaining in the half, Laurentian put some pressure on the Lakers, coming close twice but hitting the cross bar both times before the ball was cleared by the Lakers defence.Laurentian’s Lisa Watson evened the contest at 1-1 in the 60th minute.
Both teams exchanged some quality scoring chances but no team could capitalize and both keepers made some quality saves when it mattered the most preserving the tie for their respective teams.Men’s Game - Nipissing 0 - Laurentian 0
The temperature may have dropped but the heat was turned up at the Steve Omischl Sports Complex for this intense northern soccer rivalry between the home town Nipissing Lakers and the visiting Laurentian Voyageurs.
It was a physical game from the start with numerous hard tackles as both teams tried to establish themselves early on. The play for the first 40 minutes was concentrated in the midfield as both squads played solid defence, not allowing any space for the forwards to create scoring opportunities.
The first notable chance came in the 43rd minute when the Lakers were awarded a free kick that was well struck and was heading for the top corner until Laurentian keeper Matt George made a diving save to keep the score deadlocked.
In the second half, Laurentian’s Ason Harry made a nice run and crossed a ball that was destined for his teammate; however, Lakers keeper Andrew Richard made a diving save to intercept the ball.
In the next five minutes the Lakers applied tremendous pressure and were awarded a penalty kick in the 75th minute when a Laker player was fouled in the 18yard box. Tyler Doell managed to beat George but he couldn’t beat the cross bar as his shot rang off the bar and was cleared from danger.
A few minutes later, speedy striker Tommy Duncan pierced the Laurentian defence, chipped the ball over a charging George and fired a shot heading for net. The Laurentian defence made a good play backing up their netminder and once again cleared the ball from danger.
In the final minutes of play, Laurentian applied some pressure of their own as they were awarded a free kick just outside the 18 yard box. However, the Lakers defence stood tall and cleared the ball.
Duncan, a fourth year Education student from Lindsay, had a busy day as he was in the classroom in Lindsay all day for placement then drove to North Bay for the game only to return to his classroom in the morning. “I thought we played a solid game in the midfield,” said Duncan. “We were a little nervous the first game of the season but I thought we were more composed this game.”