Soccer teams kick off the season

Both the Lakers men’s and women’s soccer teams kicked off the regular season last weekend, taking on Ryerson on Saturday and the University of Toronto on Sunday.  
Women’s Soccer
The Nipissing Lakers women’s soccer team almost made it out of Toronto with a pair of victories, but will take the split. 

A day after winning their season opener over the Ryerson Rams, the Lakers fell 2-0 to the Toronto Varsity Blues Sunday, splitting the opening weekend of the season.

The Lakers allowed a goal near the 12-minute mark of the first half, putting them down early and, despite a few chances later in the game, were unable to find the back of the net.

A goal at the 71st minute gave the Varsity Blues a 2-0 lead as they earned the shutout victory.

Coming off a 3-1 win – thanks to goals by Sara Dorval, Caitlin Laughlin and Shannon Russell against the Ryerson Rams – the Lakers couldn’t manage the same kind of offence.

Carlee Bennard was in goal again for the Lakers, making seven saves despite suffering the loss, which puts her record at 1-1-0 on the season.

Despite suffering the loss Sunday, the Lakers split the weekend and will now look towards their road trip to Kingston coming up next weekend where they’ll battle RMC and Queens.

Men’s Soccer
While it wasn’t exactly the weekend the Nipissing Lakers men’s soccer team had in mind, they did salvage the pair of road games with a draw Sunday.

After suffering a loss in Saturday’s season opener against Ryerson, the Lakers bounced backed and played to a hard fought 1-1 draw versus the Toronto Varsity Blues.

The Lakers scored their first goal for the season as Ryan Mantle found the back of the net at the 14-minute mark of the game, giving the Lakers a 1-0 lead.

The lead, however, lasted about six minutes as the Blues tied things up on a free kick and the teams entered the half tied at one.

Mantle had one of the Lakers shots and made no mistake scoring his first goal of the season.  Mantle led the Lakers with six goals last season.

The Lakers were close to earning three points; Mantle grazed the top of the cross-bar on a header off of a corner kick and Cale England blasted a shot just on the wrong side of the post a few minutes later.

The Lakers return home from Toronto with a loss and a draw and will now look ahead to their games in Kingston when they face RMC and Queens next weekend.