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Rams rally for fourth straight win

By Luke Galati

Ryerson’s men’s soccer team used a second-half rally to edge Trent Excalibur 3-1 on Wednesday night at Downsview Park, a day after entering national rankings for the first time in team history.

Fifth-year forward Alex Braletic played the hero, scoring the tying goal with only eighteen minutes left in the game. The Rams (4-0-1) won their fourth straight game and moved their regular season unbeaten streak to 18 games.

“We came out real sluggish, we just got our national ranking and we tried to protect it,” said associate head coach Fillip Prostran. “We thought we could walk all over Trent, which wasn’t the case.”

Braletic scored his sixth goal in only five games played, which tied him for the league lead with Carleton University’s Andrew Latty.

The Excalibur (0-6-0) had the lead for most of the game after Trent’s Marlon Adams scored a minute before halftime but the Rams would score three times in a 13-minute span to take the game.

After Braletic tied the game at the 72-minute mark, midfielder Martin Dabrowski’s scored off goalkeeper David Ellis’ errand rebound eight minutes after.

For insurance, midfielder Michael Velasquez netted his first career OUA goal in the 85-minute to put the Rams up 3-1.

“Our flank play today was good [as] we had some good plays from Luka Lee and Martin Dabrowski on the left side,” said Prostran.

Throughout the entire game, the officials were constantly challenged by fans, who were saying things like “Call it both ways!” and “You must be embarrassed to be a part of this!”

But Ryerson goal-keeper Christian Maraldo said that he didn’t believe in the referees changing the momentum of a game.

“We bounced back as a team and showed a lot of heart and ended up with the win,” said the fourth-year goal-keeper, who stopped one of two shots.

With the win, the Rams move into a first-place tie with Carleton for 13 points atop of the OUA East standings.

The Rams will look for their sixth straight victory when the play host to the Queen’s University Gaels Saturday afternoon in Kingston, Ont.

For more photos, check us on Flickr.

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