By Angus Blacklock
With first-year defender Aidan Hugo’s extra-time blast, the Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Bold men’s soccer team defeated the Carleton Ravens 2-1 at Downsview Park on Wednesday night to advance to the semifinals of the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) playoffs.
With the victory, the Bold now return to the OUA semifinals—after losing in penalty kicks to the Ontario Tech Ridgebacks in last year’s quarter-finals. They will play against the York University Lions, who defeated the Guelph Gryphons 5-4 in penalties in another key of the quarter-finals.
“It felt great, there’s no better feeling than sending the team to the semis, the final four, there’s nothing better,” said Hugo.
The two sides had already met twice in the regular season—the Bold tied the Ravens in Ottawa 1-1 before defeating them 3-0 at home on Sept. 28.
Carleton came off of a strong 4-1 victory over the Laurentian Voyageurs in the first round of the OUA Playoffs. The Bold had over a week to prepare for the quarter-finals after securing a first-round bye in the last game of the regular season in a 2-0 victory over the Nipissing Lakers. That preparation proved successful.
“It was everything you would expect from a playoff game, everything you would expect from a Carleton-TMU game. We’ve had some incredible battles over the years,” said head coach Filip Prostran.
The opening stages were fairly even as both sides tried to get used to the windy conditions at Downsview Park. The Ravens had the first attempt of the game as fourth-year midfielder Yusuf Osman sent a ball just over the bar.
TMU tried to take over from there, but couldn’t break through on the scoreboard.
The Bold’s first big attack came in the 10th minute after they were awarded a free kick down the right wing. Fourth-year midfielder Justin Santos whipped a dangerous ball into the box, however no one in a white shirt was able to take advantage.
TMU got close again in the 13th minute when third-year forward Jevontae Layne had a well-struck free kick blocked by a Ravens defender.
Layne had another great opportunity to take the lead for the Bold in the 26th minute. He was found at the back post by a great whipping ball from Santos but his effort was saved by first-year Ravens stopper Phanuel Gunn.
The Ravens had meaningful opportunities of their own. In the 33rd minute, Bold’s third-year goalkeeper Dante Ferraro was forced into a great save by third-year Ravens striker Mohamed Bouzidi who hit a volley from 25 yards out. The Bold stopper reached to tip the ball over the bar, maintaining the tie.
Second-year Ravens striker Darren Bouaziz had a great opportunity to open the scoring in the 39th minute when the ball fell to him nicely in the box. Bold’s first-year defender Noah Pickering was in the right place to block the shot.
Despite all the scoring chances, neither team could find a way to put the ball in the net in the first half.
“I think the wind kind of affected just the flow of the game, you know, anyone that tried to play over the top, the ball would get hung up. It was tricky to deal with for sure,” said Prostran.
With the wind now behind them in the second half, the Bold came out to attack and got off to a strong start. In the 53rd minute Bold captain and fifth-year student Luca Di Marco opened the scoring for TMU. The ball was won in a high area of the field by fifth-year midfielder Chris Campoli, who played it in to Di Marco, who was available in space on the right. He fired home a powerful shot from inside the box.
It didn’t take long for the Ravens to respond. Iin the 57th minute, they scored the equalizer. Smooth possession on the right from the visitors led to a ball into the box for first-year forward Ousman Maheshe, who did enough to put the ball past Ferraro into the back of the net.
With the score even at one apiece, the Ravens started to apply more pressure but failed to really test Ferraro in goal.
The second half became quite tense with so much at stake. Neither team pushed too far forward and played a bit more defensive, bringing on the end of full time with a feeling anything could happen. After 90 minutes, the sides were level, meaning 30 minutes of extra time were on the cards.
The Bold had the first chance of the opening half of extra time when Di Marco played in Hugo with a ball that went across the goal. Hugo’s shot was blocked by a Ravens defender, leaving the Bold to have to try again to break through.
Like the second half, extra time was tense with both sides not giving much away.
Ravens had the first chance of the second half of extra time and gave the Bold defence a scare when the ball found an attacker in space inside the box, however, the linesman had his flag up for offside.
The next chance came for the blue and gold and proved to be the most important of the game.
TMU retook the lead in the 20th minute of extra time, courtesy of Hugo, who scored a pinpoint free-kick from 25 yards out. His left-footed effort sailed into the top left corner of the goal with Gunn in the Ravens goal only getting a faint touch on it. The goal sent the crowd at Downsview Park wild.
“We’ll keep working, keep working until the last minute. We will keep the same mentality.” said Hugo.
From that point onwards, the Bold focused on seeing out the game and trying to buy time whatever way possible to stop any sort of momentum that may come from the Ravens.
The task of seeing the game out was made easier for the Bold in injury time when the Ravens were reduced to 10 men after second-year midfielder Caden Tomy was shown a second yellow card.
Soon after, the full time whistle sent the Bold crowd into a frenzy. TMU will now have to prepare ahead of the semifinal against the Lions, who they last played in the 2021 OUA semifinals in a 3-2 extra-time defeat.
“I always say my favorite part about coaching this team is after a win on the field, seeing all the alums, seeing all the students, seeing all the staff, seeing everyone hugging, embracing and us all sharing that moment,” said Prostran. “Another special night at Downsview for sure.”
UP NEXT: The Bold will play in the semifinals of the OUA playoffs against the York Lions on Oct. 26 at the York Lions Stadium. Kick-off is to be determined.
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