The Wilfrid Laurier University men’s soccer team lost to the Western University Mustangs in their game on Oct. 6.
The Golden Hawks made a good effort, scoring one goal in the first half but ultimately falling short with a final score of 2-1 in favor of the Mustangs.
The team played Western earlier in the week on Oct. 4, where they lost 1-0. First-year business student and midfielder Nathan Dennis reflected on these games.
“I think they were both strong performances, but an unlucky result, so we move on to the next,” he said.
In the first half, the Golden Hawks had good interceptions, which led to first-year global studies student and defender Andrea Chiechi scoring the lone goal for Laurier. Following this goal, Western was still able to maintain possession when passing between their players.
“The thing is, they like to play direct. They just play a ball overtop and we got to deal with that all the time. I think if we handle it, we’re doing a lot better today,” said men’s soccer head coach Mario Halapir when asked about the team’s performance in the first half. “We’re collapsing through the middle, which has given us the opportunity to actually win the ball and transition through.”.
While the first half went well, the second half was not as strong for the Golden Hawks. After a poor call from the referee and two goals from the Mustangs, frustration grew amongst the players.
First-year defender and communications studies student Christopher Vitantonio was ejected from the game in the 74th minute after a questionable call in the opposing box.
They deemed the foul to be on a Golden Hawk rather than a Mustang, robbing Western of a potential penalty and leading to Vitantonio’s frustration and subsequent ejection from the game as he accrued his second yellow card.
After this incident, the Golden Hawks lost their aggressiveness on the defensive end, allowing Western its second goal in the 82nd minute. The Mustangs had a strong offensive performance.
“They maintain possession very well,” said first-year Nathan Dennis when asked about Western’s performance. “We caught them sleeping on a couple plays, but overall I think it was a good performance.”
The Golden Hawk team could have benefited from taking more long pass chances as Western’s offense was strong and they intercepted well, ultimately taking the win.
Following this game, the Golden Hawks faced the University of Windsor Lancers on Oct. 9 which they won 3-0. They have not faced this team since their last season, a match where neither team scored a goal.
