Playoffs come soon for Carleton

Soccer women must play Nipissing Wednesday

On the plus side, members of the Carleton Ravens women’s soccer team will play on, but they’ll be back on the pitch sooner than they preferred.

Aisha Lewis’s third goal of the game, off a free kick in the 90th minute, lifted the visiting Toronto Varsity Blues to a 3-2 victory over the Ravens at Keith Harris Stadium on Sunday and into second place in the Ontario University Athletics East Division standings at 10-3-3.

The Ravens finished third at 9-43, meaning they’ll have a home playoff game, but, instead of a weekend semifinal, it will be a Wednesday quarter-final against the Nipissing Lakers.

“We were really playing (Sunday) for that second spot, for the home playoff, and unfortunately gave that away,” Carleton coach Alex McNutt said.

“We’ll just have to regroup and dust off and get back into training and get ready for what really counts, which is the playoffs.”

Sarah Royer and Ryzlyn Boutin scored for Carleton, which must beat the Lakers (4-7-5) to earn another shot at the Varsity Blues.

The Ottawa Gee-Gees finished first at 12-1-3, earning a first-round playoff bye. The Gee-Gees blanked Ryerson 3-0 Sunday on two goals by Pilar Khoury and one by Krista Draycott.

The Carleton men’s team finished second at 8-3-3 after a 2-2 draw against Toronto on Sunday. Mekonen Lovemore-White and Julian Piccioli scored for the Ravens, who will play host to a semifinal next weekend.

However, the 2013 season has ended for the U of O women’s rugby team, which lost 27-17 to the McGill Martlets in a Quebec conference playoff semifinal at Montreal on Saturday.

Algonquin Thunder soccer teams qualified for Ontario Colleges Athletic Association Final Four tournaments with home-field quarter-final victories on Saturday.

Goals by Isaac Johnson, Abe Kamara and Kenny M’Pindou led the Thunder men’s squad to a 3-1 victory against the Niagara Knights, earning a spot in the four-team conference championship at Algonquin on Friday and Saturday.

Algonquin women’s soccer players will travel to Oakville for their OCAA championship after blanking the Sheridan Bruins 3-0 on goals by Julie Paul, Amy Savage and Jenna Baldrey.