After coming off a muddy and hard-fought 2-0 win over the UOIT Ridgebacks on Saturday, which saw them end a three-game scoreless drought, the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks men’s soccer team just couldn’t compete with the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) division–leading and No.1 nationally-ranked York Lions as they fell 7-0.
Sunday was the first matchup between the Hawks and Lions since last year’s playoff quarterfinal.
A close first half battle saw York leading only 1-0 over the underdog Hawks before kicking things in to high gear at the start of the second half by scoring three goals in the first seven minutes.
“York is a quality team and I think they had something to prove after last year’s playoff game where we kept them to a 1-0 score in the rain,” said head coach Mario Halapir.
Despite the big loss, coach Halapir hopes it won’t get the best of his team.
“I hope this game doesn’t bring our confidence and our abilities down, and I hope it doesn’t change anything about the way we wanted to do things for the rest of the season,” he said.
“I have to give credit for our boys at the back, Trevor Schein, Brady Kelly, and Blake Whitely, it’s a big task especially with these guys running after the ball like they did, but they did a great job,” he added.
Halapir decided to give second-year goaltender Evan Phillips the start after he held Western to a 0-0 tie last week and earned the shutout against the Ridgebacks on Saturday.
“The outcome of the game had nothing to do with the goaltending,” said Halapir.
After allowing five goals, Phillips was replaced with veteran keeper Brett Harrington, but Halapir remains confident in his young netminder.
“I figured there would be more goals and I didn’t want Phillips to get beat up any more than necessary,” he added.
The Hawks now sit 3-2-3, which puts them fourth in the OUA West division, five points behind the Guelph Gryphons. Laurier hopes to go back to their winning ways as they host the UOIT Ridgebacks this Friday.
The game against the Ridgebacks is their only one this weekend.
“I don’t even remember when we lost a game like this by such a high score,” Halapir said.
Kickoff is set for 8 p.m.