OSHAWA, Ont. – Fabio Campoli's penalty kick goal in the 58th minute was all the scoring at Vaso's Field on Sunday afternoon as the UOIT men's soccer team beat the Queen's Gaels 1-0 in their 2017 home opener.
Odds were stacked against the Ridgebacks coming into the game having played in Ottawa less than 24 hours before while Queen's was fresh with Sunday's game being their first of the season. However, the Ridgebacks showed no signs of fatigue as they ran with the Gaels for 90 minutes while leaving the pitch with three big points.
"I was extremely proud," said assistant coach
Steve Ormonde, who is filling in for head coach
Peyvand Mossavat who is representing Canada at the 29th Summer Universiade in Taipei. "Nothing changed today from yesterday other than a couple of mistakes. Both games the team did really well in knowing their defensive role. No one let each other down and luckily we were able to get the PK."
After a scoreless first that saw Queen's outshoot UOIT 7-5, Campoli (Frosinone, Italy) was fouled to start the second half in the box by goalkeeper Alex Jones as the ref awarded him a penalty kick. The veteran would make no mistake as he powered the shot in the bottom left corner, giving UOIT their first goal and lead of the year.
Queen's would have chances to level the score including hitting the post in the 75
th minute, but goalkeeper Nicolas Miller (Oshawa, Ont.) managed to shut the door for his first clean sheet of the year.
Shots on target finished 7-5 in favour of UOIT.
UOIT (1-1-0) will be back in action next weekend with two home matches as they take on Trent (0-1-0) on Saturday, Sept. 2 at 3:15 p.m. followed by a 1 p.m. match against Toronto (2-0-0) on Sunday, Sept. 3.
NOTES: UOIT coaches
Peyvand Mossavat and
Farzad Yousefian were not available at the game because they are representing Canada at the 29th Summer Universiade in Taipei.
QUICK LOOK AT THE RIDGEBACKS
Overall Record: 1-3-0
Conference Record: 1-1-0
Next Game: Saturday, Sept. 2 vs. Trent (3:15 p.m.)
