McMaster maintains undefeated streak

Thanksgiving weekend was an important weekend in the McMaster Marauders men’s soccer schedule. Mac sits only three points behind the OUA West leaders, the York Lions and could have narrowed the gap with two wins over the weekend.

Instead, the Marauders walked away from the weekend unsatisfied. Although they are still holding an undefeated streak of seven games, Mac left valuable points on the table in their game against the Laurier Golden Hawks.

McMaster had an opportunity to increase the gap between the third-place Golden Hawks and themselves on Saturday, as McMaster hosted Laurier at Ron Joyce Stadium.

The Marauders controlled much of the game against the Golden Hawks but could not break the Laurier defense and the game would end with a disappointing 0-0 result. Despite the tie, the Marauders clearly dominated their opponent throughout the entire game.

Mac came close to scoring in the second half after Andrew Pastoric would strike the ball past the Laurier goalkeeper on a play started with a McMaster corner kick. But the goal would not stand as the assistant referee had signalled for an offside on Pastoric, keeping the score level.

The Marauders would have another great opportunity to break the tie, with a two-on-one opportunity between two of Mac’s most lethal weapons, Gersi Xhuti and Mark Reilly. But the Laurier keeper would not be beat and made an incredible save on a Xhuti strike to prevent McMaster from scoring their first goal of the game.

The boys in Maroon would continue to play with intensity but the scoreless draw would stand. The Marauders earned their first tie of the season and maintained a large lead over the Golden Hawks in the OUA West table.

It would not take long for Mac to return to its winning ways however, as the Waterloo Warriors would visit Ron Joyce Stadium to begin their climb from the OUA West basement. The Warriors sit in second-last place, with only one win to their name and an appalling 8-20 goals for to goals against ratio before the start of the match against Mac.

That statistic would only get worse after taking on McMaster, who would wallop the Warriors to the score of 6-0, the highest scoring game of Mac’s 2012 season.

Reilly, who scored a hat trick to lead Mac to victory over a struggling Waterloo squad, led the Maroon and Grey effort. The scoring frenzy began in the 11th minute, with the man of the match - Reilly - finishing off a beautiful Marauder attack. Paterson Farrell would pick up the assist, perfectly guiding the ball to Mac’s leading scorer.

The Marauder offense would break the Waterloo defense again in the 35th, with Reilly striking one past the Waterloo keeper for his second of the game. Five minutes later, Reilly would complete the hat trick by finishing off a great pass to make the score 3-0 before the half.

In the second half, Farrell would get in on the scoring action, blasting home his eighth of the 2012 campaign. Goals late in the game would come from Muntazir Fadhel and Nathaniel Morris as the game would finish with a large scoring margin in favour of the men’s squad.

The chase of the York Lions continues this weekend, starting on Saturday, as the men’s squad travels to the University of Guelph to take on the Gryphons. The Marauders will also face-off against the University of Ontario Institute of Technology Ridgebacks at Ron Joyce Stadium. Both teams were defeated by the Marauders earlier in the season and McMaster fans should expect similar results from their boys in Maroon.