KINGSTON, Ont. (October 26, 2016) - A second-half strike from veteran  midfielder  Andrew Martin (Kingston, Ont.) was enough for a 1-0 victory in the OUA opening round playoff over the Laurentian Voyageurs at Miklas-McCarney field on Wednesday night.

GAME FLOW
The two teams started off slowly, neither side wanting to take any big risks early on just looking to keep a steady tempo. The Gaels however, controlled the majority of chances offensively in the opening half.

At the 20th minute marks the Gaels Martin looked to have had an easy tap in goal, but the play was called back for an offside.

The Gaels best chances of the opening half came  on  a flurry of opportunities in close. Chris Wellsman (Victoria, B.C.) fired a shot from just a few yards away from Laurentian keeper Connor Vande Weghe who stopped the shot, but  Wellsman  got in on the rebound that Vande Weghe again steered away. The ball soon after came out  wide  to the opposite side and Patrick Van Belleghem (Kenora, Ont.) fired another shot that just went over the bar to keep the game at 0-0.

As the half closed out Queen's had fired 13 shots with six on target compared to four shots and one on target for Laurentian.

In the second half, Queen's continued to get the ball towards the Laurentian goal. Martin got another shot at redemption in the 2nd half after his 1st half goal was called back  on  an offside. The Gaels got the ball to Martin in the middle who made a nice move to beat a defender and open up just enough space for him to fire a shot low and to the right of the diving Voyageur keeper Vande Weghe. The unassisted goal put the Gaels in front 1-0.

Laurentian,  in desperate need of a goal to tie the game , were able to get four shots in on Gaels keeper Alex Jones (Comox, B.C.) but he held  strong  making saves on each attempt. 

The Gaels staved off the Laurentian attack and held on for the 1-0 victory. Jones picked up a clean sheet with his four-save performance.

FINAL SAY
"The spirit was good, and we just had the full belief from the get-go. I give full credit to our players this was a team battle today, it felt like a brotherhood and a family I'm proud of the guys. As good as this  feels  though we still have a lot of work to do, our goal is to get to the Final Four and be successful there." - Head coach Christian Hoefler.

BY THE NUMBERS
25 - Shots fired towards the Laurentian net
10 - Shots off the foot of Chris  Wellsman  for the Gaels
2 - Straight wins over Laurentian, Queen's won the final game of the regular season as well in Sudbury
0-2-0 - The Gaels record against Ryerson this season

UP NEXT
The Gaels advance to the OUA East quarter-finals where they will visit the Eastern 1st place Ryerson Rams this Sunday at  6pm.