KINGSTON, Ont. (Sunday September 16, 2018) – The Queen's men's soccer team battled hard but came up short 2-1 against the No.6 Ryerson Rams in a battle of two of the top OUA contenders at Richardson Stadium.

GAME FLOW
In the 20^th minute, Alexander Dimock (Ottawa, Ont.) made two quick reacting saves for the Gaels when the Rams made an early rush. Unfortunately, in the 29^th minute the first goal of the game was scored by Ryerson's Alex Meczarski to give the Rams a lead they would never surrender.

In the 34^th minute, Mirza Custovic deflected a header just over Dimock's fingertips for a Rams 2-0 lead.

The Gaels began to pick up their urgency and aggresive play, harnessing ball control and hard shots on net. Michael Chang (Mississauga, Ont.) sent a strong shot to the left post in the 38^th minute. A minute later, Antoine Noel (Montreal, Que.) found the back of the net for his second goal of the season with a shot to the upper right corner of the Ram's net, assisted by Andrew Kim (Mississauga, Ont.). 
Kim kept the momentum going with a shot on goal that just barely missed the Ram's net in the 44^th minute. The half ended with the Rams leading 2-1.

In the second half, the Gaels had the majority of the possession. The Tricolour pushed shots on the Ram's goal but were unable to find the back of the net.

Nicholas Theodorakakis (Burlington, Ont.) made a strong strike to the top left corner of the Ryerson net but was unfortunately bumped over the crossbar by the Ram's keeper.

The Gaels were awarded a free kick in extra stoppage time but were unsuccessful in their offensive attempt.

BY THE NUMBERS
3 – Yellow cards were given, two for Ryerson and one for Queen's.
3 – saves for Queen's goalie Alexander Dimock who suffered his first loss of the season.
5 – shots on goal for both teams as it was an evenly played game throughout.

FINAL SAY
"There were lots of positives on the pitch today. I wanna give these guys credit and we have a plan and its definitely working. At the end of the day, we stuck to the plan and we could've been a little bit tighter on some of the execution but there is still full belief that we will make it to final four," said Gaels head coach Christian Hoefler.

UP NEXT
The Gaels will host another pair of games next weekend at Richardson Stadium. First, the Trent Excalibur will come to town looking for revenge after the Gaels were victorious 6-2 in their prior meeting this season. Game time is set for 3:15pm on Saturday, September 22.

Then on Sunday, September 23 the Gaels will host the No.4 Carleton Ravens in what should be a chippy and competitive matchup. Game time is set for 3:15pm at Richardson Stadium.