The Windsor Lancer men's soccer team was in action for the first time in 2023 this past weekend in Sault St. Marie taking on the Algoma Thunderbirds in an opening weekend double header in the Soo.
 
On Saturday the Lancers were able to score a late equalizing goal after trailing for most of the contest and were able to stave off a defeat with a 1-1 tie to kickstart the season.
 
Meanwhile on Sunday, neither team could find the back of the net resulting in a second consecutive tie game between the north and south squads this time in a scoreless 0-0 affair.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED SATURDAY
The blue and gold found themselves quite evenly matched with the Thunderbirds throughout the opening stages of the match trading opportunities in each other's zones.
 
However, the quaint tranquility of the match on the pitch was interrupted at the 15-minute mark when Algoma's Julius De Paz scored his first goal of the season to put the Thunderbirds up 1-0 on the visiting Lancers.
 
Despite solid attempts from the Lancers throughout the bulk of the two halves, they found themselves trailing the hosts for the majority of the match up. 
 
Resiliency became a factor of the essence however and not backing down as in the 90^th minute the Lancers were awarded a penalty shot opportunity which they relished over the chance of equalizing the contest. 
 
Frank Facchineri was called upon to rise to the occasion in search of the late game equalizer on the penalty shot attempt and was able to find the back of the net with some late game heroics to allow the Lancers to come away with a 1-1 tie on Saturday afternoon.
 
Lancer goalkeeper Simon Grande made five saves in the head-to-head tie.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED SUNDAY
On Sunday the Thunderbirds managed to put up another strong showing at home versus the blue and gold causing them to have to earn scoring opportunities towards the Algoma net.
 
Again, Grande stood tall for a second straight outing and managed to turn aside all shots faced on him. Meanwhile his Algoma goalkeeping counterpart, Josh Bondoc, in the other net managed to not allow any goals in the match which ended as a scoreless nil-nil affair despite several scoring chances traded from both sides.
 
Ultimately the strong goalkeeping stole the show and allowed both teams to come away with two draws in their opening week of 2023 OUA regular season play. 
 
UP NEXT
The Lancers will now head home from the north to get set to host the York Lions on Saturday September 9th at 3:15pm from the Alumni Stadium. Fans can purchase their tickets ahead of time at goLancers.ca/tickets or at the gate. 
 
Fans can also tune into live coverage which will be broadcasted on OUA.tv.