Valuable points were on the line this past weekend as the Nipissing Lakers men's soccer team hit the road looking to grab a playoff spot in the East Division.
Facing two teams in a similar situation, the Lakers looked to take control of their own fate and jump up the standings, but fell short, losing 5-0 to the Trent Excalibur Saturday and 2-1 to the UOIT Ridgebacks Sunday afternoon.
Saturday, Trent scored in the first minutes to set the tone, added a second goal at the 20-minute mark, then scored three times in five minutes early in the second half to seal their victory.
Nipissing did manage eight shots and actually outshot the Excalibur, but failed to find the back of the net and dropped their first matchup of the weekend.
Jonathan Mulimbi was the most dangerous Lakers forward, firing three shots towards the Trent goal, but like his teammates, wasn't able to score.
Sunday, an improved effort had the Lakers going shot for shot with the Ridgebacks.
All the scoring was done in the first 33 minutes of the game, as UOIT scored before the two-minute mark to go up 1-0.
William Tsilkas found the back of the net for the Lakers, scoring his fourth of the season, to tie the game just seven minutes later.
The game-winner from UOIT came just past the half-hour mark as Nipissing was unable to find enough offence to tie the game for a second time.
Achuthan Shanmugaratnam and
Nicholas Cirullo each took a loss on the weekend, splitting the pair of games.
The two losses hurts the Lakers playoff chances, although they only sit five points out of the sixth and final spot and with four games remaining, there is a chance to make a push.
Nipissing finishes up the season with four straight home games, beginning Saturday at 2:15pm against Toronto.
The game will take place at Scollard Hall.
