Injuries kept seven starters out of the men’s soccer team’s 4-2 loss to the Carleton Ravens Saturday afternoon at Richardson Stadium.

The Ravens scored two goals in 16 minutes. Striker Pat Zanetti pulled the Gaels within one with a goal in the 22nd minute, but the Gaels quickly surrendered a penalty kick to the Ravens.

The Gaels are now fourth in the OUA East with a 4-3-1 record. The Ravens lead the OUA East with an 8-2 record. Striker Sam McHugh led Carleton with a hat trick.

The Gaels beat the Ravens 2-0 in Ottawa in their first game of the season on Sept. 7. Captain Jordan Brooks said his team didn’t have the same intensity on Saturday.

“Today there were times where we just seemed flat,” he said. “It was almost like we didn’t want to put in the work to win the game.”

Before Saturday’s game, the Gaels hadn’t given up more than two goals in any game this season. Team captain and star defender Joe Zupo was sidelined on Saturday with a head injury. But Brooks said the poor defensive outing wasn’t due to injuries. Midfielder Peter Christidis and winger Andrew Colosimo are other notable injuries.

“There are plenty of excuses we could make,” Brooks said. “But we have a deep enough team that everyone knows they’re expected to perform well.”

Head coach Chris Gencarelli declined to comment to the Journal after the game.

Assistant coach and former captain Mike Zanetti said the Gaels need to stay focused for 90 minutes to beat top opponents.

“We had a couple of mental lapses early on,” he said. “We can’t have little mistakes like that if we’re going to compete with teams like this.”

Zanetti said he has confidence in his squad’s ability to rebound despite recent struggles. The team has only won once in their last five games.

“It’s such a short season,” he said. “It’s just all about peaking at the right time. We still think we can make a deep run into the playoffs.”

The Gaels travel to Toronto next weekend to face the University of Toronto Varsity Blues and the Ryerson Rams. The Gaels lost to the Blues and tied the Rams at Richardson Stadium last weekend.