Sunny Saturday, August 31, in Richardson Stadium. The Gaels are opening up their season against the visiting Ryerson Rams, a perennial powerhouse in OUA men’s soccer.

Here is a minute-by-minute breakdown of the game as it happened from The Journal’s sports editor:

1” – Ryerson holds and thinks before running up the pitch and putting pressure on the Gaels tender, Alex Dimock.

3” – Slow pace so far, methodical, Ryerson has been loathe to give up possession. Passes back to the goalie and such.

5” – Sustained pressure by Ryerson nets them their first goal of the game, an interior pass to Abdallah El-Chanti who was situated just inside the top of the box for a great look that he slots into the top right corner. El-Chanti sprints to the sideline in celebration.

6” – Gaels can’t get anything going yet, Ryerson is playing boring but poised football.

9” – Queen’s defender makes a postcard slide tackle to prevent a chance in the Queen’s box.

11” – Oh no. There’s been a penalty called, looks like on Dimmock, and Mansoor Afzaly is going to take a penalty kick.

12” – Right in the back of the net. You hate to see it. 2-0 for the visiting Rams.

15” – Gaels are reeling. Somebody is stripped of the ball attempting a spinorama.

18” – Promising run up the side for the Gaels ends in an offside.

23” – Dimock shanks a kick into the crowd under the close supervision of a Ram forward. Ryerson applying pressure again.

24” – Queen’s cross is handled deftly by the Ram goalkeeper Ali Ghazanfari. Rams are playing disinterested, mistake-free football.

29” – The Gaels run down the left side of the pitch. A cross from Nick Alie Day floats over the head of a Ryerson defender and is directed into the net by the head of Jason Cho, his first goal in his first game with the Gaels. Great finish, and a demoralized Queen’s side looks electrified.

34” – Gaels defense is looking more robust now, lots of help on the ball.

36” – Long Ryerson free kick is redirected, but with ample time for Dimock to adjust, he makes a comfortable save.

37” – Creativity in Queen’s midfield leads to a corner for the Gaels. Ghazanfari makes a leaping grab to prevent another header from eluding him.

39” – A bad turnover by the Gaels off a goal kick results in a prime chance for a Ram boring down on the Queen’s net with a full head of steam. However, he flubs his shot and it trickles away to the corner.

40” – Another corner from Queen’s is pinballed around in front of the Ryerson net before popping neatly out of the maelstrom on the foot of Alec Weller, whose quick shot is snagged lithely by Ghazanfari.

43” – A hard knee tackle around midfield angers the Queen’s faithful.

Halftime — Ryerson 2, Queen’s 1

52” – A late offside call further angers the Queen’s faithful, stunting a promising attack.

53” – Gaels are swarming to the ball now, showing great resolve and frustrating the Ryerson offence.

61” – A weak shot from Queen’s Wallace is given a second life when the Ryerson goalie lets out a generous rebound, but promptly gobbles it up again.

65” – Gaels are making too many sloppy mistakes in a close game.

70” – Lots of individual talent working cohesively leads to great possession for the Gaels, getting runs going towards the Ryerson net.

76” – Gaels are starting to get desperate with the end of the game in sight, trying lots of low-percentage long balls.

82” – A Queen’s free kick about five yards outside the Ryerson box. Three different Gaels fake the kick before Nicholas Rallis sails it high over the crossbar, failing to bend his shot back down over the Rams’ wall.

83” – Rams are playing safety defence, leaving nearly everyone back to slow the Queen’s attack. For their part, the Gaels have nearly all of their players ahead on the Ryerson side looking for an outlet pass.

84” – Rams steal the ball and with no Gaels defenders left at home, they slice towards the Queen’s net and some pretty passing puts the ball in the net, courtesy of Luca Di Marco. Dimock throws the ball away in disgust.

89” – Disheartened Gaels defence means that Ryerson’s Abdallah El-Chanti can pot one of his own, to put the game fully and completely out of reach for the Gaels.

Full-time — Ryerson 4, Queens 1