Neither the Laurentian Voyageurs men's or women's soccer teams managed to secure a win on the opening weekend of OUA (Ontario University Athletics) action on the weekend - but one senses that the lads are likely feeling a little better about their game right now than the ladies do.

Battling a Queen's Gaels men's crew that are often typically nip and tuck with Laurentian in the standings, the Voyageurs dropped a 2-1 decision Friday evening in Kingston.

Facing a Queen's women's team that have claimed the OUA banner seven times since 1984, the L.U. women were beaten 5-0 on Friday as well - though it was their chance at redemption the next day which was undoubtedly a tougher pill to swallow.

Still struggling to generate much offense, Laurentian were blanked 1-0 by the RMC (Royal Military College) Paladins - marking the first RMC victory since October of 2018.

In the men's encounter on Friday, Laurentian and Queen's were deadlocked in a scoreless tie until just before halftime when Liam Pender broke the ice for the home side.

That score remained unchanged until the 84th minute when Andrea Gortana provided the Gaels with a cushion, increasing the lead to 2-0 and netting a tally that would stand as the game-winner when Jaiden Santo countered just over two minutes later on a PK for Laurentian.

"It was definitely a good showing," noted Voyageurs' men's coach Tony Tagliafierro. "I thought we had the bulk of chances, especially in the last 30 minutes. We minimized a lot of their chances but we need to be a bit more dangerous on our attack and capitalize on some opportunities."

The same could surely be said for the Laurentian women who forced RMC keeper Brianna West to make seven saves in earning the shutout, saddled with a second consecutive setback when Claire Hills netted the game's only goal in the 38th minute for the Paladins.

On Friday, Queen's jumped out to a 3-0 first half lead courtesy of strikes from Erin Hedgcock, Mattson Strickler and Seema Sekran, adding a pair of insurance goals in the final ten minutes from Kendra Couto and Victoria Hawkins.

Both Laurentian teams are on the road again this coming weekend as the ladies face the Carleton Ravens (Saturday) and the Ottawa Gee Gees (Sunday) while Tagliafierro's troops do battle with Carleton and the Ontario Tech Ridgebacks.