With a little luck, a big win over a northern rival for Nipissing Lakers men's soccer coach Evan Phillips may not be the best gift that he receives this weekend.

Despite the fact that the arrival of the first child for he and his wife is absolutely imminent, Phillips still found time to help guide the Lakers to a 3-0 win over a previously unbeaten Laurentian Voyageurs squad Saturday in Sudbury.

Caelan Walraven opened the scoring in the 21st minute, with Liam Ellis doubling the advantage four minutes later as the Voyageurs paid dearly for some defensive miscues in the box, digging themselves an early hole.

From there, Nipissing did a nice job of limiting quality opportunities for the homeside, with keeper Dane Emmanuel looking particularly sharp from start to finish and Gianni Bordeiri adding some final insurance on the scoreboard as the Lakers blanked the Voyageurs 3-0, improving to 2-2-0 and now just one point back of Laurentian (2-1-1).

"We had a game plan, spent all week working on it and the guys followed it to a "T"," said Phillips, a very familiar face within local soccer circles, coaching with the GSSC (Greater Sudbury Soccer Club), the Sudbury Cyclones as well as his alma-mater of Cambrian College at various times.

"We made the field smaller," added the young man who is in his first year at the helm of the Nipissing program. "They (Laurentian) are a good team, well coached, well organized. Our goal was to shrink the field."

While time of possession numbers were likely far closer than the final score might indicate, the Lakers did a particularly nice job of hunkering down in their own third of the pitch, allowing very little to work its way in towards the real danger areas in front of keeper Emmanuel.

"He (Emmanuel) caught pretty much every ball in his direction today," said Phillips. "That matters. As a result, you don't have the second and third chances."

Mind you, his teammates also did a nice job of insulating him from the need to save the day with a highlight reel save. "Our team defense was great today," said Phillips. "The first wave was really good and the second wave, which we hadn't done as well, our second wave was much better today."

The Laurentian men are back at home next weekend for a two game set, hosting the Ontario Tech Ridgebacks (2-1-1) and Carleton Ravens (1-1-1) on Saturday and Sunday respectively.

The triumph by the Nipissing men completed the sweep for the Lakers as the North Bay based women handled the Laurentian ladies with ease, posting an 8-0 whitewashing in the opener.

Siblings Annika Nolte (three goals) and Bella Nolte (two goals) paced the visitors' attack, with Hannah Neville, Kailey Hill and Tegan Richardson chipping in with one strike apiece while keeper Hayden Hanley maintained her clean sheet with ease.

Laurentian, which trailed 5-0 at the half and has now been outscored 26-1 in their past three groups will continue to search for answers at home next weekend, also meeting up with Ontario Tech and Carleton and looking to get back into the win column following a 4-0 shutout over RMC (Royal Military College) in their opening encounter.

With the Laurentian teams facing Nipissing only once this fall, the Saturday results also meant that the Riley Gallo Cup, presented in memory of the son of long-time L.U. women's coach Rob Gallo and his wife, Carole, will remain in North Bay for one more year.

The Cup honours the child who lost his battle with a brain tumour at the tender age of five in 2002.