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Five different players scored as the University of Toronto Varsity Blues men's soccer team opened their 2014 regular season with a 5-2 victory over the Laurentian Voyageurs on Saturday afternoon (Aug. 30) at Varsity Centre.
 
Second-year Blues striker Nirun Sivananthan (Brampton) set the tone early, ringing a shot off the cross bar in the first minute of action. Toronto opened the scoring five minutes later as Sivananthan crossed the ball to Scarborough native Russell Rodriques, who slotted it into the back of the net.
 
The Voyageurs found their stride and had a couple of good chances. Third-year defender Matthew Wilkes (Whitby, Ont.) headed the ball over the net in the 15^th minute and sophomore forward Joel Levac (Cornwall, Ont.) sent a booming shot just over the cross bar five minutes later.
 
However, it was U of T who struck next. Rookie striker Dapo Afolayan (London, England) notched his first goal as a Varsity Blue in the 22^nd minute when he sent a booming shot through traffic past Voyageurs goalkeeper Thomas Guscott.
 
Laurentian had another solid chance in the 30^th minute when first-year forward MacKenzy Kropa (Toronto) found himself all alone in front of Blues keeper Rab Bruce-Lockhart (Victoria), but the pressure from behind forced his shot just wide of the net.
 
The Blues extended their lead in the 35^th minute when veteran Kilian Elkinson (Toronto) sent a free kick to the front of the net and fourth-year defender Jason Cordeiro (Vancouver) was there to head it over Guscott and into the net.
 
Elkinson notched his first of the season five minutes later as he received a through ball from Rodrigues and found the mesh. Toronto led 4-0 at the half.
 
Sophomore midfielder Nikolay Saveliev (Nagoya, Japan) tallied his second career goal off a rebound in the 59^th minute. The Voyageurs finally got on the board one minute later as third-year midfielder Omar Allison of Brampton, Ont., deked around a couple of Toronto defenders and slid the ball into the bottom left corner.
 
Laurentian's Dean Pozolinas added another in the 82^nd minute, but that was all the Voyageurs could muster as the Blues came away with the 5-2 victory.
 
The Varsity Blues return to action tomorrow afternoon as they host the Nipissing Lakers at Varsity Centre at 2:15 p.m.

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