Pursuit is a sports feature series highlighting athletes, coaches, and staff and significant sporting events from North Bay and the surrounding area.
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The Nipissing Lakers men’s soccer team has already made history this season, reaching new heights in what has been an incredibly competitive Ontario University Athletics (OUA) East division. With a program-best 20 points, the Lakers secured the fifth seed heading into the playoffs this weekend, setting up a highly anticipated first-round clash against Ontario Tech, who are hosting the U Sports men's national soccer championship.
Forwards Olutosin Ajakaiye and Caelen Walraven have been instrumental in the Lakers’ success, combining for 11 goals and making their presence felt on every pitch they’ve graced this season. The forward pairing, standing at 6’3” and 6’5” respectively, presents a physical challenge that few teams in the OUA have been able to handle.
As good as they have been offensively, Head Coach Tony D’Agostino says they also play well on the defensive side of the ball.
“They defend set pieces, corner kicks, free kicks – along with everyone else this year,” says D’Agostino. “But we’ve got those two winning those aerial balls and certainly clearing any danger from the penalty areas.”
Reflecting on the season, Ajakaiye expressed pride in the team’s progress. “It’s a great feeling,” he said. “Coming off our performances last year to what we've achieved this year, it’s definitely a huge jump. Everyone’s just a lot happier and more confident. You can feel the difference in the squad.”
Last season, the Lakers managed just six goals, and while they made the playoffs they bowed out quickly in a 3-0 defeat in the first round to Toronto Metropolitan. But this year, thanks to the offensive firepower of Ajakaiye and Walraven, the team has netted 20 goals — a drastic improvement that propelled them into one of the top teams in the league. But they were playing inside a division where it seemed like every game there was something to fight for.
While they dropped their home opener to the defending OUA champion Carleton Ravens by a 3-2 score, they quickly found their groove. After tying Laurentian 2-2 on September 13, they rattled off six wins over their next seven games to improve to 6-2-2 on the year and had their sights set on a top-four finish. But back-to-back losses to end the year put them in a tie for fourth place with Ontario Tech, and with the Ridgebacks holding the head-to-head tiebreaker, the Lakers will have to travel to Oshawa on Saturday to play in a first-round, winner moves on, loser goes home, playoff matchup.
Regardless of what happens, this has been a tremendous season for the Lakers, led in part by Walraven, a freshman sensation, who topped the team with six goals.
“I love how we’ve come together as a team,” Walraven says. “We’re like a family, and we’re getting better week by week.”
Walraven grew up in Guelph and played for Guelph United and later, for Sigma FC in Mississauga. “The culture in both clubs produced a really competitive atmosphere, especially at Sigma where they were always a team focused on the technical side of the game.”
Walraven says his dad was a big influence on his soccer playing career as he was coached by his father for many years. “I think soccer was a safe space for me. I could just go out there, do my own thing and just not worry about anything else. My dad always taught me to make those second and third efforts and since then I’ve always just felt comfortable on the field.”
Walraven was exploring options to play in the United States, potentially at Division One schools. “I had different routes for my path after high school,” he says. “It was Coach Achu (Assistant Coach Achu Shanmugaratnam) who came to me and put me in contact with Tony. Tony was very honest. He was very direct about what Nipissing could be for me and what my role here could be. It was mainly that honesty that really made me want to become a Laker.”
“His role is precisely what I envisioned, working in tandem with Tosin. Someone who could be a big physical presence, but also had a knack for finishing,” says D’Agostino. “He was heavily recruited and we’re certainly pleased that he chose to pursue his studies and play soccer at Nipissing. He stood out because he has the characteristics to do what is necessary for the team to get the results they need.”
Ajakaiye came to North Bay from Ottawa, “It’s very competitive in Ottawa. There’s a good number of teams there and it was a good environment because there's a lot of resources, from coaching to extra training to learning what to do in the gym. But I started playing kind of late, around age 13 or 14 and I was just playing recreational for a while,” he says, coming to the realization he had a natural talent for the beautiful game, and as his skills grew, so did his pursuit of playing at a high level. “I started to go to different combines and stuff like that, and my parents were huge in making that happen. Helping me out with financial needs and providing me with what I needed, driving me to different cities around the province. I saw there were two different routes to play soccer, either try to go professional or play at the university level, and with the availability of scholarships, I wanted to try and take advantage of that.”
Ajakaiye managed one goal in ten games in his freshman season, but there was tons of potential just waiting to burst and this year, it has come out in full force.
“He’s not only producing in scoring goals but he’s assisted on some pretty important ones too,” says D’Agostino. “I think he got the experience that was necessary last year, but then by bringing in somebody like Caelan, the defenders have to be concerned about both of those players instead of just potentially double-teaming Tosin. He’s performed exceptionally well in all kinds of situations, in pressure situations and he has scored some key goals for us.”
Ajakaiye says, “During the offseason, I was kind of just reviewing my performance from last year and seeing I wasn't really producing the way I wanted to. I definitely had to lock it in, and I worked harder this summer on my technical ability in the game, and trying to improve my game.”
Ajakaiye says when he first saw the new recruits, Walraven stood out.
“Coming in, I knew we had a 4-3-3 system and I was like oh, ‘who's this new guy?’ And at that point, it kind of felt like a fight for who’s going to be in a starting position. But Coach Tony likes to play to our strengths and have big guys up front and so he said, let's use that to our advantage and see if we can try and get the best out of them.”
A key factor in the team’s turnaround has been a tactical switch by D’Agostino, who opted to move from a 4-3-3 formation to a 4-4-2 system, allowing Ajakaiye and Walraven to work more effectively as a duo.
“Once Coach made that switch, everything just started clicking,” Ajakaiye explained. “Me and Caelen aren't smaller guys, so getting the ball into the box and being physical has worked in our favour. We’ve had a few goals from those crossing plays.”
“They bought into the system,” says D’Agostino. “We tweaked it somewhat over the last few weeks and the results have clearly shown.”
“We knew we had the talent,” Walraven says. “Tony told me that I had to fight for a starting position at first, but once we switched formations, it became clear that we could be something special together.”
It’s been an impressive turnaround for a club that was 3-8-1 at the end of the 2023 regular season. They finished one point clear of the final playoff spot and lost 3-0 in their first-round matchup to Toronto Metropolitan.
“We’re playing to our strengths,” says D’Agostino. “We’ve got two large-bodied forwards that we’re trying to utilize and maximize and do the things they do well in the match.”
As the Lakers prepare to face Ontario Tech in a winner-takes-all playoff match, the players are feeling confident, knowing they’ve already exceeded expectations. But that doesn’t mean they’re satisfied.
“We’ve set our standards very high,” Ajakaiye said. “An OUA championship is definitely what we have our eyes on. We have a very good squad, and we can compete with anybody.”
The Ridgebacks will pose a tough test for Nipissing. They are a team that loaded up in the offseason, bringing in some very highly touted and talented players and in their first meeting, the Ridgebacks took down Nipissing 5-0 in Oshawa. But in the rematch back in North Bay, it was the Lakers coming through with a 2-1 win. Having split their regular-season matchups and finishing tied in the standings with 20 points, the Ridgebacks got the tie-breaker advantage on the goals for/against differential.
Ajakaiye says that the Lakers' depth can carry them forward. “Everyone knows their job, and that makes it easier for us to perform as a team,” he said. “We’ve already made history, and now we’re looking to take that next step.”
The Lakers travel to Oshawa this weekend, eager to continue what has already been a season to remember.
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