TORONTO - The Ryerson men's soccer team's season came to an end this Sunday night at Downsview Park as they suffered a tough 3-1 loss against their division rivals the Toronto Varsity Blues. 

The loss eliminated the Rams from the OUA playoffs and kept them out of the Final Four for the first time since 2012.

The game was a series of momentum swings, and the Blues capitalized when the game was in their hands, which led to their 3-1 victory.

The Blues came out extremely hungry and aggressive in the opening 25 minutes of the game, playing in Ryerson's half and dominating possession. Eventually, the Blues were rewarded with a goal in the 27th minute by Artem Tesker.

The Rams seemed to have taken more control of the game following their conceded goal, which led to Rams defender Alexander Meczarski (Richmond Hill, Ont.) sending a header directly onto the crossbar and out. 

After the Rams big chance, the game swung back into the Blues' favour and Nikola Stakic found a goal in the last minute of the half to give the Blues a 2-0 lead going into halftime. 

Right into the second half, Ryerson forward Kyle Laborde-Ayres (Scarborough, Ont.) gave the Rams another big chance with a long-range shot that rang the crossbar for the second time of the match.  In the midst of the Rams pressure, Tesker found Blues midfielder Nicola Russo who managed to punish the Rams with another goal in the 53rd minute to make it 3-0 Blues. 

On one of many Rams corner kicks, Ryerson forward Muaz Saleh (Hamilton, Ont.) fired yet another crossbar hit but the Rams earned a penalty-kick shortly after the play, which was quickly converted by Abdallah El-Chanti (Toronto) in the 70th minute to give the Rams life at 3-1. 

The last 20 (+4) minutes of the match was simply a race against time for the Rams, and that time seemed all too short considering the Rams took control of the game and we're creating an abundance of chances, including another crossbar hit by Andrew Dias (Toronto) in the 78th minute.

The Blues managed to see out the final minutes of the game and held on for a 3-1 win, sending them to the OUA Final Four. 

"I thought we turned on the fight too late," said Ryerson head coach Filip Prostran. "You could see in the last 10-15 minutes in the second half we started to get going, but at that time, the mountain was too high to climb." Prostran went on to praise his team's work-rate, positive-energy and on/off the field conduct. 

After another strong display in the 2019-20 season, the Ryerson men's soccer team will have yet another strong squad going into next season, and the team will most definitely carry themselves with a newly established chip on their shoulder.