Sports

The Gee-Gees' Katerin Delev takes the ball down the field. Photo: Parker Townes.
Reading Time: 2 minutes

Women’s soccer beats Laurentian, falls 3-1 to Nipissing to break undefeated streak

In their first-ever regular season weekend at Gee-Gees Field, the University of Ottawa women’s soccer team added both a win and a loss to the record books on Sept. 15 and 16 respectively.

Both games were rematches from earlier in the season, where the Gee-Gees won 5-0 against the Laurentian Voyageurs and tied 1-1 against the Nipissing Lakers.

The Gee-Gees’ home-opener versus the Voyageurs was a hot one, but they still managed to create plenty of opportunities in front of the net, putting pressure on the Laurentian defence.

Emma Lefebvre tapped the ball in for her 10th goal of the season, keeping her atop the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) conference in that department. This gave the Gee-Gees the first score of the game.

“I just started thinking of my position as a striker, and my main focus is to score goals,” Lefebvre said. “So I just try to come on the field, and every opportunity I get I’m more relaxed and focused in the moment, and that helps me find the back of the net.”

Off her own rebound later in the game, midfielder Katherine Bearne sent the ball above the head of the Voyageurs’ goalkeeper to put the Gee-gees up 2-0. That would be the score at the end of the half.

Margot Shore did not see much action in net throughout the first half, as the U of O outshot Laurentian 15-1.

It would be Hillary Damman who started the second half as keeper.

“I wanted to be able to give Hillary some experience. I was really happy with how Margot played in the first half,” Gee-Gees head coach Steve Johnson said.

Despite the lead the U of O did not let up, continuing to make the smart plays on every part of the field and preventing Laurentian from getting a quality scoring chance throughout the second half.

The rest of the match would be scoreless for both teams, leaving it at 2-0 for the Gees..

However, the Sept.16 rematch against Nipissing would prove to have a different outcome this time around.

The Lakers surprised the Gee-Gees early on, putting up the first three goals of the game, all of which were scored in the first half.

The Gee-Gees came out of the locker room after halftime hungry to score to make up those three goals.

It was at the 67-minute mark when defender Kayla Da Costa-Pacheco sent one into the top right corner of the net fo the U of O’s first and only goal of the game.This would leave it at 3-1 for the Lakers, giving the Gees their first loss of the season.

Nevertheless, at the halfway point of regular season play, the U of O still ranks first in the OUA East with a record of 6-1-1.

The Gees will be looking to bounce back on the road in Kingston against Queen’s University on Sept. 23rd and RMC on Sept. 24 respectively.