Garnet and Grey move on to national championship match after 4-1 beatdown
The Gee-Gees are moving on to the gold medal match after knocking off the McMaster Marauders in the U Sports semifinal game on Nov. 10.
The match was originally scheduled for 12:30 p.m.at Gee-Gees Field, but was bumped back an hour due to poor weather conditions.
“We’ve had a lot of experience this season in changes to the schedule, and they’ve had to re-adjust to when the start times have been, so this was just another day for us,” Gee-Gees head coach Steve Johnson said.
The miserable weather played a factor after the snow and wind continued to come down fairly hard throughout the match.
“The wind was a factor, but I thought we did a pretty good job of playing with the wind, and not trying to go too fast, too quickly,” Johnson said. “In the second half, it was even more important that we didn’t launch long balls, because you could see that they got hung up in the air and was pushed back towards the kicker.”
The Gee-Gees entered the match on top of the OUA conference, having defeated the Western Mustangs in the provincial championship game the previous week.
They came into this match poised to take it all the way to the gold medal game this year, with their home pitch Gee-Gees Field hosting the tournament for the first time in its short history.
They had knocked off the Calgary Dinos by a score of 2-1 on Nov. 8 in the quarter-finals, earning them the rematch against McMaster, the team they’d beaten in penalty kicks on their way to the OUA gold medal game the previous week. McMaster was also looking to get that win back.
The U of O also came in ranked fourth overall in the nation, behind the champions from each of the other respective conferences.
The Gee-Gees got up first in this one after the McMaster goaltender deflected the ball into her own player for an own goal to put the Garnet and Grey up 1-0 in the 18th minute.
Less than seven minutes later, Mikayla Morton crossed the ball in to make it 2-0 for the Gees. It would stay there until the half, with the U of O dominating in shots as well.
In the second half, the wind was against the Gee-Gees, and they had to play some defence.
The wind may have been a factor as the Marauders finally got on the board in the 68th minute following a beautiful strike from Lindsay Blofeld.
This would not be enough, as the wind died late in the game, the Gee-Gees added two insurance goals and took this one.
“I’m actually really pleased with the girls’ performance today,” Johnson said. “They worked hard, moved the ball well, and defended like they have all season.”
Emma Lefebvre, who was credited with the third goal, got the player of the game nod.
“I think we played an extremely strong game, I don’t think there’s much to improve, we just need to continue to play the way we’ve been playing all season, and just playing through the midfield. We have a strong defence, strong midfield, and hopefully we can pop a couple in as well,” Lefebvre said.
Next up, the gold medal game versus the Trinity Western Spartans at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 11. Grab tickets here.
