Friday’s semi-final game was suspended and resumed Saturday morning
Before Friday night, it would have been laughable to suggest that the least meaningful game the Gee-Gees women’s soccer team would play all season would be in the national semi-finals. When it was suspended in the 62nd minute due to injury though, the result of the game certainly seemed irrelevant.
After a scary play that saw Gee-Gees defender Rosalie Côté collide with her keeper Cassidy Joslin, Côté stayed on the ground with an apparent head injury as Joslin immediately began calling for help from the sidelines. She would stay there until an ambulance arrived.
About 30 minutes after the incident, U SPORTS released a statement on Twitter announcing that the game would be suspended and would be resumed the following morning.
After being picked up where it was left off, the game went into penalties scoreless — but that almost wasn’t the case. Before the suspension in the 29th minute, Gees defender Eva Bouity received a pass from Tessa Frangione as the last man back, and immediately came up injured and holding her right knee, leaving the ball for Laval striker Léa-Jeanne Fortier with nothing left between her and Joslin.
But in an incredible display of sportsmanship, Fortier decided against shooting on net, and instead kicked the ball away. That would be the closest either team would get to scoring until the final minutes of play on Saturday morning.
After a tightly-contested overtime that saw Gees winger Jenna Matsukubo take the ball in with pace on the Rouge et Or goal twice, for the second time in their playoff run the Gee-Gees’ fate would be settled in penalty kicks.
The Gee-Gees started off strong, as Nibo Dlamini, Maya Smith, and a subbed-on Sabrina Mangiaracina made their kicks, but Élianne Gervais would be stopped, and after Joslin got her fingertips on one out of five, it was all up to Allana Oriente to keep the game alive. The fifth-year would miss just wide left.
Bronze Medal Game
The Gee-Gees came out strong on Sunday, and just a few minutes into the game Matsukubo would cross to Cass Provost who would send home the first of her two goals in the first quarter. Matsukubo assisted on both.
Provost would add an assist in the second half when she found Oriente in the box, and the Gee-Gees would cruise comfortably to a 3-0 victory over the Cape Breton Capers for the fifth bronze medal in Gee-Gees women’s soccer history. Joslin would finish the weekend perfect (save for penalty kicks) in her final game with the Gee-Gees.
After winning his 12th OUA championship before leaving for Halifax, head coach Steve Johnson spoke on what the departures of Oriente, Matsukubo, Provost, and Joslin (who are all set to graduate from the program) mean for the team going forward.
“We’re losing some key players,” acknowledged the veteran head coach, who has led the program since it was founded 30 years ago. “This team will find a way, and I would hope to be back [in the OUA finals] in a year.”
