U of O will not be heading to the national championships this year
For the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) women’s soccer semi-final matchup, we were treated to a clash of the titans between the two best teams of the East division.
The Queen’s Gaels were visiting the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees at Matt Anthony Field on a sunny Saturday afternoon.
It was the Gaels who came out with a 2-0 win and they ended the Gee-Gees perfect season.
The Gaels finished second in the East division and posted a record of eight wins and two losses.
The teams met once in the regular season. On Oct. 22 it was the Gee-Gees who came away with a 2-1 win in an exciting matchup.
The Garnet and Gray beat the Ryerson Rams on Wednesday Nov.3 with a 2-0 win in the quarter-final game.
At noon, the opening whistle blew and Queen’s began the game with the first possession.
During the first half, both teams had scoring chances, but the goalkeepers made all the saves.
The Gaels led 5-3 in shots on goal after the first half.
In the 53rd minute of play, Queen’s defender, Jamie Foot, hit a powerful shot to score the first goal of the game.
Five minutes later, Queen’s doubled their lead when Cecilia Way scored a header off a pass by Foot.
“I thought we did a good job of shutting down some of their players that gave us trouble in the game before and they’re so dangerous and so athletic. I thought we minimize some of that damage,” said Queen’s head coach, Dave McDowell.
Despite many attacks in the second half, the Garnet and Grey were unable to break through the wall of the Queen’s goalkeeper’s Kirstin Tynan.
At the end of the second half, Gee-Gees striker Emma Lefebvre had a chance to reduce the score by one, but she missed a penalty shot.
According to the U of O’s head coach Steve Johnson, his team competed until the end.
“I like the chances that we created, we had a lot of territory. Going down to goals in a very short period was difficult. But our response was good,” Johnson said.
It was also the last career game for OUA top scorer in the regular season, Lefebvre.
“It was a great five seasons and I have many amazing memories to look back on, including 2018 nationals and 2019 in China. Unfortunately, [we] couldn’t get to Nationals this year, but I’m still very proud of my team.” Lefebvre said.
All the other players on the U of O roster are eligible to return the next season.
