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Lions once again class of OUA women's soccer
TORONTO - The York Lions have won the Ontario University
Athletics (OUA) women's soccer championship for the third time in
five years after a dramatic 1-0 win over the Queen's Gaels in a
thrilling penalty kick finale to what became a goalkeeping showcase
Sunday at York Stadium.
The Gaels picked up silver medals for their effort. Both teams
advance to the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) women's soccer
championship hosted by the University of Toronto from Nov.
12-15.
It was the second shootout finish of the Final Four's last day, as
the Ottawa Gee-Gees captured the bronze earlier in the day against
the defending OUA champion Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks.
York all-star goalkeeper Sarah Fiorini (Newmarket,
Ont.) was stellar in shutting out the Gaels and stopping two of
four penalty kicks. Not to be outshone, Elena
Corry (Hamilton, Ont.) of Queen's was equally spectacular
at the other end, but the Lions shooters proved too slick as they
fired home all four shots taken in the penalty kick session.
Ami Otaki (Kanagawa, Japan), Camille
Pereira (Mississauga, Ont.), Nicole
Markowitz (Toronto) and Samantha Gauthier
(Laval, Que.) had shootout goals for the Lions.
Summer Rybicki (Burlington, Ont.) and
Brienna Shaw (Vancouver) beat Fiorini, but
Angela Sullivan (Scarborough, Ont.) and
Chantal McFetridge (Kelowna, B.C.) were
denied.
Both teams traded chances all afternoon, but Fiorini and Corry were
the stars of the game. Fiorini plucked corner kicks out of the air
with ease, while Corry dove on rebounds and brought the Lions to
the edge.
The Lions came into the game off a 1-0 win over the Gee-Gees, while
the Gaels advanced after defeating the Golden Hawks 3-2 in extra
time on Saturday. The Lions also won the OUA championship in 2005
and 2007.
After a tense overtime and a sixth round of penalty kicks, the
Gee-Gees edged the Golden Hawks by a score of 3-2 to capture the
OUA bronze medal.
Ottawa's Catherine Scott (Pointe-Clair, Que.)
opened the scoring in the ninth minute with a free kick from the
top of the penalty box that sailed just over the defensive wall and
beat the Laurier goalkeeper down low.
Laurier tied things up in the 57th minute, as Heather
Malizia (Burlington, Ont.) busted in along the wing and
crossed to Julia Marchese (Oakville, Ont.), who
booted the ball into the open net.
It was a heartbreaker for Laurier, who also lost to Queen's in
extra time on Saturday in the OUA semifinal.
Laurier's Krista Cellucci (Mississauga, Ont.)
broke the stalemate in overtime for the Golden Hawks in the 11th
minute. She drove to the net and bulled past Gee-Gee goalkeeper
Melissa Pesant (Gatineau, Que.) and grabbed her
own rebound to put her team up for the first time in the game.
Ottawa refused to roll over against the Golden Hawks. Tara
Condos (Strathroy, Ont.) would tie things up for Ottawa in
the 27th minute of overtime to force the game to penalty kicks.
The Gee-Gees were stopped on their second penalty kick but would
beat Laurier goalkeeper Tristin Vogel
(Collingwood, Ont.) on the rest of their attempts. McElligot
managed to stop the fifth penalty kick to force it to sudden death
penalty kicks.
Laurel Fougere (Halifax, N.S.) had the deciding
penalty kick for the Gee-Gees.
OUA FINAL FOUR WOMEN'S SOCCER CHAMPIONSHIP
November 7, 2009
Semifinals @ York
York 1, Ottawa 0
Queen's 3, Laurier 2 OT
November 8, 2009
Finals @ York
Ottawa 3, Laurier 2 PK
York 1, Queen's 0 PK
- OUA -
