Gaels defeat Golden Hawks 1-0 to win 2015 OUA Women's Soccer Championship

OTTAWA - The Queen's women's soccer team defeated the Laurier Golden Hawks 1-0 on a goal from Tara Bartram to win the 2015 OUA Championship title.

This was the Gaels first OUA Championship win since they last won it in 2011. Queen's has won three national championships in their team history. Their first was in 1988, followed by back to back national championships wins in 2010 and 2011. Jessie de Boer (North Vancouver) is the only remaining player from their last national championship victory. 

Coming in off of a penalty kick win over the undefeated York Lions in the OUA semifinals, the Gaels kept that momentum rolling into the OUA Championship on Sunday afternoon against the Laurier Golden Hawks. The first half saw both teams playing strong defensively but it was the Gaels attack that came out with most of the pressure as they fired 11 shots towards the goal but could not net one on Laurier's goalkeeper Ashely Almeida. 

The second half featured the Golden Hawks beginning to take momentum on the offensive side as they were able to get eight shots off with three of them on target but Queen's goalkeeper Madison Tyrell (White Rock) made every save. The Gaels finally broke through offensively in the 69th minute when striker Tara Bartram (Vancouver) was able to get free on the left side of the 18-yard box striking the ball into the opposite side of the net to give Queen's a crucial 1-0 lead heading into the final 20 minutes of play. The Gaels defence came up strong once again in the dying minutes of the championship as they held the Golden Hawks attacks in check as they went on to win their first OUA Championship in five years. 

FINAL SAY
"Couldn't be prouder of our team. To emerge as champions from a final four with the quality that was on display this weekend is tremendous. I thought our team defending throughout the playoffs was fantastic and proved to be difference for us." - Head Coach Dave McDowell

BY THE NUMBERS
6 - Number of saves made by Madison Tyrell
7 - Shots on goal by Queen's
3 - Amount of corner kicks by both teams
6 - Number of British Columbia born players on Queen's

Head Coach: Dave McDowell (28th season)
Regular season record: 7-2-7
Regular season standing: 5th OUA East
Playoff record: 4-0
Playoff finish: OUA Champions
Top 10 final ranking (Nov. 3): None  
Top 10 best ranking: None
Top 10 number of weeks ranked (10 polls): 0
Conference award winners (OUA East): None
Conference 1st team all-stars (OUA East): Jessie de Boer (M)
Conference 2nd team all-stars (OUA East): Micah Vermeer (D), Lidia Bradau (M), Jenny Wolever (S)

UP NEXT
The Gaels will be heading to Vancouver on Thursday November 12th for the 2015 CIS Women's Soccer Championships held at the University of British Columbia

Source: Queen's Gaels