Defending champions upset on opening day of OUA championship
OSHAWA, Ont. – OUA women’s soccer final four host UOIT Ridgebacks will play for bronze on Sunday after losing a heartbreaking semifinal match in penalty kicks to the Guelph Gryphons to open the weekend.
After a goal-less opening half, which the Ridgebacks outshot the Gryphons 12-9 in, OUA first-team all-star Katherine Koehler-Grassau (Greely, Ont.) opened the scoring in the 73rd minute.
Guelph quickly answered in the 76th minute, with Victoria Hinchliffe scoring her first of the match.
Keeping the scoring going, first-team all-star Taijah Henderson (Ajax, Ont.) headed a perfectly placed ball by Sarah Harvey (Bowmanville, Ont.) past west division first-team all-star Libby Brenneman in the 80th minute.
On the next possession Hinchliffe scored her second of the match to tie the match 2-2 and cap off four goals in eight minutes.
At the end of 90 minutes the teams were tied, even with UOIT leading in shots with 27 to Guelph’s 13.
Two periods of extra time solved nothing, setting up for penalty kicks. Both Victoria Savage (Woodbridge, Ont.) and Brenneman made stops, but ultimately Guelph won it 3-2. The Ridgebacks had goals by Cassandra Sribny (Pickering, Ont.) and Koehler-Grassau, while the Gryphons’ scorers were Kaylin Twardowski, Allison Clouse and with her third of the match – to win it – Hinchliffe.
“This moment is so surreal, I can’t believe we did that,” said Hinchliffe. “We haven’t made it to this point in 16 years. We’ve never been to an OUA final. It’s just incredible to be here with the team we have and I am so happy.”
Guelph will now play the Western Mustangs, who topped the Queen’s Gaels 1-0 in the second semifinal of the day, in the gold medal match at 4 p.m. on Sunday. The Gryphons have never won an OUA women’s soccer championship, while the Mustangs haven’t won since 2004.
UOIT and Queen’s, who both played for gold a year ago, are in the bronze medal match at 1 p.m.
“We’re hoping to bring the same game we brought today and just keep playing our game,” said Hinchliffe on Sunday’s match. “We’ve been training for this moment all season and we’re ready.”
Similar to the opening match, it took extra time for the Mustangs to walk away with a win, but luckily it was decided in extra time and not penalty kicks. On one of only five corner kicks for Western, first-team all-star Jenna White headed the ball home in the 95th minute of play.
This match, which had Western seeded higher as the first-place team from the west division, was even throughout – although Queen’s had the slight shot advantage 11-10 over the 120 minutes played.
After White’s goal, Western was challenged a few times, but cleared the ball from their own end each time and held on for the one-goal victory.
Megan Girardi made four saves in the win for the Mustangs, while Anna Stephenson stopped four Western shots in the Gael’s loss.
“Honestly I’m from Winnipeg and that’s where nationals are, so it’s huge for me to score that in my last year and send us back to where I’m from,” said White. “I’m so proud of this team and I can’t wait to go into the finals tomorrow.”
This is the first time UOIT has hosted the OUA championship, which is being held at the Oshawa Civic. For online coverage of Sunday’s matches visit OUA.tv, OUA.ca for live stats or follow @UOITRidgebacks on Twitter.
