Gaels look to defend title this weekend at the OUA Women’s Soccer Final Four

BURLINGTON, Ont. – The top teams from across the province will travel to Mustangs Field in London this weekend for the 2016 Ontario University Athletics (OUA) Women's Soccer Final Four Championship, hosted by the Western Mustangs.

Semifinal action is scheduled to take place on Friday beginning at 3:00 p.m. with the Windsor Lancers making their Final Four debut against the UOIT Ridgebacks, followed by the defending champion Queen's Gaels taking on the Western Mustangs at 7:00 p.m.  The winners will advance to Sunday's gold-medal game, while the losers will battle in the bronze-medal game. 

Fans can watch all four games streaming live this weekend on OUA.tv.

Following an 8-1-7 regular season record, the Lancers enter Friday's game riding a seven-game unbeaten streak as they chase their first OUA championship banner in program history.  While the Lancers might be considered underdogs to many, don't tell that the blue and gold, especially coming off a 1-0 victory Sunday in penalty kicks over the No. 1 seed York Lions.

Lancers midfielder Abby Hunt (Macclesfield, England) took the league by storm in her first season and was recently named OUA West Division Most Valuable Player and a first-team all-star.  Hunt, who played for Faillibroome Academy before joining the Lancers prior to this season, finished second on the team with eight goals while appearing in 15 games.

With Hunt filling the net at one end, Windsor goaltender Krystin Lawrence (Tecumseh, Ont.) is focused on keeping the ball out on the other side of the field.   Lawrence, who splits her time between the Lancers women's soccer and women's hockey teams, finished the year with a 0.64 goals against average to go along with a .833 save percentage.  The Tecumseh, Ont. native recorded shutouts in 50% of her starts with six clean sheets in 12 regular season games and added a seventh on Sunday against York.

Windsor's road to their first title won't be an easy one as they'll have to go through another No. 1 seed, the UOIT Ridgebacks.  The 2014 OUA Bronze medalists finished first in the East Division this year for the first time in program history with a 13-2-1 regular season record.  UOIT enters Friday's game ranked No. 3 in the latest U Sports Top 10 rankings, the highest ranking they've received in program history, as like the Lancers, they chase their first women's soccer title in program history.

Not only do the Ridgebacks lay claim to the top offence in the province, scoring a remarkable 60 goals in 16 games, but one of the best defensive units as well, averaging a measly 0.56 goals against per game.  A major reason for their staunch defense is the play of Ridgebacks defender Kylie Bordeleau (Cambridge, Ont.) who was recently named UOIT's first Most Valuable Player award winner in school history.

No one would be surprised if Friday's showdown headed into the 90^th minute (or even later) as like the Lancers, the Ridgebacks roster features the best goalkeeper in the division in Helen Frampton (Toronto, Ont.).  Frampton led the league in wins (10) while her goals against average (0.65) and save percentage (.855) both ranked in the top 10.

After scoring just 23 goals a season ago, the Ridgeback offence received a much needed boost this year from possibly one of the unlikeliest of sources.  UOIT midfielder Rhiannon Kissel (Peterborough, Ont.) appeared in 15 games for Ridgebacks and finished tied for the league lead in goals with 14 on her way to being named OUA East Division Rookie of the Year.

Prior to their thrilling win over the Lions, the Lancers advanced to the quarterfinal round with a 2-1 victory over the McMaster Marauders, while the Ridgebacks shutout the Laurentian Voyageurs 2-0 on Saturday to book their trip to London.

The Gaels are looking to become the first school since 2001-2002 to repeat as OUA champions when Queen's themselves hoisted the championship trophy in back-to-back seasons.  Queen's finished the regular season second in the East Division with an 11-4-1 record. 

Entering play Friday, the Gaels have won six of their last seven games dating back to the regular season and were led this year by forward Tara Bartram (Vancouver, B.C.).  The fourth-year health studies student-athlete led the Gaels with 10 goals in 16 games during the regular season, which ranked her tied for fourth in the conference.

Queen's forward Jenny Wolever (Toronto, Ont.) is the playmaker up front for the Gaels after the second-year standout led the conference with seven assists to go along with five goals.

Historically, Queen's haven't made things easy for either for the coaches or fans as over the course of the past five years, 14 of the Gaels last 20 playoff games have needed extra time.  However, with Queen's picking up victories in 10 of those games along with their national titles in 2010 and 2011, the Gaels have proven they can take care of business when they're up against the clock.

In one of the best rivalries in university sports in Canada, the Gaels will take on the rival Western Mustangs with a berth in the gold medal match on the line.

The Mustangs are hoping that the pro-Western hometown crowd will help propel them past the Gaels as they look to take one step closer to their first OUA women's soccer title since 2004 and their sixth since 1985.

Western only allowed seven goals against in 16 games this regular season for a stingy average of 0.47 goals against this season and are led by defender Jenna White (Winnipeg, Man.) who was recently named an OUA first-team all-star.

The high powered Mustangs scored 40 goals during the regular season, the second best mark in the conference behind the Ridgebacks.

Queen's will need to find a way to slow down the offensive duo of midfielder Stefanie Di Tella (Mississauga, Ont.) and forward Amanda Boyle (Waterloo, Ont.) as the pair combined to score nearly 50 percent of the Mustangs goals this season.

Thanks to the Lancers upset of the York Lions coupled with Western's 1-0 victory in penalty kicks over the Guelph Gryphons, the Mustangs earned the right to host this weekend's OUA Women's Soccer Final Four Championship.      

In addition to the OUA title, UOIT, Western, Queen's and Windsor are competing for berths in the CIS Women's Soccer Championship, which will be hosted by Acadia University from Nov. 10-13.

There is a lot riding on the Friday's semifinals as the two winners will not only earn a spot in the gold medal match but will also earn the OUA berths in the national tournament.