QF #1 CIS women’s soccer championship: Gee-Gees tame Tigers with three quick goals

Photo credit Andrew Dobrowolskyj, McGill

MONTREAL (CIS) – The Ottawa Gee-Gees exploded for three goals in a five-minute span early in the second half en route to a 3-2 quarter-final victory over the Dalhousie Tigers to open the CIS women’s soccer championships at Percival Molson Stadium, Thursday morning.

The Gee-Gees, who finished third at last weekend’s OUA championships, advance to Saturday’s semifinal round where they will face either defending national champion Queen’s or Alberta. It will mark Ottawa’s first CIS semifinal appearance since 2006, when the Gee-Gees ended up with the bronze medal.

Dalhousie, the Atlantic champions, have been eliminated for gold medal contention and relegated to the consolation round.

All three Gee-Gee goals were scored by Ottawa natives. Pilar Khoury, a freshman forward, sparked the rally in the 48th minute to tie the game at 1-1. A minute later, veteran Krista Draycott put the Gee-Gees ahead and then Corina Jarrett, a third-year striker, delivered the killer blow in the 54th minute.

“It’s one of the plays we have been working on in practice,” said Jarrett. “It was actually a really nice pass from Christine (Hardie), I just saw an opening down the right inside. She made a one-touch pass to me; I took couple of steps in the box and hit the bottom corner of the net.”

Doriana Homerski tallied both markers for Dalhousie, putting the Tigers ahead 1-0 just before halftime, in the 43rd minute, and later reducing the deficit to 3-2 in the 65th minute. She was named player of the game for Dalhousie, while Katie Landry received the honours for Ottawa.

“The wet field conditions caused us a little bit of trouble early on and we were a little bit nervous as it was our first game at Nationals,” said Ottawa head coach Steve Johnson, about the lacklustre start by his troops. “We basically wasted the first 45 minutes but had good chances to score early in the second half and our players just relaxed after that.”

SCORING SUMMARY

OTT: 0-3: 3
DAL: 1-1: 2

First half
1. DAL Doriana Homerski (1), 42nd

Second half
2. OTT Pilar Khoury (1), 48th
3. OTT Krista Draycott (1), 49th
4. OTTA Corina Jarrette (1), 53rd
5. DAL Doriana Homerski (2), 64th

Goalkeepers:
OTT: Cynthia Leblanc (W, 2 GA, 3 saves, 90:00)
CBU: Taryn McKenna (L, 3 GA, 9 saves, 90:00)

Shots: OTT 17, DAL 8
Shots on net: OTT 12, DAL 5
Corners: OTT 10, DAL 0
Offsides: OTT 0, DAL 1
Fouls: OTT 0, DAL 9
Yellow cards: OTT (Candice Smith), DAL (Doriana Homerski)
Red cards: none

Players of the game:
OTT: Kate Landry
DAL: Dorianna Homerski

SCHEDULE & RESULTS

Thursday, Nov. 10
10:30 Quarter-final 1: Ottawa 3 Dalhousie 2
13:30 Quarter-final 2: Queen’s vs. Alberta (SSN Canada webcast)
16:30 Quarter-final 3: Montreal vs. Laurier (SSN Canada webcast)
19:30 Quarter-final 4: Trinity Western vs. McGill (SSN Canada webcast)

Friday, Nov. 11
16:30 Consolation 1: Dalhousie vs. Loser QF 2 (SSN Canada webcast)
19:30 Consolation 2: Loser QF 3 vs. Loser QF 4 (SSN Canada webcast)

Saturday, Nov. 12
13:30 Semifinal 1: Ottawa vs. Winner QF 2 (SSN Canada webcast)
16:30 Semifinal 2: Winner QF 3 vs. Winner QF 4 (SSN Canada webcast)
19:30 5th-place game (SSN Canada webcast)

Sunday, Nov. 13
13:30 Bronze medal (SSN Canada webcast)
16:00 Championship final (SSN Canada webcast)

-CIS-