VICTORIA - In a battle of two undefeated teams, the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees maintained their perfect season, narrowly defeating the University of Calgary Dinos. The first semifinal of U Sports National Championship on Friday night at Centennial Stadium ended in an unfortunate 7-5 loss for the Dinos women.
 
The Dinos came into the matchup on a high note, scoring 42 points on their way to a lopsided victory against Acadia in the quarterfinals. However, tonight's game would be a more challenging feat for the team.
 
Both teams meeting each other for the first time, the game started out with plenty of play in between the 40 metre lines; each team determining which weaknesses to attack. The first half comprised of back-and-forth play down the field between the two teams, but drives on each side were stalled due to numerous handling errors.
 
At the 24 minute mark, the Gee-Gees had the first scoring attempt, pushing the ball past the 22 metre line and sustaining pressure deep in Dinos territory.  They continued pressure for 10 minutes, threatening to put up the first points of the game on three different occasions. Fortunately, the Dinos were successful in defending their try line, preventing the Gee-Gees from scoring.
 
After an Elyssa Sandron penalty left Calgary shorthanded, the Gee-Gees would  capitalize in the waning minutes of the first half. A box kick that pinned the Dinos deep in their territory, would allow Elizabeth Boudreault to break through the try line. A successful convert from Emma Sandstrom resulted in the Gee-Gees entering halftime with a 7-0 lead.
 
The Dinos came out with a strong push to open the second half controlling the possession and pace. The Dinos hemmed the Gee-Gees in their own end for the majority of the final 35 minutes.
 
In the 47^th minute the Dinos would finally find a hole in Ottawa's defence. The ball would be swung out wide from the scrum allowing Emily Tuttosi to finish the play, downing the ball just inside the sideline. Sandron would give the challenging conversion a solid attempt, but fell short, leaving the Dinos down two with 20 minutes left in the game.
 
Unfortunately, that would be as close as the Dinos would get in closing the gap, as the Gee-Gees tight defence prevented the any attempts late in the game. A last attempt in the dying minutes of the match the Dinos looked as if they would break through, but a mishandle leading to a knock-on turned the ball over. The Gee-Gees would kick the ball into touch, icing the game in the process.
 
Head Coach Simon Chi had these comments following the disappointing loss. "You know what, you get this far sometimes you get the rolls sometimes you don't. Obviously to come that close - it certainly hurts. There was a team out there that left it all out there. Proud of the effort."
 
"We came back from this type of disappointment last year and you know what, this group is resilient," said Chi. "They'll come back from this one and we'll look to build off this next year."
 
With this loss, the Dinos will play the loser of the semifinal game in the Bronze Medal match, looking to bring home the first medal in team history. Kickoff is Sunday at 1 PST at Centennial Stadium.