OTTAWA – Home cooking paid off for the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees, as they edged the Calgary Dinos 2-1 on Thursday evening at the 2018 U SPORTS Women's Soccer Championship.
A frantic first half saw all the scoring at Gee-Gees Field with the home team receiving goals from Delaney Rickert-Hall and Katherine Bearne. Calgary's lone goal of the night came off the foot of
Montana Leonard.
Rickert-Hall set Gee-Gees Field ablaze four minutes in. She had an audacious effort from 25 yards out that beat the goalkeeper clean so that Ottawa can take the early advantage.
Calgary pushed back and were able to respond in the 19th minute. A long shot was saved by goalkeeper Margot Shore, but the rebound was collected by Leonard and she slotted it into the back of the net.
Katherine Bearne turned things into a back-and-forth affair only three minutes later. She opened up and shot with her left from distance, eluded Dinos' keeper
Lauren Houghton, and sent the Ottawa crowd into a frenzy again.
Ottawa had another glorious opportunity when a ball was lofted over the top to Mikayla Morton. It was good goalkeeping by Houghton however, as she pounced on the ball. A spirited first half ended with the hosts ahead 2-1.
The Gee-Gees took control of the game in the second half, seeing the majority of the possession and making life easy for Shore between the sticks. The Dinos attempted a comeback in the dying moments, but a solid Gee-Gees defence held them off.
The Gee-Gees advance to the semifinals to take on the McMaster Marauders in a rematch of the OUA semifinal. That match goes on Saturday, November 10 at 12:30 pm ET / 9:30 am PT. Calgary will play in the consolation bracket, and face the Université de Montréal tomorrow, Friday, November 9, 2018.
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