Fanshawe Three-Peats as OCAA Women’s Soccer Champions

(London, Ontario) – At the OCAA Women's Soccer Championship final on Saturday evening at City Wide Sports Park, the Fanshawe Falcons (8-0-1) were crowned the OCAA Women's Soccer Provincial Champions with a 2-1 victory over silver medalists St. Lawrence (7-1-1). The win extends Fanshawe's OCAA unbeaten streak to 36 games and marks their third consecutive OCAA title.

Both teams started the game strong, battling for an OCAA championship. In the 19^th minute, St. Lawrence had a free kick from East Division Defensive Player of the Year Grace Van Hal who set up All-Star teammate Melissa Gilligan for an outstanding header into the top right corner of the net. At half time, the Surge held a slim 1-0 advantage and outshot the Falcons 7-6.

In the second half, both goalkeepers made a couple of impressive saves to keep their teams in the game. The Falcons finally had a breakthrough in the 61^st minute when rookie striker Aysia King beat a pair of Surge defenders and placed the ball in the bottom left corner to score for the red and white. Five minutes later, Breanne Carreiro came up huge for Fanshawe, stopping a penalty kick attempt from St. Lawrence and a rebound to keep the game tied. The home team capitalized on their momentum when West Division Rookie of the Year Madilyn Michienzi found CCAA All-Canadian Kayla McQueen, who scored to give Fanshawe a 2-1 lead. Despite St. Lawrence's strong efforts, the Falcons would hang on and claim the gold medal by a final score of 2-1.

The players of the game were McQueen for Fanshawe and Jessica Beattie for St. Lawrence. Fanshawe's Victoria Hinchliffe and King were named OCAA Tournament All-Stars for their strong weekend performances. From St. Lawrence, Gilligan and Van Hal were named Tournament All-Stars. The OCAA Championship MVP was Falcon goalkeeper, Breanne Carreiro.

BRONZE MEDAL GAME

In Saturday afternoon's game, the Humber Hawks (7-3-0) were awarded the OCAA bronze medal after a 3-2 extra time victory over the Seneca Sting.

The Sting got on the board first in the 22^nd minute, when Yoana Peralta teed up Alessia Da Silva at the top of the 18-yard box for a beautiful strike. Seneca continued to press but Humber keeper Vanessa Fiore made a couple of key saves to keep the score 1-0 Seneca at half time. The shots were 9-2 in favour of the Sting. The Hawks came out flying in the second frame, tying the game at one in the 68^th minute on a low shot from OCAA Women's Soccer Rookie of the Year Kaitlynn Russell. Both teams created chances back and forth, but it would be the Sting who would strike next in the 85^th minute. CCAA All-Canadian Shanice Alfred made a couple of nice moves to beat the Humber defender, but her shot was stopped by Fiore. The rebound found the foot of Da Silva who made no mistake and scored her second goal of the game. But the Hawks were not done yet, as they would draw a penalty kick in the 90^th minute, as Giulia Zanardi scored to force extra time. In the second overtime period, Humber's Breanna Senfner crossed in a free kick from the corner and found Russell to give the Hawks their first lead of the game with five minutes left. That would go on to be the winning goal, as Humber won the game 3-2 in overtime and captured the OCAA bronze medal.

The Player of the Match was Megan Arsenault for Seneca and Rebecca Spratt for Humber. Seneca's Da Silva and Humber's Russell were named OCAA Tournament All-Stars for their impressive play throughout the weekend.

Both Fanshawe (OCAA Champion) and Humber (Host) will now advance to the CCAA Women's Soccer National Championship from Nov. 10-13 in Toronto. The event will be hosted by Humber College.

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