Photo Credit: Tim Austen
Gee-Gees Blank Trent Excalibur in Friday Affair
By After a three-hour bus ride from Peterborough, Francis Etienne’s Excalibur side were not prepared for the double downpour to hit them as they took to the pitch Friday night against the reigning OUA Champions, the uOttawa Gee-Gees.
The Excalibur were in good form coming into this one, having kicked off their 2024 season on a decent note going 1-1 over two matches, most recently having beaten the RMC Paladins 4-1 on Labour Day Sunday. uOttawa oppositely had only played one match prior to Friday’s contest, winning that one with a convincing 6-0 scoreline over the Laurentian Voyageurs.
Despite having taken down Trent in both meetings in 2023 with a season series scoreline of 14-0, the Gee-Gee’s were not ones to relent nor overestimate. Having undergone some major changes in the offseason, the Peterborough-based program has been a bit of a wild card for 2024 and this was touched on forward Jenna Matsukubo.
When asked about maintaining the energy and mentality in presumably easier games, Matsukubo readily admitted that it can be a bit challenging. “For a game like this, in past seasons it’s been a comfortable win so I think it’s all about setting goals,” said the OUA All-Star.
“I want to make sure I am doing everything right so when we do play a more competitive team, we can pull off the best performance.”
Coming into this match, it was clear that this was a revamped Trent side as they pressed deep into the uOttawa defensive third and even challenged keeper Cassidy Joslin on a few occasions. But despite this being Joslin’s been in between the pipes since her FC London side closed out their L1Ontario campaign on August 4th, she did not disappoint.
Early on, the two benches were quite evenly matched, going tit-for-tat with one another on chances including an opportunity by TU’s Natalie Coscarella to break the deadlock when she capitalized on a bad pass by Joslin, but it was easily saved in the end.
Ultimately, it would be none other than Cassandra Provost to break open the referee’s wallet book in the 17′; a nice cross-box feed by winger Matsukubo found a wide-open Provost on the far side. Nothing more than a light tap by the OUA MVP would be needed to send this one past keeper Victoria Ivey-Town for the 1-0 lead.
Seven minutes later and the Gee-Gees would strike again, this time courtesy of Allana Oriente. The Montréal native would be gifted a perfect through-ball feed by fellow Québecer Élianne Gervais, and with an undefended left-wing ahead of her, Oriente gracefully sent it off the far side post and into the mesh for the two-nil lead.
Come the referee’s whistle for half-time and the match was all Ottawa’s as they found the net twice more come the 45′ with Provost marking her brace – again off of a Matusukubo pass – and Gervais getting one of her own in added time.
Despite their lead, uOttawa Coach Steve Johnson knew they could not take their opponents for granted and even highlighted as much post-game when asked about the balancing act of performing well tonight whilst also resting for their Sunday meeting with the ever-strong Queen’s Gaels
“We didn’t want to take Trent lightly. We started well in the first half and I’m pleased with the players’ focus,” Johnson explained whistle shielding himself from the rain that started halfway through the evening. “Trent was good on the counter and it caused us a few problems. When we began playing more tightly… it allowed us to settle into the game.
This truly was the case as come the second half – having seen Trent’s attacking style on several occasions – the Gee-Gees fell into rhythm. Even with Coach Johnson opting to sub on many of his reserves players at the half, they continued to dominated possession.
Just two minutes into the second period and Sabrina Mangiaracina proceeded to make it five for the home side after having capitalized on a series of misplayed balls by the Trent d-line. With nothing but a slight challenge by Excalibur defender Tianna Wilson between her and the mesh, Mangiaracina sent it up and over the diving hands of Ivey-Town.
With Oriente closing out the match with a brace of her own (marking now three goals on the season), the Gee-Gee’s once again claimed an easy Friday night victory for a 2-0 record heading into their highly-anticipated meeting with the Gales come week’s end.
Coach Johnson addressed the upcoming contest while talking to the media after the game and discussed some of the mistakes his side has made against Queens that he is hoping to mend prior to kick-off.
“Queen’s is very good upfront; they have a terrific midfield,” lauded Johnson. “They are tactically and technically solid. Both backlines will struggle and those two units are going to have to step up against the high-powered offences.
The Kingston-based varsity side currently sit at the top of the OUA East division with a 2W-1D-0L record. The Gaels opened their season with back-to-back wins over the TMU Bold and the Ontario Tech Ridgebacks while Friday they drew against the other Capital region university, 1-1 vs the Carleton Ravens.
Tickets to all Gee-Gee’s women’s soccer home games can be purchased on Showpass, here, while matches are streamed live and for free at OUA.tv.
