Photo Credit: Martin Bazyl / League1 Canada
Griffons Stun NDCO in Semi Final Showdown
By In a classic bout between Ontario and Quebec – one that dates back to the origins of Canadian sport – the League1 Canada Inter-Provincial Championship continued this tradition as the League1 Ontario champions NDC Ontario hosted their Ligue1 Quebec counterparts, CS Mont-Royal Outremont, in the first of two semi-final meetings.
Both side boasted impressive resumes coming into Friday’s opening match. NDC Ontario had won and dominated their League1 Ontario season with a 12W-1D-2L record, clearing their second-placed counterparts by eight points. Oppositely, the Ligue1 Quebec champions in the Griffons clinched their way to the IPC as the fourth seed in the L1QC Final Four, taking down AS Blainville and CF Montréal to claim their provincial title.
Having played a key role in this Cinderella story, the Gatorade Performer of the Game Lea Palacio-Tellier touched on post-match the importance of representing her league and province on the national stage against other top performers.
“It’s an incredible feeling, honestly,” said Palacio-Tellier. “We see how women’s soccer is growing and we want to be a part of that. With the chance of possibly being one of two Québec teams to win the tournament, it’ll grow the game’s exposure and shine a light on the talent we have here!”
Off of the opening the whistle, and that talent was on full display as the match provided a flurry of energy and excitement for the fans in attendance at Tim Hortons Field. It all kicked off just three minutes in as a cross in from NDC’s Bryana Gaynor found bodies in front of the net, ultimately going off of Griffons defender Ariane Sagala and past Palacio-Tellier.
Deflated but persevering, the Québec-side regrouped and took no time to get themselves back into the match. Come the fifth minute – complimenting a strong performance on the right wing – a cut back by Allana Oriente to fake out the Ontarian defender granted her the time to find the wide-open Joëlle Gosselin, who’s methodic boot put it into the bottom-right corner of the opposing net.
The game would remain even for the remaining 85 minutes as the two sides exchanged blows back and forth. Oriente continued to develop chances alongside Gosselin all the while their NDC counterparts challenged keeper Palacio-Tellier relentlessly.
The game was nearly decided twice in the 38′ and 45+1′ as NDC came close to glory but were stopped by CSMRO luck. In the 38′ a far-out and hard strike by Olivia Chisholm found the crossbar over the out-stretched hand of Palacio-Tellier before bouncing off the ground and out. Despite it looking as if it had crossed the line, referee Sheila Couture ruled no goal and play carried on, much to the chagrin of NDCO Head Coach Melissa Bigg
Come stoppage time and a careless challenge by Griffon Casey Koscher brought down a sprinting Gaynor, drawing the penalty. But when the PK taker Reese Kay lined up her shot, a ring let out around the stadium as the ball struck the right post, to be cleared by an elated defending side.
Once the time came after 90-minutes of play for kicks from the spot, the sides went goal for goal until a massive save by Palacio-Tellier on the third NDC strike would leave the final CSMRO kicker, Rose Hughes nothing more to do than find mesh.
With NDC keeper Henning guessing wrong, A solid shot from Hughes would ultimately claim the victory for her side, sending them to the tournament finals on Sunday to take on League1 BC’s Whitecaps Girls Elite.
Addressing Press following Friday’s contest, Gaffer Bigg wasted no time in praising her side for their performance season long in spit of the loss.
“Our players should be extremely, extremely proud of the season they’ve had,” Bigg emphasized. “Even today, the different personnel we saw out there today performed really well and played their hearts out.”
On the other bench, CSMRO Gaffer Sidi Mohamed Farah praised the opponents and his roster alike as the girls in white celebrated around him. Said Mohamed Farah:
“The girls were so excited to be here and they took to the pitch predominately looking to enjoy themselves on this stage. We wanted to demonstrate that Quebec has plenty of talent and that we leave our hearts on the pitch.”
Mohamed Farah stressed as well that his team was not here to “take a vacation” and that their attention rested solely on the incoming final. “We know who we are playing, we’ve watched the videos, and we are going to use tonight and tomorrow to finish those preparations and the girls are going give it their all come the game.”
The tournament does not end here for either side, though. As previously mentioned, the victorious CS Mont-Royal Outremont Griffons will go head-to-head with the winners of the second semi-final match-up after seeing the WFC Girls Elite squad take down the Calgary Blizzard 2-0.
There now rests the opportunity for Mohamed Farah’s side to complete their sweep of all three Canada Soccer National Development Centre teams, having already dispatched CF Montréal in the L1QC final and now NDC Ontario.
Sunday will also host the bronze medal match where NDC Ontario will seek redemption following their Friday night loss as they take to the pitch against the Blizzard to determine the third- and fourth- placed teams for this year’s Inter-Provincial Championship.
Header Image Credit: Martin Bazyl / League1 Canada
[Author’s note: the interviews with CS Mont-Royal Outremont Head Coach Sidi Mohamed Farah and Keeper Lea Palacio-Tellier were conducted in French and then translated from French to English for the purposes of this article.]
