Good Day At The Races: uOttawa’s Women’s Side Wins Home Opener
By There would be no King Arthur pulling the sword from the stone at Matt Anthony Field on Saturday. Instead, the uOttawa women’s soccer team walked away crowned as victors after a five-nil thrashing of the Trent Excalibur.
Marking the first day of the University of Ottawa’s frosh week, the Gee-Gee’s welcomed the Excalibur to campus to kick off their 2023 varsity season. Having accrued a OUA championship and a U SPORTS bronze medal from the tournament hosted at Laval last season, the Gees once again enter another season with high expectations upon them.
Yet it would not take long for the girls to remind their home crowd exactly why they are consistently provincial champions. Under the watchful and knowledgeable eye of head coach Steve Johnson, once the GeeGee’s fell into form, there was no stopping Ottawa’s finest.
Gee-Gee Nibo Dlamini would get things started in the ’18 as a overhead through-ball from teammate Adriane Devlin would draw out Trent keeper Imogen Bellinger allowing Dlamini to dance around and tap home the first goal of the game, to thunderous applause.
Next in line to leave a mark on the game sheet would be 2022’s OUA and U SPORTS MVP Cassandra Provost. The Acton Vale, Quebec native led a drive down the right sideline with speed that would break the Trent defense, allowing for Provost to beat three Excalibur players and bounce the ball off the keeper into the net.
Worth A Read: Cassandra Provost Named USPORTS Women’s Soccer Player of the year
This is not to say that the visitors were without their own chances. Rather, late into the first half, a set-piece off of a corner would prove to be a scary moment for uOttawa as their saving grace came in the form of the crossbar.
Entering the second half of the match, it would be all Gee-Gee’s.
Sabrina Mangiaracina, Allana Oriente, and Eva Bouity would all find the back of the net in the ’66, ’76, and ’85 minutes respectively, sealing the fate for their Peterborough opponents.
In front of a 354-person crowd, the Gee-Gee’s will be looking to replicate this success over the course of the season, including at their next match in Toronto, taking on the UofT Varsity Blues.
Fans can catch the Gee-Gee’s at Matt Anthony Field and can buy tickets here. All OUA varsity sports – including women’s soccer – can be streamed live and on demand at OUA.tv.