Gaels look to defend OUA women's soccer championship on Sunday

LONDON, Ont. – The Queen's Gaels have the opportunity to defend their Ontario University Athletics (OUA) women's soccer title after defeating the host Western Mustangs 2-0 on Friday night.

After watching the UOIT Ridgebacks qualify for their first OUA championship game in school history by winning the opening game of the Final Four over Windsor, the Queen's Gaels return to the same game they won 1-0 a year ago over the Laurier Golden Hawks. Regardless of Sunday's result both east division teams will represent Ontario at the CIS championship at Acadia University Nov. 10-13 in Wolfville, N.S. 

"Any time you beat a good team like Western on their home field you're excited to have gotten the result," said Gaels head coach Dave McDowell. "They're a good team without any real weaknesses all over the field so anytime you get a break here or there and get a goal – we're happy to take it."

To qualify for the Final Four the Mustangs defeated the Guelph Gryphons in a shootout, while the Gaels made their way to the semifinal game by defeating the Ottawa Gee-Gees 1-0 in double-overtime at Richardson Stadium in Kingston. 

The first half started with possession in favour of the purple and white, but despite the advantage, Queen's forced Western's rookie goaltender Megan Girardi (Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.) to make four key saves in the opening 45 minutes. Neither team was able to break the stalemate as they entered halftime tied 0-0.

The Mustangs came out of the gate with intensity to start the second half, as Boyle and Jess Friend (Bowmanville, Ont.) gave Western their best scoring chances within the first three minutes. Unfortunately for the hometown crowd that was as close as Western would get, with the tie being broken by Queen's midfielder Matija Skoko (Toronto, Ont.) in the 58^th minute.

Skoko eventually put it out of reach in the 85^th minute, with her second goal of the game, as Girardi was caught out of the goal with Western pressing for the equalizer. 

Injuries hurt the Mustangs during the game as midfielder Grace Grafham (Burlington, Ont.) and defender Sonja Cvetkovic (London, Ont.) were unable to play in the second half after both fell to injuries midway through the first half. 

Madison Tyrell made one save for Queen's in the win, while Girardi turned aside five shots in the loss for the Mustangs.

The final day of play is now set as the Mustangs face the Windsor Lancers at 11 a.m. on Sunday in the bronze medal match. The two teams played to two 0-0 draws during the regular season.

At 2 p.m. Queen's faces UOIT in the championship game. The Ridgebacks won both matches this season, 1-0 and 2-1.

"We know each other fairly well after playing each other twice during the season," he said. "We'll see if we can do some things to make sure we're ready for that."

Both matches on Sunday can we watched live on OUA TV.