UOIT wins first U Sports medal in school history

The UOIT women’s soccer team’s historic season came to an end on Nov. 13 with a 1-0 victory over the Queen’s Gaels in the bronze medal match to claim both the program and school’s first medal at a U Sports national championship.

“What an accomplishment for everyone involved with the program,” said UOIT manager of intercollegiate athletics Scott Barker. “The entire team has worked so hard to accomplish their goals. It is hard to believe that just five years ago our team was taking the field for the first time. For our graduating seniors to end their career with a national medal is quite the feat.”

Sunday’s bronze medal game was a rematch of the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) championship final in which UOIT won 1-0 in London.

Third-year midfielder Katherine Koehler-Grassau’s (Greely, Ont.) goal on a left-footed mid-range shot in the 59th minute ended up being the game’s lone goal.

As for the key to victory, Koehler-Grassau said, “we went in hard for every ball, and kept the ball in play. We stuck together, and didn’t let ourselves get down on each other.” As well, “we do fitness year-round, so being in shape wasn’t an issue,” despite playing their third game in four days.

This was the Ridgebacks only match at the national tournament that did not need overtime to solve a winner. UOIT beat Trinity Western 1-0 in the quarter-finals followed by a 2-1 loss to Laval in the semifinals.

Following the tournament, Kylie Bordeleau (Cambridge, Ont.) and Koehler=Grassau were named championship all-stars.

Laval would end up winning the national championship beating the University of British Columbia (UBC) Thunderbirds 2-1 in the gold medal match.