NEWS: Gee-Gees collect three major awards and five all-star nods
The Gee-Gees women's soccer team had seven of its members recognized by OUA on Wednesday as the conference unveiled its All-Stars and Major Award winners for the 2021 season.
Emma Lefebvre was named the OUA East Most Valuable Player, Cassandra Provost garnered the Rookie of the Year award, and Steve Johnson was voted the Coach of the Year for the seventh time in his career.
For Lefebvre, the MVP award caps off an outstanding five-year career with the Gee-Gees. This season she led the entire OUA conference in regular season goals scored with a career-high total of 12 in just ten games. She added three assists and ranked first in OUA and third in U SPORTS with 1.5 points per game.
From Kingston, Ont., Lefebvre was also named to the OUA First Team of All-Stars for the first time in her career after being named to the second team in 2018 and 2019. She was also a second team all-star in 2019 for indoor soccer. Lefebvre's career total of 36 regular season OUA goals is tied for second in Gee-Gees team history.
Rookie of the Year Cassandra Provost provided the secondary scoring for the Gee-Gees, complimenting Lefebvre perfectly up front. The rookie from Acton Vale, Que., recorded seven goals and two assists in the regular season, ranking fifth and sixth in OUA in goals and points, respectively. Among rookies she was tops in OUA East in goals and points per game. An accounting student, Provost proved particularly dangerous in the box on set plays for Ottawa, with her size and strength providing a tough matchup for opponents to contain; she converted several headers for goals from corners.
The Gee-Gees defence had another excellent campaign, allowing just four goals in ten games. Second-years Trinity Esprit and Adriane Devlin represent the back line on the OUA East All-Star team for 2021. For Esprit, who added a goal and three assists to her remarkable defensive play, it is her second OUA All-Star nod, while Devlin makes the list for the first time.
In the midfield, fourth-year Katerine Delev and first-year Sadie Sider-Echenberg earned All-Star recognition. Delev, a management student from Chelsea, Que., is now a two-time OUA All-Star, in addition to being named the RSEQ Indoor Soccer MVP in 2019-20.
Sider-Echenberg, a computer science student and local Ottawa product, had an outstanding rookie season showing speed and strength in the midfield. She recorded two goals and four assists while starting every match for the Garnet and Grey. Delev and Esprit were the only other two Gee-Gees to start all ten regular season games.
The Gee-Gees went 9-0-1 in regular season play, the second straight and eighth total undefeated regular season record during Steve Johnson's 27-year tenure as head coach. Now with a career regular season record of 272-31-63, Johnson has been named the OUA East Coach of the Year for the seventh time in his career, and for the second consecutive season.