RECAP: #4 women’s soccer on the brink of Nationals berth with playoff win against Toronto

A trio of assists from Soumaya Bouak were enough for the Gee-Gees women's soccer team to get within a win of the U SPORTS National Championship.

The Gee-Gees progressed to the OUA semifinals with a 4-0 win over the Toronto Varsity Blues Saturday afternoon at Matt Anthony Field. Ottawa will now travel to Western for the pivotal semifinal matchup, with the winner earning a berth at Nationals.

Cassandra Provost scored two headers, Kayla Kyle earned one of her own, and Angelina Gendreau finished off a lightning quick Ottawa counter.

"Set pieces for us were really good, both attacking and defending," said Gee-Gees head coach Steve Johnson. "In playoff games you're looking for any advantage you can find, and we've been working on how to attack and defend them against other teams."

Ottawa enjoyed the majority of the possession early on, but had to wait until a half hour in to break the deadlock. The score could have very easily swung the other way, but goalkeeper Juliann Lacasse pulled a Karly Hellstrom corner off the line and launched a counterattack. 

Olivia Allen and Nibo Dlamini's combined effort resulted in a corner kick. Provost rose to meet a Bouak cross to open the scoring. 

The Gee-Gees were clinical in front of goal in the second half, with Kyle and Gendreau scoring in quick succession midway through. Provost added her second of the game off a corner from Dlamini to seal a commanding win. 

"We had chances in the previous game that we didn't finish off," said Johnson, referencing the team's 1-0 loss to Toronto in September – still the only defeat Ottawa has suffered this season. "We had better opportunities today and they were really well-finished."

Lacasse's only real action was defending the dangerous corner kick in the first half. The second-year goalkeeper was credited with just one save, keeping her fifth clean sheet of the season.

Ottawa will now hit the road for London, Ont., to take on the Mustangs. Western finished in first place in the OUA West during the regular season with a 9-2-1 record and defeated the McMaster Marauders 5-0 in their quarterfinal matchup.

The Gee-Gees have good memories versus the Mustangs in recent years. The last time the teams played was in the 2019 OUA Bronze medal game at Gee-Gees Field – a 3-1 Ottawa win. 

Their matchup before that was the 2018 OUA Final. Ottawa won 1-0 at Mustangs Field.