HIGH ACHIEVERS WEEKEND WRAP: University of Ottawa Gee-Gees show winning touch in Panda Game, more varsity sports

By Martin Cleary

Five University of Ottawa Gee-Gees varsity team sports had one thing in common on the weekend – winning.

Whether it was on the football gridiron, soccer pitch, basketball court, rugby field or hockey rink, the Gee-Gees found the keys to success for the opening weekend of competition in October.

· For the sixth consecutive year, the Gee-Gees secured a Panda Game football victory, holding off the Carleton University Ravens 35-32 before 23,499 fans at TD Place.

· Cassandra Provost broke the Gee-Gees women’s soccer career goal-scoring record with her 59th marker in her team’s 1-0 decision over the Ravens.

· The Gee-Gees women’s basketball team snapped together three wins in as many days to capture the Calgary Cup tournament.

· Fourteen players scored 19 tries as the Gee-Gees women’s rugby team steamrolled McGill University Martlets 115-0 to clinch first place in the RSEQ standings.

· The OUA men’s hockey regular season opened on a positive note for the Gee-Gees with a pair of victories.

When it comes to playing Panda Games, the Gee-Gees love to win in bunches. Ottawa rallied from a 15-point deficit with three consecutive touchdowns in the second half for a 35-32 win over Carleton, which had a last-minute comeback fall short.

The win secured an OUA playoff berth for the Gee-Gees (3-4), while the Ravens (2-5) were eliminated from the post-season.

The Gee-Gees’ sixth consecutive Panda Game win leaves it one short of the club record of seven in a row, which happened from 1957 to 1963. The only other time the Gee-Gees strung together six consecutive Panda wins was from 1988-93.

A 40-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Elijah Barnes to Frederik Hachey and a two-point convert by Barnes with 44 seconds remaining in the game gave Carleton a glimmer of hope to snap the Gee-Gees win streak and help their playoff situation. The eight-point touchdown left Carleton trailing 35-32.

Down by three, Brandon Forcier lofted a perfect onside kick after the touchdown, which Ben Huckabone recovered, giving the Ravens the ball on the Ottawa 49-yard line. The Ravens gained 11 yards on two rushing plays, but Barnes was sacked for a seven-yard loss.

Forcier was given the nod to try a 54-yard field goal to tie the game, but the ball missed going through the uprights.

Shortly after Forcier kicked a 40-yard field goal to increase the Ravens’ halftime lead by three to 24-11, the Gee-Gees posted three touchdowns in just over 10 minutes of playing time.

Runningback Charles Asselin rambled for 28 yards and a touchdown to shrink Carleton’s advantage to 24-18. A fumble recovery allowed Daniel Briere to go 40 yards for the Gee-Gees’ go-ahead touchdown and a 25-24 lead. Noah Avery added the Gee-Gees’ third touchdown in a row on a nine-yard pass from quarterback Josh Janssen.

Zachary Copeland kicked all three converts, but more importantly for the Gee-Gees he contributed a 24-yard field goal with 67 seconds remaining in the game to cap a seven-play, 35-yard drive for a 35-24 lead.

“I’ll give anything for these guys,” Briere said. “It was a win or go-home game and being able to do it for all the seniors, thinking about that now it makes me a bit emotional to be able to do it for them. Getting the wins here is a big momentum boost. We’re ready for U of T (University of Toronto at home, Oct. 19) and playoffs.”

Receiver Kaseem Ferdinand gave the Ravens a 7-0 lead on a 32-yard pass-and-run touchdown with Barnes. Forcier had the convert.

After Copeland kicked a single point off a missed field goal, Asselin scored the first of his two touchdowns on a one-yard run for an 8-7 advantage.

But Carleton rebounded with a pair of second-quarter touchdowns as Barnes threw a 13-yard pass to Tristan Ready and an 11-yard strike to Huckabone. Forcier booted both converts to put Carleton ahead 21-8.

Ready has gained 630 yards this season as a receiver, while Ferdinand has exceeded 500 yards for a third straight season.

Copeland ended the first half with a 25-yard field goal, cutting the Carleton lead to 21-11.

Barnes connected on 19 of 28 passes for 329 yards, including 138 yards to Hachey. Janssen gained 295 yards through the air as he made 23 of his 30 pass attempts. Romeo Lussier was his best receiver with 93 yards.

“We went through the ups and downs of the past few weeks and our guys really learned how to play,” Gee-Gees head coach Marcel Bellefeuille said. “They’ve been on the upswing and understanding the ebbs and flows of the game and about playing one play at a time.”

GEE-GEES WIN IN SOCCER, RUGBY, BASKETBALL, HOCKEY

In women’s soccer, the Gee-Gees pushed their OUA East Division leading record to 9-1, after a 1-0 decision over host Carleton.

Cassandra Provost scored the game’s lone goal on a pass from Ava Donohue at the 48th minute, which allowed her to set the Gee-Gees’ career goal-scoring record at 59. The record was previously held by Pilar Khoury at 58.

Cassidy Joslin stopped five shots to earn the shutout.

On the basketball court, Allie McCarthy sparked the Gee-Gees women’s basketball team to three consecutive wins and the Calgary Cup championship.

The Gee-Gees defeated host University of Calgary Dinos 60-59, the University of Victoria Vikes 79-61 and the University of Prince Edward Island Panthers 78-68 in the round-robin format.

McCarthy recorded 62 points and 19 rebounds in the three games, while Natsuki Szczokin had 44 points, 15 rebounds and 13 assists. Szczokin also had the team’s only weekend double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds against the Panthers.

On the rugby pitch, Aurora Bowie counted 25 points off one try and 10 converts and Ella Blyth added four tries as the Gee-Gees shut out McGill 115-0 to win the RSEQ women’s regular-season title.

Dorcas Pohe and Tylo Borsboom notched two tries each. Single tries were counted by Liliana Davidson, Fiona Day, Anna Dodge, Julia Catremouille, Ngozi Mosindi, Sydney Noseworthy, Deborah Oyetoran, Grace Sanderson, Leigha Stiles and Tian Wiens.

Ottawa finished the regular season in first place at 6-0 for 24 points, while traditional rival Université Laval Rouge et Or was second at 5-1 for 20 points. Carleton University Ravens were fourth at 2-3-1 and 13 points.

Carleton lost 29-3 to Concordia University Stingers. Zoe Nield kicked a penalty for the Ravens.

On the ice, Vincent Labelle scored two goals and added one assist as the Gee-Gees men’s hockey team outscored Toronto Metropolitan University Bold 6-3 for its second OUA win in as many games.

Luca Verreault and Anthony Poulin had one goal and one assist each.

In its opening game, Ottawa edged Ontario Tech University Ridgebacks 5-4. Andrew Belchamber had two goals for the Gee-Gees, while Peter Stratis and Mathieu Desgagnes picked up two assists apiece.

CLAIRE GALLAGHER PLAYER OF GAME FOR UNDEFEATED CANADA

The Canadian women’s rugby team will play England in a battle of the world’s top-two ranked women’s 15s rugby teams in the final of the WXV1 championship in Vancouver.

No. 2-ranked Canada advanced to the final defeating Ireland 21-8 in Langley, B.C., and boosted its record to 2-0. England trimmed New Zealand 49-31 to go 2-0 and reach the final as the No. 1-ranked country.

Claire Gallagher, who plays fly-half, ran for a try in the 34th minute for Canada’s first points. Gallagher, a graduate of the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees women’s rugby program, was named Canada’s player of the game.

Prop Alexandria Ellis of Ottawa started, but was sent off with a yellow card for repeated infringements around the breakdown. She returned and left at the 68th minute.

Pamphinette Buisa of Ottawa Irish didn’t dress for Canada.

OSU FORCE U15 BOYS CLOSE IN ON REPEAT ONTARIO SOCCER CROWN

The Ottawa South United Force under-15 boys’ soccer team scored a pair of critical back-to-back home-field victories on the weekend at George Nelms Sports Park, but they’ll still be scoreboard watching in the final game of the season to find out if they’ll repeat as Ontario Player Development League champions.

The Force, who finished their premier division season with a 7-1-1 record, currently have a three-point advantage over second-place Woodbridge, which has one game left to play. A Woodbridge loss, tie or win by four goals or less on the road Wednesday night at Pickering will be enough to keep OSU at the top of the table.

The same Force group won an OPDL title at the U14 level last season and followed that up with a historic national crown at the inaugural Canadian Player Development Program Championship earlier this summer in Edmonton.

Read More: ‘No better ending’ than a historic national title for OSU Force, with some players departing to pro soccer academies

The hero of the national final game that went to penalty kicks, goalkeeper Aidan De Hartog, recorded one clean sheet and shared another with Eliot Chan to bring his season total to 10 shutouts in 20 games on the weekend.

Almedin Brkic, Justin Walker and Elias Martinelli scored in OSU’s 3-0 victory over Sigma FC on Saturday, while Martinelli had the lone goal in Sunday’s 1-0 win over Hamilton United Elite.

TEAM HOMAN EDGED IN GRAND SLAM OF CURLING OPENER

Rachel Homan reached her third consecutive curling final, but it was a different ending this time for the Ottawa Curling Club rink.

In the season-opening Grand Slam of Curling event in Charlottetown, Kerri Einarson’s final shot in the eighth end hit and stayed for one point to give the Gimli, MB., skip a 5-4 decision over Homan at the HearingLife Tour Challenge.

The Einarson rink earned $35,000, while Team Homan took home $24,000.

Homan led 3-1 after four ends until Einarson counted one in the fifth end and stole two in the sixth for a 4-3 lead. A single point in the seventh allowed Homan to even the match.

In the semifinals, Homan scored one in the eighth end to edge Kaitlyn Lawes of Winnipeg 4-3 and Einarson defeated Japan’s Satsuki Fujisawa 6-4 with two in an extra end.

Homan only needed seven ends in the quarterfinals to edge Eunjung Kim of Korea 5-3. In the preliminary rounds, Homan won three of her four matches to qualify for the playoffs.

MICHAEL WOODS NARROWLY MISSES PODIUM IN ONE-DAY RACE

Michael Woods’ dash for the podium fell one place short at the cold and rainy Giro dell’Emilia in the single-day, 215-kilometre race from Vignola to San Luca, Italy.

Tadej Pogacar of UAE Team Emirates, who has dominated the cycling circuit this season, was first in five hours, 44 minutes, 44 seconds, while Woods, Thomas Pidcock of Ineos Grenadiers and Davide Piganzoli of Team Polti Kometa battled for positions second through fourth. They were 1:54 behind Pogacar.

The Giro dell’Emilia is one of Woods’ best one-day races. He has raced it seven times, placing second in 2019, third in 2021, fourth in 2018 and fifth in 2023.

On Tuesday, Woods, the Ottawa cyclist who rides for Israel Premier Tech, didn’t start the Tre Valli Varesine. The race began, but was reduced in length before being cancelled because of heavy rains.

GEE-GEES, RAVENS LOSE IN MEN’S RSEQ RUGBY

Glenn Roy ran for one try and kicked three converts for 11 points, while Evan Roy and Sean Biryukov counted one try each in the University of Ottawa’s 37-21 loss to the undefeated McGill University Redbirds, who are the RSEQ men’s rugby leaders at 5-0.

Carleton University Ravens fell 78-7 to Concordia University Stingers. Kirkland Irving had the Ravens’ try, while Liam Power kicked the convert.

Ottawa is second in league standings at 3-1 for 14 points and Carleton is seventh at 0-4. The two schools are scheduled to meet Saturday at Carleton.

LAST, BUT CERTAINLY NOT LEAST

· Queen’s University Gaels defeated Carleton University Ravens 5-1 in the East Qualifier tournament final and will advance to the four-team OUA baseball championship on the weekend in Ajax. Carleton reached the final by defeating the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees 6-3 in the semifinals.

· The University of Ottawa’s Vincent Laplante tied for seventh place with rounds of 74 and 71 for a three-over-par 145 in the men’s field at the OUA golf championship in Windsor. Carleton University’s Dylan Rouse tied for 15th with a five-over-par 72-75-147. Carleton’s Claire Stoney tied for 11th place in the women’s division at 80-79 for a 17-over 159, while teammate Sanvi Swarup shared 13th place, after rounds of 76-84 for a 160 total. Carleton tied for fifth place in the men’s team event.

· Canada Topflight Academy made a big impression at the Commonwealth Basketball Group Juco/Prep Jamboree in Glen Allen, Virginia. The Red team won all four of its games, while the Gold team, which will play in the prestigious Elite Prep League this season, was 3-1. The modified games featured two 20-minute running time halves as well as some other rule adjustments for showcase purposes.

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