HIGH ACHIEVERS WEEKEND WRAP: Carleton Ravens reclaim Panda football trophy, after 8-year absence

By Martin Cleary

A university football game is played over 60 minutes for two teams to determine a winner.

But it only took 14 seconds for the Carleton University Ravens to seize control of the 56th Panda football game against the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees, which sparked a rare positive outcome.

The Ravens added a pair of field goals and some stingy, game-ending defence for the 20-14 victory in front of 23,030 fans at TD Place, which also allowed Carleton to win the Panda trophy for the first time since 2017. The Gee-Gees, who opened and closed the Panda Game scoring, hold the upper hand in the annual crosstown series at 38-18.

More importantly, the victory allows Carleton to keep its OUA playoff hopes alive with a 3-3 record. But the Ravens finish their regular season on the road against the No. 1-ranked Wilfrid Laurier University Golden Hawks (tied for first, 6-0) on Friday night and McMaster University Marauders (tied for seventh, 2-4) on Oct. 18.

The Gee-Gees, however, have a pair of home games to wrap up their regular season against the University of Windsor Lancers (tied for fourth, 3-3) on Saturday and the University of Toronto Varsity Blues (11th, 1-6) on Sept. 18.

Early in the second quarter, the Gee-Gees converted a Tristan Lefebvre interception into six points, when Ottawa quarterback Josh Janssen connected with Robin Collioud for a 52-yard touchdown. Zachary Copeland booted the convert and added a rouge off the ensuing and booming kickoff.

Carleton took care of the rest of the second-quarter scoring and in a matter of 14 seconds. Ravens quarterback Elijah Barnes passed to Tristan Ready in the corner of the end zone for a touchdown to complete a nine-play, 77-yard drive. The convert failed.

After the Gee-Gees couldn’t earn a first down in their next two plays, Joel Chekwi broke through the offensive line and blocked the punt, which was recovered by Ethan Boxall, who ran 22 yards for a touchdown. Carleton picked up a two-point convert, when Fred Hachey caught a pass from Barnes.

Brendan Forcier added to the Carleton lead with a pair of field goals from 12 and 28 yards for a 20-8 advantage.

Janssen made a 10-yard touchdown pass to Tristan Gilbert Thibault to bring the Gee-Gees closer, but a desperation pass into the end zone failed to connect and Ottawa lost its opportunity to tie the game.

“It was an exciting game,” Carleton head coach Corey Grant said in a goravens.ca story. “Ottawa is a good team. They play the full 60 minutes, so we wanted to make sure we finished the right way.

“We played better as a full team – offence, defence and special teams. That’s (win is) what happens when we play complementary football.”

Barnes moved the Ravens 189 yards by completing 13 of 19 passes. Hachey caught six passes for 107 yards. On defence, Xavier Malone had seven tackles and two assists, while Megawatt Niyiragiro made six tackles and had one assisted tackle.

“The adrenaline still hasn’t worn off,” Barnes said shortly after the game. “Seeing the fans rush the field – the right way this time – it’s pretty amazing. I’m still taking it all in.”

Janssen was successful on 24 of 43 passes for 375 yards and Collioud gained 159 yards on five receptions. Jaxxon Brashear led the Gee-Gees on defence with four tackles and four assisted tackles.

GEE-GEES AIM FOR RSEQ WOMEN’S RUGBY SEMI-FINAL WIN

The University of Ottawa Gee-Gees and the Carleton University Ravens staged their own version of crosstown combat in RSEQ women’s rugby, but it was a lopsided affair.

The Gee-Gees ran past the Ravens 61-8 as six players accounted for eight tries, including two each from Alysia Comtois and Sophie McDonald. Single tries were counted by Quynh-Ni Au, Mercedes Cole, Sydney Noseworthy, Tian Wiens and Liliana Davidson.

Claire Bennett had a strong kicking game with eight converts.

Peyton Chase ran for the Carleton try and Zoe Nield kicked a penalty.

The Gee-Gees (5-1) will travel to Montreal on Saturday to play the Concordia University Stingers (4-2) in the conference semifinals.

CARLETON HIRES TAYLOR PEISER AS FIRST FULL-TIME WOMEN’S SOCCER HEAD COACH

Carleton University announced Tuesday it has hired Taylor Peiser as its first full-time head coach for the women’s soccer program. She will join the team in November.

Dom Oliveri is in his fifth season as the current Carleton head coach.

Peiser’s coaching resume spans almost two decades in Canada, the United States and internationally.

She currently works for Canada Soccer as its coach developer and learning facilitator. Peiser will join the Carleton women’s soccer program in early November.

The OUA soccer schedule was rather light for both the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees and the Ravens.

While Carleton women (7-2-1) had a bye this weekend, Ottawa (7-3-1) moved into a four-way tie for second place in the East Conference at 22 points with a 3-1 decision over the Queen’s University Gaels.

After Queen’s scored the opening goal in the first half, Clare Sun put the Gee-Gees on top with a pair of goals. Sabrina Mangiaracina had the game’s only second-half goal.

Carleton (6-0-4) remained undefeated in OUA men’s soccer play with a 2-0 win over Queen’s. The Ravens are in third place with 22 points behind the University of Toronto Varsity Blues (8-1, 25 points) and Toronto Metropolitan University Bold (7-1-2, 23).

John Aldiban and Adam Ross scored the second-half goals for the Ravens, while Roberto Paguaga-Frankovich earned the one-shot shutout.

ALGONQUIN WOLVES REMAIN ON TOP, DESPITE FIRST LOSSES

The Algonquin College Wolves men’s and women’s soccer teams each experienced defeat for the first time this OCAA season.

Despite losing to Seneca College Sting 4-2 and defeating Centennial College Colts 4-1, Algonquin was able to maintain its hold on first place in the OCAA East Conference for men (8-1, 24 points).

Alix Basa and Alessandro Vivolo were the Algonquin goals scorers against the undefeated Sting (7-0-1). Vivolo paced the Wolves with two goals, while Gershom Dupuy and Shawn-Allen Guillaume had one apiece against the Colts.

The Algonquin women followed a similar path, losing 4-1 to Seneca, but edging Centennial 4-3. Undefeated Seneca (8-0) and Algonquin (8-1) share first place with 24 points.

Alex Aubin scored for the Wolves against the Sting. Kassandra Da Cruz notched a two-goal game for Algonquin against Centennial, while Liana Farrell and Samantha Jones had one each.

HOMAN RINK WINS POINTSBET INVITATIONAL FOR THIRD TIME

Rachel Homan, Tracy Fleury, Emma Miskew and Sarah Wilkes were unbeatable for the second straight weekend as the Ottawa Curling Club rink won the PointsBet Invitational women’s curling competition in Calgary.

After going 4-0 in its pool play, the Homan rink automatically qualified for the final, where it outplayed Corryn Brown of Kamloops 6-2 for the title.

The first two ends were blanked, but Homan took one in the third end and stole single points in the fourth and fifth ends. She added two in the seventh and one in the ninth to end the final one end early.

Homan’s third consecutive PointsBet tournament win earned her rink $45,000.

BASKETBALL BACK IN BUSINESS ON UNIVERSITY COURTS

The 2025-26 university basketball season is underway with a variety of pre-season tournaments and games.

The Carleton University Ravens women captured their Fall Invitational with a 3-0 record, defeating the University of Victoria Vikes 74-70, Saint Mary’s University Huskies 65-54 and the Concordia University Stingers 59-49.

Kyana-Jade Poulin paced the Ravens with 34 points against Victoria and 20 points against Saint Mary’s

The University of Ottawa Gee-Gees posted a 2-1 mark at the Helen Campbell women’s basketball tournament at the University of New Brunswick.

The Gee-Gees defeated St. Francis Xavier University X-Women 59-58, lost to the University of New Brunswick Reds 84-74, but finished with an 88-59 win over the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns.

Bailey Russell registered a total of 60 points over three games, including 27 points against Lethbridge, while Ivany Rheault-Langue had 22 points against New Brunswick. Allie McCarthy also had 27 points in the Pronghorns game.

Russell and McCarthy were selected to the tournament all-star team along with Ottawa’s Katie Butts, who has returned to the Reds’ program for another year.

Butts recorded 23 points, 16 rebounds, six assists and two blocked shots in the Reds’ win over the Gee-Gees.

In a pair of non-tournament, exhibition games, the Gee-Gees men’s basketball team lost to Concordia 86-73, but defeated McGill University Redbirds 82-55 and Université Laval Rouge et Or 81-73.

The respective top scorers for the Gee-Gees were Brock Newton at 22 points, Louis Daoust at 16 points and Alex Phaneuf at 15 points.

STRUGGLING FOOTBALL SEASONS FOR SOONERS, JUNIOR RIDERS

The junior football season is over for the Ottawa Sooners, who finished their Ontario Football Conference regular season at 1-7. The Sooners lost their final game at home 52-7 to the London Beefeaters and finished sixth in the seven-team league.

The Ottawa Junior Riders are 0-7 in the Quebec Major Junior Football League and are hoping to experience their first win in their final game on Saturday. But to achieve that, they will have to defeat the first-place South Shore Jr. Packers (5-1). The Riders had a bye on the weekend.

END NOTES

· Gloucester Skating Club’s Reese Rose of Gananoque, ON, is in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, for the International Skating Union’s Junior Grand Prix figure skating competition, which is scheduled to begin Wednesday.

· Ottawa’s Shaheer Mikhail is representing Canada in the men’s 80-84 age group at the International Tennis Federation 75, 80, 85 world team championships in Bol, Brac Island, Croatia.

· Alex Baldoni of the Ottawa River Runners earned Canada’s top result at the 2025 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships in Sydney, Australia with his 20th-place performance in the men’s kayak cross competition. Baldoni was also 35th in men’s canoe and 56th in men’s kayak, while Ottawa’s Mark Zielonka placed 55th in men’s kayak cross and 58th in men’s kayak.