By Kofi Danso & Dan Plouffe
The University of Ottawa Gee-Gees women’s soccer team continued their unbeaten season on Saturday, overcoming an early deficit to defeat the York Lions 2-1 and book their place in both the OUA final and the U Sports national championships.
The opening half was evenly contested at Matt Anthony Field, with both sides looking to create opportunities while limiting space for their opponents.
York found the breakthrough in the 25th minute when Nia Fleming-Thompson finished into the bottom-right corner. The Grenada international proved difficult for the Ottawa defence to contain throughout the first half.
The Gee-Gees continued to work their way into the match and found their response in the 42nd minute. Adriane Devlin delivered a cross from the left wing, which OUA leading scorer Sabrina Mangiaracina controlled with a deft first touch before finishing calmly with her left foot to level the score at 1-1.
It was another important contribution from Ottawa’s taliswoman, who recorded 16 goals and 10 assists in 12 regular-season games to tie Cassandra Provost for the most points ever recorded by a Gee-Gee in one season.
The past Ontario Player Development League scoring champion with Ottawa South United also scored twice in uOttawa’s quarter-final victory over Ontario Tech, bringing her postseason total to three goals.
The Gee-Gees gradually took control as the second half progressed, creating several opportunities to move in front. Ottawa threatened with multiple long-range efforts, putting pressure on the York defence as they searched for a second goal.
Ottawa’s Laura Salgado also remained reliable in goal, making key saves and distributing the ball well to keep the Lions from regaining the lead.
The decisive moment came in the 74th minute when Celina Bensebaa stepped up to take a corner kick and sent the ball directly into the net, catching the York defence off guard. The OSU/Futuro Academy product’s delivery sailed over every player in the penalty area before finding its way into the goal, giving Ottawa a 2-1 lead.
It was an impressive feat and a crucial goal at a pivotal point in the semifinal, although the midfielder’s afternoon would take an unexpected turn shortly thereafter.
Within four minutes of celebrating with her teammates, Bensebaa was shown a red card following a challenge involving Fleming-Thompson in the middle of the field. The two players were contesting a loose ball when Bensebaa raised her boot and made contact with Fleming-Thompson’s face. The York forward was able to continue, but the ejection left Ottawa with 10 players for the remainder of the match.
The Gee-Gees responded by staying organized defensively despite the missing player to limit opportunities as the Lions looked for a late equalizer, but after an extended period of stoppage time, the final whistle confirmed a 2-1 victory for the Gee-Gees.
That set off both celebrations and relief from the uOttawa players and coach, while a packed Gee-Gees supporter section gave the team a standing ovation as they left the field.
The win was another significant result in an outstanding season for uOttawa. The Gee-Gees improved their overall record to 13 wins and one draw, although they’ll now face a team with nothing but wins in the 14-0 OUA west-champion Guelph Gryphons. Both Ontario finalists will advance to the Nov. 12-15 U Sports Women’s Soccer Championships in Vancouver.
A trio of local players will be waiting for the Gee-Gees in Guelph on Nov. 7, with Ottawa’s Talia Hamilton, Jana Doja and Kaiya Woodcock having helped the Gryphons to a perfect record thus far.
Featuring Ottawa’s Travis Larmour, Jahmal Boursiquot and Fergus Pender, the Gryphons men’s soccer team have been world-beaters in the playoffs following a mediocre 5-4-3 regular season to advance to their OUA final against Toronto Metropolitan University, which knocked out the Carleton Ravens 5-4 on penalty kicks in the quarter-final round.
Mangiaracina was named the OUA East’s women’s soccer most valuable player, while Gee-Gees midfielder MaryLou Péladeau was named rookie of the year and Steve Johnson earned his eighth career coach of the year honour. The Gee-Gees’ Clare Sun, Gracie Somers and Bensebaa joined Mangiaracina as OUA east first-team all-stars.
Carleton Ravens defender Mia Hollingsworth, a summertime teammate of Salgado’s with the Quebec semi-pro league-champion West Ottawa Warriors, was also chosen to the OUA first all-star team, while the Ravens’ Alexa Shwery made the second team.
RUGBY
The University of Ottawa Gee-Gees have been seeded fifth for the Nov. 4-8 U Sports Women’s Rugby Championships. They face the tournament hosts from Guelph at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday in the quarter-final round.
The Gee-Gees won six games to reach the nationals, only losing twice to the three-time Quebec conference-champion Laval Rouge et Or by one try on both occasions.
Qualifiers for the national tournament every time since 2014, uOttawa finished sixth at last year’s U Sports championships.
The uOttawa men’s rugby team was eliminated in the Quebec conference semi-finals by École de technologie supérieure 45-3 following a 4-2 regular season.
ROWING
Rosie O’Brien of the Carleton University Ravens won her second consecutive OUA Rowing Championships gold medal, topping the women’s lightweight singles field by a whopping 4.6-second margin at the Royal Canadian Henley Course in St. Catharines.
The University of Ottawa Gee-Gees finished fourth overall in both the women’s and men’s team standings.
FOOTBALL
Quarterback Josh Janssen threw three touchdowns on 20-of-27 passing as the Gee-Gees upset the McMaster Marauders 33-17 in Hamilton in the OUA football quarter-finals. McMaster was 6-2 in the regular season, while the Gee-Gees went 4-4.
Janssen connected with Emyl Gregoire, Devaughn Blackwood and Nassim Regragui for TDs as part of his 336 passing yards, while Souleymane Camara scored the other uOttawa touchdown to cap his day of 126 yards rushing. Ottawa led just 15-14 at halftime.
The Gee-Gees will travel to first-place Queen’s for a semi-final contest on Nov. 7 at 1 p.m.
BASKETBALL
The Carleton Ravens are back at it on the basketball hardwood, jumping out to perfect 4-0 starts in both men’s and women’s OUA play.
The Queen’s Gaels were the Ravens’ latest victims in an early-season battle for first place in the OUA East, with the Carleton men winning 77-70 and the women 65-52 on home court.
Carleton leads the OUA men’s league in scoring with a balanced attack. Tyler Brown tops the Ravens men with 16.5 points and eight rebounds per game, the only Carleton player inside the top-10 in OUA scoring at #10.
Carleton’s Abany Deng leads the OUA women’s league with 12.8 rebounds per game, while Kyana-Jade Poulin is the team’s offensive leader with 17.5 points per game.
The Gee-Gees are 3-1 in men’s basketball and 1-3 women’s play.
RUNNING
Ottawa’s Olivia Baggley and Elizabeth Vroom earned second-team OUA all-star honours as the lead runners for the Queen’s Gaels cross-country running team, which placed fourth at the university provincials in Windsor.
They placed 13th and 14th respectively, while Zoe Gardiner followed next in 15th as the Gee-Gees’ top runner, while Sebastian Cino was the top male Gee-Gee, placing 40th.
LACROSSE
The uOttawa men’s lacrosse team finished its Canadian University Field Lacrosse Association regular season with a 7-3 record following a 15-8 loss to unbeaten McGill in Ottawa.
The Gee-Gees already have a nationals spot booked as tournament hosts for the Baggataway Cup from Nov. 12-14.
4 DIFFERENT FOOTBALL CLUBS WIN NCAFA’S 4 ‘A’ CUP CHAMPIONSHIPS
The National Capital Amateur Football Association staged 12 finals, including four for top-tier titles, on its annual championship weekend at the Nepean Sportsplex.
The Cornwall Wildcats scored and scored and scored some more, but so did the North Gloucester Giants as the U10 finalists combined to put up 94 points in the opening match of ‘A’ Cup final Sunday. Cornwall took the match 54-40 to complete a perfect season.
The Cumberland Panthers scored touchdowns on their first four possessions en route to a 44-12 win to capture their organization’s third consecutive title at the U12 level. Cumberland was dominant this season in posting a perfect record, winning all of their previous games by the same average margin of 32 points.
The Gloucester South Raiders scored the lone upset of the day to win the U14 championship. The Raiders avenged their only loss of the season, a 15-14 defeat, by topping the previously-unbeaten Cumberland Panthers 32-12.
The North Gloucester Giants scored more points on the Bell Warriors than they’d allowed during the entire regular season, but it was Bell that stayed perfect in the end with a 28-24 triumph in the U16 division. The Giants advanced to the final with a 26-18 triumph over the Cornwall Wildcats, who’d won the season opener between them 60-17.
The U19 North Gloucester Giants will be playing for a Quebec Midget Football League championship on Nov. 8 when they travel to Montreal to face the unbeaten St. Leonard Cougars.
The Giants advanced to the championship game with a 13-6 victory over the Sun Youth Hornets in the semi-final at Gil O. Julien Park.
St. Leonard beat North Gloucester 35-0 in the season opener before the Giants won their next seven games to advance to the inter-provincial league final.
INTERNATIONAL PARA HOCKEY CUP GOLD FOR 3 SHEO PLAYERS
Sledge Hockey of Eastern Ontario products Tyrone Henry, Anton Jacobs-Webb and Rob Armstrong celebrated a cathartic gold medal with Team Canada at the 2026 International Para Hockey Cup in Czechia.
Jacobs-Webb scored what would have once been considered an almost unfathomable fifth goal in Canada’s 5-1 victory over Team USA in the tournament final. Canada lost to USA 6-2 in the Paralympic gold medal game earlier this year and 6-1 in the 2025 World Championships final.
The Canadians also lost their tournament-opener 5-3 to the five-time reigning Paralympic champions before topping the World Selects 11-0 and the host Czechs 7-0 and 2-0 to earn their way to the championship game.
Jacobs-Webb scored two goals and an assist over the course of the event, while defenders Henry and Armstrong joined in on the offensive fun as well, scoring one and two goals apiece respectively.
GLEBE TENNIS PLAYERS WIN OFSAA BRONZE
It was a tough start but a wonderful finish for Max Motamedi and Adrian Palframan of Glebe Collegiate Institute at the 2026 OFSAA Tennis Championships in Toronto.
Competing in the open boys’ doubles event, the Gryphons pair lost their opening match in a third-set super tiebreak 8-10 following 1-4, 4-1 opening sets.
But they fought back on the consolation side of the draw to record three consecutive straight-set victories before earning a reverse outcome in a tiebreak 10-8 with an Upper Canada College team to advance to the bronze medal match.
Following 4-2, 3-4 scores in the first two sets against Markville, Motamedi and Palframan dominated the deciding tiebreaker 10-4 to finish third overall.
MERIVALE REPEATS AS FIELD HOCKEY CITY CHAMPS
The Merivale Marauders overcame the only team to beat them during the national capital high school season to claim Ottawa’s berth in the Nov. 5-7 OFSAA Girls’ Field Hockey Championships in Milton.
The Marauders had only allowed one goal in four games before they met the Ashbury Colts and lost 5-2 for their only defeat in six games.
But after ousting Nepean 2-1 in the league semi-final, Merivale earned the spot with a 1-0 triumph in the championship game.
The Marauders were the reigning city champions and will now have a chance to compete for Ottawa’s first OFSAA provincial title, having earned the first medal for the national capital association in 2024, a bronze.
“We don’t like to talk about it, (but winning the OFSAA title) would be icing on the cake,” Merivale teacher-coach Meghan Foottit told the Ottawa Sports Pages’ Martin Cleary in advance of the season.
RETIRED OLYMPIC SLIDER MIMI RAHNEVA RECEIVES COC GRANT
The Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) and Intact Insurance, a proud National Partner of Team Canada, today announced the 12 Olympian-led projects that will receive
Two-time Olympic skeleton slider Mimi Rahneva was among 12 recipients of the first Intact Olympian Impact program grant, which provides funding for Olympian-led projects.
The Ottawa-raised athlete received a grant in the Planet category to promote and support environmental sustainability, the planet’s health and the preservation of sporting environments.
Based in Calgary since she joined the national team, Rahneva’s Drive into Gear initiative will obtain funding for a dedicated collection trailer to expand the Calgary Flames Sports Bank’s capacity to collect, reuse and recycle donated sports equipment, reducing financial barriers to youth sport while keeping equipment out of landfills.
“As advocates for both accessibility and environmental sustainability, receiving the Intact OLY Impact Grant is deeply meaningful to us,” Rahneva said in a COC announcement. “This funding will directly gear up local kids while extending the life cycle of every piece of equipment through our safety inspection, sanitization, and recirculation program. We are proud to receive this support and join Team Canada in advancing their 2035 goals of empowering healthy play and fostering a sustainable planet.”
TRINITY LOWTHIAN SECURES PAN AM BRONZE IN QUEST FOR 2028 PARALYMPIC QUALIFICATION
Ottawa Fencing product Trinity Lowthian won a bronze medal in the women’s épée Category B competition at the (Pan) American Wheelchair Fencing Championships in Brazil. The event provided qualification points towards the L.A. 2028 Paralympics.
Lowthian is on a comeback trail of sorts after recording Canada’s best-ever Paralympic finish in wheelchair fencing in Paris, where she placed fifth. The Stittsville athlete has autoimmune autonomic neuropathy, a rare disease that impacts the nervous system and particularly digestion, and she spent nearly two months in hospital after the 2024 Games with liver problems.
– with files from Martin Cleary