GUELPH, Ont. - Down by a pair of goals late in the third quarter, and their gold medal hopes in jeopardy, the Waterloo Warriors weren't quite ready to call it quits yet. Scoring two unanswered goals in the second-half to tie the game, the Warriors then went on to defeat the Queen's Gaels 3-2 in a shootout.
With Waterloo coming into the championship as the 5th-ranked team in the OUA, and the Gaels ranked 4th, there seemed to be even less separating the two teams on the field than there was in the standings.
Following a scoreless first quarter, it was the Gaels who got themselves the first lead of the match. In the 21st minute, a loose ball found the stick of Queen's forward Cassidy Grimes and she fired it into the back of the net to make it 1-0 Gaels. The score remained the same for the final nine minutes of the first-half and into halftime.
Starting the second-half, it didn't take Queen's very long to add to their lead. A 31st minute shot from Leigh Janssen deflected up and over everybody and into the back of the Warrior's goal making it 2-0 Gaels. However, shortly after the second goal is when Waterloo began to shift momentum in their favour. The Warriors were able to keep the ball in Queen's end, while also pressuring Gael's goalie Claudia Aparacio. Then in the 43rd minute, Waterloo broke through. With the ball on her stick, Larissa McLeod (Cambridge/) drove towards the Gael's net and fired a shot past Aparacio to get the Warriors on the board. Then just trailing by a goal, it was only four minutes later when they found the equalizer. After a ball deflected high in the air, Warrior's forward Taylor Goodhue (St. Thomas/) batted it out of the air and into the Queen's goal to tie the game 2-2.
Over the final 13 minutes of regulation, neither team was able to break the deadlock sending the quarter-final to a shootout. With Isabelle Mastantuono scoring for Queen's and Hannah Cook (Waterloo/) finding the back of the net for Waterloo, the two teams headed to the fifth round of the shootout tied 1-1. After Eileen Tudorica (Toronto/) scored for the Warriors to put the pressure on the Gaels, Queen's was unable to respond.
"I am really proud of how we were able to put a goal in, and then get the second one after that to tie it up," said Warriors head coach Maria Leahy (Waterloo). "It was pretty nerve-wracking going into the shootout but I was confident going in that we had the shooters and that we had the goalie to come out on top, and I'm glad that's how it went. I'm very proud of the girls and we are looking forward to playing Guelph tomorrow."
As Leahy mentioned, the Warriors will now take on the Gryphons in Saturday's second semi-final. The match will get underway at 11:00am.
