The George Brown Huskies women's indoor soccer team had their most successful opening day of the OCAA Indoor Soccer Provincial Championship in over two decades, going undefeated in round robin play with a record of 2-0-1.
HOW IT HAPPENED: The tournament started with George Brown facing off against the Centennial Colts. The Huskies took an early 2-0 lead, scoring two goals in the first 3 minutes of play. The Colts did not back down though, capitalizing on opportunities of their own. The scoring seesawed back and forth with the Colts getting on the board at 2-1, George Brown countering to make the score 3-1, and Centennial scoring a late marker to get to 3-2. But that is as close as they would come, handing the Huskies their first win of the day.
In Game 2 the Huskies faced the St Clair Saints, who they beat 3-0 in the regional championship qualifier two weeks prior. Behind a hat trick from Makayla Cabral, the Huskies continued to play solid, composed and energetic soccer. St Clair did manage to strike a bullet of a goal in the top left hand corner passed a sprawling Huskies goalkeeper Victoria Broomer, who along with a handful of others made a huge penalty shot save to keep the Saints at bay midway through the match, but George Brown came away with the 4-1 victory.
In the final game of round robin play, George Brown matched up against the Sheridan Bruins to close out the opening day of competition. Wtih the day starting to take a toll, but teams struggled to get shots on net. The Huskies would strike first off the foot of Nicole Carvalho in the first half. Holding a 1-0 lead for most of the second half, Sheridan managed to squeeze one passed a partially screened, diving Broomer, to knot the game at 1-1.
UP NEXT: With that score holding as the final, George Brown will go into the semi finals as the top seed in their pool facing the second place Seneca Sting at 10am on Friday March 10. The Huskies will be vying for an indoor soccer medal for the first time since 2002. Follow our Instagram Story for live updates throughout the day!
On the other side, the George Brown men were ousted from the provincial championship after the opening round games following a record of 1-1-1.
HOW IT HAPPENED: In their opening match the Huskies faced the St Clair Saints. In a hotly contested affair, the score was deadlocked at 1-1 until the dying seconds. In added time, a penalty shot was called on the George Brown goalkeeper after a controversial challenge on a ball at the top of the box. The Saints made no mistake and burried the penalty, taking the game 2-1.
In the following game, the Huskies were looking to bounce back against the always competitive Humber Hawks. George Brown got out to an early 2-0 lead on the Hawks, and kept them on their heels for the rest of the game even after going down a man with 10 minutes left to go after a red card to Tiago de Jesus. But the Huskies stayed calmed, stuck to their defensive structure, and took advantage of their opportunities when they could. Including a 40+ yard bomb off the foot of Mashood Rehman who scored scored a long lofting ball from his own end with the Humber goalkeeper playing up in the offense. The Huskies netted one more to a Hawks one, taking it by a final of 4-1.
In a must-win game, George Brown faced the Conestoga Condors to close out the opening day. Conestoga got out to an early 1-0 lead, with the Huskies pressuring for the remainder of the game. George Brown pulled their goalie with 10 minutes to go to force an extra attacker. And it paid off, with the Huskies finding the back of the net in the dying minutes of the second half. But that was as close as they would get, which unfortunately left them just short of a semi-final birth and brought their Provincial Championship run to an end.
