St. Clair Women’s Soccer Win OCAA Gold for Second Time in History
The St. Clair College Saints made history this weekend, defeating the Centennial Colts 4–1 to capture their first Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) women’s soccer championship in 37 years. It is only the second gold medal in their history.
The Saints were hosting the OCAA Final Four Championship after finishing the regular season in 1st place in the OCAA West Division. St. Clair defeated Humber 2-1 in Overtime in the semi-final on Saturday to set up the match up with the Colts.
The Saints wasted no time setting the tone, opening the scoring just three minutes into the match. Sierra Lapos delivered a perfectly placed lob pass from 30 yards out to Natalie Kersey, who finished far side to give St. Clair an early 1–0 lead. Thirty minutes later, Lapos again made her presence felt — this time from a free kick. Her well-placed delivery into the box was headed in by Victoria Walsh, her 13th goal of the season, to double the lead. The play, however, came at a cost for Centennial, as the Colts’ keeper was forced out of the game following a head-to-head collision with a teammate.
Despite the setback, the Colts maintained play in St. Clair’s half for stretches of the second half but were unable to generate many dangerous scoring chances against the Saints’ disciplined defensive structure. St. Clair sealed the victory late in the match. In the 86th minute, Alessia Olivito unleashed a perfectly struck shot from 24 yards out to make it 3–0. Kersey added her second of the game in added time, shaking off a foul near the box before chipping a shot over the backup keeper to extend the lead to 4–0. Centennial managed to pull one back shortly after, but the Saints’ scored a 4-1 win in a landmark moment for the St. Clair women’s soccer program — their first OCAA gold medal since 1988.
St. Clair advances to the CCAA National Championship Tournament in Red Deer, Alberta starting November 5th.
Victoria Walsh was named the St. Clair Player of the Game.
Brianna Kinsley-Clough won the Fairplay and Sportsmanship Award.
Walsh and Natalie Kersey were named Championship All Stars while Alessia Olivito was named Championship MVP.