Home field advantage

By Garrett Fodor

The top eight women’s Ontario College Athletic Association soccer teams have been competing in Amherstburg.

St. Clair College was awarded the opportunity to host the tournament at the Libro Centre in Amherstburg. As hosts the St. Clair Saints were awarded a spot in the eight team field. In the regular season, the Saints finished with seven wins, no losses and two ties to finish second in the western conference.

Steve Vagnini head coach of St. Clair for three seasons and was the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association Coach of the Year nominee from this tournament. He said it was a great honour for St. Clair to host the tournament.

“You like to earn your way in,” said Vagnini. “But you like to know that they are giving you a shot at being there (the tournament) with the school doing all the work, it’s a great feeling. Either way we were going to earn that spot.”

Teams arrived in Windsor on Oct. 26 and games began the following morning. The games were streamed online on WE.TV.ca for people who were unable to come to Windsor to watch.

Alexandra Ross, a member of the Cambrian Golden Shields for three years and OCAA championship all-star said the tournament was great and well ran.

“It was a wonderful and well put tournament,” said Ross. “We really enjoyed how respectful they were, how supporting they were and the meals, everything. It was easy going.”

As for the tournament, Vagnini said it was a success. The gold medal winning coach of the Algonquin Thunder, Dom Oliveri went out of his way to thank Vagnini and St. Clair for hosting what he calls one of the best tournaments he has been a part of.

Vagnini said the tournament could not have been put on without the volunteers from the college and community, he was privileged and honoured to be a part of the tournament.

Golden Shields head coach Giuseppe Politi earned the bronze medal and said he enjoyed his time in the area.

“It was a fantastic facility,” said Politi. “It was very well run and I would certainly recommend it. To evaluate it (the tournament) was definitely first class.”

Saturday afternoon the Seneca Sting and Cambrian Golden Shields were in action, playing for the OCAA bronze medal at the Libro Centre in Amherstburg. Both teams entered Saturday’s game coming off grueling extra time and penalty kick losses Friday. While Cambrian lost to the eventual back-to-back champion Algonquin Thunder in extra time, the Sting lost to Humber in penalty kicks.

Seneca and Cambrian both came out strong and had a very passive style of play in the first half. It was reflected on the scoreboard until the 40 minute mark. OCAA championship all-star Clarissa McArthur scored for the Golden Shields to give them the lead at halftime.

In the second half, Cambrian changed their style of play in order to defend their lead from the Sting. As a result the Golden Shields controlled the ball and were quick to send it deep and away from their goal.

The Sting were unable to beat the Golden Shields backline as they fell 1-0, earning Cambrian the bronze medal. This is Cambrian’s second OCAA medal ever having also won a bronze in 2014.

Golden Shields head coach Giuseppe Politi said he was pleased with how both teams performed.

“We’re delighted with the win,” said Politi. “Both teams were coming off very disappointing semi-final losses. I saw a lot of girls on both teams physically and psychologically drained.Credit to Seneca for a good fight. Fortunately we’re lucky enough to come out on top with the victory, I thought we deserved at least a bronze at this tournament.”

Alexandra Ross, a member of the Golden Shields for three years and OCAA championship all-star said she and the team are happy to head home with a medal around their neck.

“I think our team deserved a bronze medal. I also felt we deserved a gold or a silver but we’re happy with the results here that happened today,” said Ross. “After Friday, we were obviously a little shook. We battle Algonquin all year and we finally beat them in the game and then in the last few seconds they score, it’s really devastating.”

Algonquin would go on to defend their OCAA gold medal from last year, and defeated Humber 3-1.