Road to the Nationals: the OCAA

The women Falcons are OCAA soccer champions.

The Fanshawe women's soccer team won the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) provincial championship when they defeated the Sheridan Bruins 1-0 in the gold medal game. Fanshawe was perfect en route to the championship, and were awarded many awards in the OCAA championship banquet as well.

The west region champion Falcons opened the championship with a 2-0 win over the Mohawk Mountaineers. Fanshawe scored two first half goals and never relinquished the lead. Shannon McLeod and Carly Hall each scored for the Falcons.

In the gold medal final, Fanshawe edged out the Sheridan Bruins 1-0. The win was decided by a penalty kick by Melissa Elie of Fanshawe in the first half of play. In the second half, the Falcons defence was able to hold off a fierce Sheridan attack to secure the win. Elie was subsequently named tournament MVP for her sensational play.

“We knew we had to get into each game and work hard, especially against Sheridan,” said team captain Emily Costello. “They were the only team that gave us our loss, we just had to work as a team, win fifty-fifty balls, finish our chances, and we'd come out successful as long as we did that. We really gel well as a team and we're very cohesive.”

Head coach Eva Havaris said winning the OCAA tournament is an achievement the women should be very proud of.

“Winning provincials was something that we obviously thought that we could get,” Havaris said.

“Winning it is different, you never know what can happen, and we won it so that's great. It's awesome, it's an achievement for this team, and especially for such a young team.”

The Fanshawe women also cleaned up at the annual championship awards banquet held on October 27th.

Fanshawe won the West Division championship, and top defensive team honours. Melissa Elie was the OCAA leading scorer, Rookie of the Year, and league All-star, Emily Costello was named an OCAA All-star, Carly Warner and Ashley Strocki shared the top goaltending award, and Eva Havaris, with assistants Jessica Kapitany, and Cecily Clarke won the Coach of the Year award.

The coaching staff would also like to thank their sponsors Wellwest Investment Group, Allan Kemp, Wanda Schmeller, and David Nelms.