Ridgebacks clinch a home playoff game - Late heroics extends UOIT's unbeaten streak

OUA Women's Soccer: UOIT tied York 2-2

OSHAWA, Ont. – The UOIT Ridgebacks women's soccer team clinched a home playoff game for the first time in program history with a 2-2 draw against the York Lions on Wednesday night.

With the tie, UOIT extended their unbeaten streak to five games over which they are sporting a 4-0-1 record. The Ridgebacks are 7-5-3 this season and sit in third place in the OUA western conference, one point ahead of the Guelph Gryphons.

In Wednesday's game, York managed to take a 2-1 lead in the 86th minute when Nour Ghoneim. The Ridgebacks left the second year forward alone in the box, as she turned and buried a shot in the top right hand corner.

With injury time approaching, defender Kylie Bordeleau (Cambridge, Ont.) was taken down in the York box, giving UOIT a golden opportunity to tie the game up. With the game on the line, Ridgeback captain Shannon Lucas made no mistake on the penalty kick as she scored her third goal of the season to level the score.

On the final play of injury time, freshman Nicole Zajac (Mississauga, Ont.) had a glorious chance to win it for the Ridgebacks as she turned and fired a shot on net from just outside the box. The ball flew past the York goalkeeper's extended arms but rang off the crossbar. York was able to clear the ball and the referee blew the final whistle.

Sonia Sampogna, who was named an OUA peak performer and a nominee for the CIS athlete of the week award, scored UOIT's first goal of the game in the 11th minute. Sampogna has scored four goals in the Ridgebacks last three games.

York's first goal came in a controversial manner as second year forward Adeife Adekusibe tripped up Lucas at midfield, giving her clear cut breakaway on net in which she would convert.

Shots on target would end up 6-5 in favour of the Ridgebacks. UOIT goalkeeper Melissa MacKinnon (Millgrove, Ont.) stopped three shots while York's Tamara Orlando made four saves.

Over their last eight games, the Ridgebacks are 6-1-1.

UOIT will wrap up their regular season on Sunday afternoon with a match-up against Windsor (5-7-2). Kick-off is at 1 p.m. York has two games remaining in their regular season and are one point out of a playoff position.


A QUICK LOOK AT THE RIDGEBACKS
Overall Record: 9-6-5
Conference Record: 7-5-3

Next Game: Sun. Oct. 20 vs. Windsor (1 p.m.)

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