A goal by Tara Bartram in the game’s 69th minute gave the Queen’s Golden Gaels a 1-0 victory over the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks, and the Ontario University Athletics women’s soccer championship, Sunday afternoon in Ottawa.
Queen’s goalkeeper Madison Tyrell made six saves for the shutout, as the Gaels completed a four-game undefeated run through the OUA playoffs.
The goal was Bartram’s third of the playoffs, and her second game-winner. She scored with less than five minutes remaining in overtime as Queen’s defeated Toronto 1-0 in the first round.
It’s been a remarkable run for the Gaels, who, despite losing just two of 16 games in the regular year, nonetheless finished fourth in the East division, thanks to having played seven tie games, more than any other team in Canada.
From that relatively low starting point—one that led the Gaels to play all of their post-season games on the road—Queen’s won four consecutive games over teams that finished with better regular-season records: Toronto, Laurentian, York, the No. 2-ranked team in Canada, and Laurier, which began the provincial Final Four tournament as the sixth-ranked team in the nation.
Both Queen’s and Laurier will advance to the Canadian Interuniversity Sport championship tournament, beginning Thursday in Vancouver. The other conference champions declared Sunday are Cape Breton, Laval and British Columbia.