NEWS RELEASE
GEORGIAN GRIZZLIES
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The Georgian Grizzlies men’s and women's indoor soccer teams hosted the annual Georgian Invitational on Friday at the Bradford Sports Dome in Bradford.
It was a spectacular day for the Grizzlies.
In the women’s tournament, Georgian had a tough start in the opening match as they were unable to capitalize on their chances, falling 1-0 to the Centennial Colts.
From there the Grizzlies made some excellent adjustments as they wrapped the round robin with two consecutive shutouts first with a 3-0 win over the Sault Cougars followed by a 4-0 victory over the Lakehead-Orillia Thunderwolves.
Georgian finished in the top two in their pool with a 2-1 record and faced the Sault Cougars in a rematch in the tournament’s championship game.
The Grizzlies came out with another big effort defeating the Cougars 2-1 to win the invitational.
Melynda McKenzie (Walkerton) and Aimee Parker (Whitehorse) had the goals in the final game for Georgian.
It is the second straight season the Grizzlies have won the Georgian Invitational.
Christy Karvaratzis (Barrie) and Hannah Curry (Midhurst) led the Grizzlies in scoring at the tournament with two goals each.
On the men’s side, the Grizzlies opened the tournament with an impressive 4-1 victory over the Sault Cougars.
Enrique Oseguera Atilano (Mexico) and teammate Philip Shin (Toronto) each had two goals for the Grizzlies in the match.
In the tournament’s final game the Grizzlies found themselves in a tight match against the Centennial Colts.
Regulation time and a 10-minute sudden death overtime period solved nothing as both teams were unable to reach the scoreboard.
The game went on to penalty kicks. After numerous rounds it was Grizzlies goalkeeper Simone Tine (Newmarket) who evened things up by scoring a goal.
He then made a critical save to set up a thrilling goal by Nick Theodorou (Newmarket) who won the match for Georgian by scoring on his penalty kick with the Grizzlies winning the game and the tournament 2-1 on penalties.
It was Georgian’s first win at their host tournament since 2017.
The Grizzlies will now have a couple of weeks to prepare for their OCAA Regionals where they will be looking to qualify for the OCAA Indoor Soccer Championships.
The men’s team will take part in the regionals on Wednesday, March 6 hosted by Conestoga. The next day on Thursday, March 7 the women’s team will play in their regional qualifier hosted by Lakehead-Orillia.
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