The Ottawa TFC U21 women’s team became the first team from the National Capital region to win the U21 Ontario Cup in 18 years after they beat Paris FC 6-0 in the Ontario Cup final on July 23.

Team roster: Alexandra Price, Emily Smith, Amelia Thompson, Katie Phee, Katelyn Brzozowski, Jenea Knight, Jessica Boyle, Kylen Grant, Kylie Laframboise, Lauren Curran, Nora Ghie, Leanne Turcotte, Riley Bonadie, Véronique Bolduc, Rachel Vermaire and Shannon Phee..

For several of the young women on the team including Rachel Vermaire, Jessica Boyle, Riley Bonadie, Amelia Thompson, Katelyn Brzozowski, Lauren Curran and Véronique Bolduc, it was their second Ontario Cup win in three years, having won the U17 championship in 2019. Vermaire, Boyle and Bonadie were also on the Cumberland Cobras U14 Academy team that won the Ontario Cup in 2017.

The road to the U21 championship was not as smooth as the lopsided score in the final might suggest. To get to the final, Ottawa TFC had to first get past East York in their semi-final.

Both the semi-finals and the final were played on the same day in Vaughan.

In their semi-final against East York, Ottawa TFC opened the scoring with a goal from Rachel Vermaire in the 39th minute. Thanks to some strong defending on the part of Ottawa’s scoring the one-goal looked like it would hold up for the win, but East York finally managed to solve TFC’s defence in 91st minute. After neither team was able to score in 20 minutes of extra time the game had to be decided on penalty kicks.

Of the two teams Ottawa TFC did a much better job controlling their nerves and performing under pressure as they scored on three of their five kicks from the penalty spot while East York went 1-for-5.

The other semi-final also went to penalty kicks with Paris FC emerging victorious over the Woodbridge Strikers.In the highly anticipated championship game, Ottawa TFC managed to get on the board first with a goal from Nora Ghie in the just the fifth minute.

A pair of goals from Riley Bonadie in the 13th and 23rd minute followed by a goal from Jeana Wright in the 37th minute would give Ottawa TFC a commanding 4-0 lead at the half.

A shell-shocked Paris team had no answers in the second half, allowing TFC to score two more goals – Wright’s second in the 81st minute and followed by a goal from Amelie Thompson in the 86th. The 6-0 final is one of the largest margins of victory in a U21 women’s final in recent memory.