Teammates swarm Grace Mwasalla after she scored her historic game-winner in the ninth minute (Husain Dhooma photo).
Teammates swarm Grace Mwasalla after she scored her historic game-winner in the ninth minute (Husain Dhooma photo).
October 18, 2025

Mwasalla ties for CW career GWG lead as Griffins write perfect Senior Day script with 3-0 win over Pandas

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Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics

EDMONTON – With the sun shining brightly on a pristine October Senior Day contest at Clarke Stadium, the Griffins went out and wrote a perfect four-part script on Saturday.

  1. They hammered cross-town rival Alberta 3-0 to move into second in the Prairie Division.
  2. Grace Mwasalla scored her 13th career game-winner to move into a tie for first place in Canada West history in GWG.
  3. They honoured one of the best graduating senior classes they've ever had in a joyous post-game ceremony.
  4. And they pulled off a candidate for the most emotional moment of the Canada West season when injured captain and graduating senior Anneke Odinga was inserted into the starting lineup before being subbed out immediately after the opening whistle with not a dry eye in the house for the scripted standing ovation.

"I was crying all morning, if I'm being completely honest," said Mwasalla of Odinga's curtain call. "I'm just glad she got her proper send-off. Our senior year wasn't the way we wanted it to go, but I'm glad she had that recognition. She had an amazing career and she's a good friend of mine. I'm very proud of her."

The start was Odinga's 60th of her career, which is the fourth-most in program history.

"I just wanted to show how much she's meant to us," said head coach Dean Cordeiro. "We are forever grateful she chose to be a Griffin. She's one of the greatest Griffins I've ever had to work with. 

"That's what it's all about. It's moments like this. I appreciate the U of A allowing for us to have that little pause at the beginning. First class by them. Just super proud of Annie. It was an emotional moment, and I really think it spurred us on."

Did it ever.

The Griffins immediately poured on the pressure and Mwasalla scored the only goal they would need in the ninth minute. Paige Colby sent in a near-post offering that Mwasalla ran onto and headed bar-down.

"It was the first corner kick of the game, I'm pretty sure," said Mwasalla. "I was near post. I wasn't really marked. The ball kept coming my way and I just got my head on it. All of a sudden I heard the crowd, so I knew it went in."

It stood up as her 13th career game-winning goal, which moved her into a tie with UBC's Jasmin Dhanda (2013-17) for the all-time Canada West GWG lead.

"It's everything," said Mwasalla, whose 37th career goal also moved her into a tie for eighth all-time in conference history. "Again, not something I thought I could get to. To be first in Can West or tied, at least, it's an incredible honour. I'm just proud of my teammates and the performance we had today."

The Griffins thought they'd taken a 2-0 lead in the 24th minute when Raeghan McCarthy put in the rebound off Alyx Henderson's strong blast, but she was ruled offside.

No matter. With the pressure MacEwan had, they broke through for the insurance marker in the 35th as Colby – who had a really strong two-point game – curled in her sharp angle free kick from 22 yards out.

Graduating senior McCarthy wouldn't be denied her moment when she made it 3-0 with her team-leading seventh of the season (and 19th of her career) in the 65th minute. Great passing from Ella Fownes and Kiera Inglis set up the finish.

"Did they ever step up today," said Cordeiro. "We knew we left some points on the table last weekend. Today, we played an excellent game. Very proud of the team. They executed the game plan, and we took care of business today on Senior Day. It's a beautiful day out. 3-nil. We'll take the clean sheet."

Sabrina Alexander finished with five saves to give her 9.5 shutouts in her career – third in the program's Canada West history.

Following the contest, graduating seniors Mwasalla, McCarthy, Odinga, Henderson and Nikki Brodeur were feted in a special on-field ceremony.

With the win, the Griffins finish the season at 9-3-2 and have moved a point ahead of Mount Royal (9-3-1) for second in the Prairie Division, which comes with a coveted home quarter-final playoff date. All they can do now, is scoreboard watch. They will finish second if MRU loses to Calgary (11-0-2) on Sunday (1 p.m., Canada West TV).

"We looked very good today, we executed our game plan and we had some major contributions by everybody today," said Cordeiro. "I'm happy where we're at. We've got to keep it going. We're not sure yet who our opponent is. We'll find out tomorrow. But whoever it is, we're ready and we're playing some good football, so we're excited about that."