The University of Toronto Varsity Blues drew the Western Mustangs to a 2-2 tie in OUA field hockey action on Saturday, October 11 at Varsity Centre.
Western forward Jennifer Bruce (Kitchener, Ont.) opened up the scoring in the 26th minute when she put one past Toronto goalie Alice Zhao (Delta, B.C.) to give the Mustangs the lead. The Blues were unable to capitalize on any of their chances and found themselves trailing 1-0 at the midway point of the game.
Toronto came out hungry in the second half, controlling the ball and determined to get on the board. Fourth-year veteran Rianna Sterk (Embro, Ont.) tallied her second goal of the weekend when she put one past Western’s Meggy McTavish (Wellesley, Ont.) to even the score.
Less than 10 minutes later, Mississauga native Kyesia O’Neale earned a penalty stroke for Toronto after being interfered with in front of the Western net. 2007 CIS player of the year Cailie O’Hara (Oakville, Ont.) stepped up and buried the go-ahead goal for the Blues.
Things were looking good for Toronto until first-year forward Elisabeth Tate (Richmond, B.C.) notched one for Western to tie the game in the 60th minute.
The Blues were unable to amount a come back in what little time was left and the game ended in a 2-2 tie.
The Varsity Blues field hockey team travels to Kingston next weekend (Oct. 17-19) for their remaining three OUA regular season games. The Blues take on the McGill Martletts on Friday night at 7 p.m., the Carleton Ravens on Saturday at 11:45 a.m. and the Queen’s Gaels on Sunday at noon.
In other OUA action, the Guelph Gryphons defeated the York Lions 4-2, also on Saturday night at Varsity Centre.
The Gryphons held a 2-0 lead for the majority of the game with goals by Brienne Stairs (Kitchener, Ont.) and Angela Lancaster (Burlington, Ont.). York would get on the board when Lisa Brown (Milton, Ont.) put one past Guelph goalie Dorothy Marcy (Oliver, B.C.) in the 51st minute of the game.
The score went back-and-forth as Stairs tallied another for Guelph before Simone Saxby (Scarborough, Ont.) notched the Lions second goal of the game. Kristine Wishart (Hamilton, Ont.) would add an insurance goal in the 65th minute and secure the 4-2 victory for the Guelph Gryphons.
The Western Mustangs came away with a 2-1 victory over the Waterloo Warriors in the last matchup of the day.
Western forward Chantelle Lee (Trail, B.C.) came into the game in the 26th minute and potted the first goal just two minutes later to give the Mustangs a 1-0 lead at the half. Petra Kovacs (Strathroy, Ont.) added what would be the game-winning goal for Western and Jaimie Wey (Kitchener, Ont.) notched Waterloo’s only goal of the game with four minutes left.
