The University of Toronto Varsity Blues women’s water polo team came away with a thrilling 14-13 win over the Carleton Ravens, before defeating the Queen’s Gaels 14-6 in their last two regular season games on Sunday, November 9 at Varsity pool.

In the first game of the day, the Blues came out and took an early lead, with two goals from Nicole Brown (Burlington, Ont.) and singles from Casey Pottier (Kitchener, Ont.) and Laura Shaw (Coquitlam, B.C.). Fifth-year Carleton player Rachel Baxter (Ottawa, Ont.) tallied two goals for her squad and Toronto held a 4-2 lead after the first quarter of play.

The rest of the game proved to be a classic back-and-forth battle. The Blues continued to press, but the Ravens scored three unanswered goals in just over a minute, to tie the game 8-8 at the half.

Toronto responded early in the third quarter, scoring three unanswered goals themselves, but Carleton bounced back and again tied things up. The score was 11-11 going into the final frame.

Baxter made things close, notching two goals for the Raven’s squad in the fourth quarter, but two goals from Brittany SinClair (Scarborough, Ont.) and one more from Brown was all the Blues needed to secure the 14-13 victory.

Brown led the Blues with six goals, while Sinclair potted three in total. Shaw and Pottier each added two, while Susan Armstrong (Ottawa, Ont.) rounded out the Toronto scoring with one goal.

Baxter led all players with seven goals for the Ravens. Annie Chinneck (Ottawa, Ont.) scored two, while Lea Cantana (Ottawa, Ont.), Clare Brown (Hamilton, Ont.), Liz Aldrich (Ottawa, Ont.) and Sydney Ferguson (Etobicoke, Ont.) added singles in the loss.

Toronto came out strong again in their second game of the day, building an 11-4 lead at halftime. Queen’s perked up in the third quarter, playing aggressive defence and controlling the ball well to limit the Blues offence to only three more goals in the remainder of the game.

Brown and Pottier led the Blues with three goals each, with Shaw and SinClair adding two apiece. Toronto natives Deanne Vincent and Danielle Zanardo, as well as Armstrong, all added singles in the 14-6 victory.

The Gaels were led by Melissa Dermody’s (Stoufville, Ont.) three goals. Meaghan Hartwell (Mississauga, Ont.), Carla Henderson (Nanaimo, B.C.) and Katrina Keenan-Pellitier (Ottawa, Ont.) all added one goal in the Queen’s loss.

The Varsity Blues women’s team finish the 2008 regular season with an impressive 7-1-0 record and will travel to Ottawa as Carleton hosts the 2008 OUA Water Polo Championships November 22-23.