HAMILTON, Ont. – The biggest weekend in Ontario University Athletics (OUA) field hockey takes place at TD Waterhouse Stadium in London, Ont., with an OUA title and a berth into the Canadian Interuniversity Athletics (CIS) championships at stake.
The quarter-finals begin on Friday at 12 p.m. with the No. 5-seeded York Lions and No. 4 Waterloo Warriors squaring off for the right to advance to the OUA semifinals against the Guelph Gryphons, who earned a playoff bye with their stellar regular season record of 12-0-2.
The Lions finished the regular season with a 6-5-3 record, slightly better than their 6-6-2 record in 2008. Waterloo put forth a strong performance for the majority of the season, finishing at 7-4-3, just two points back of the No. 3-seeded Western Mustangs.
The opening goal between the Lions and Warriors on Friday will be the first either team has allowed against the other in 2009. These teams met twice during the regular season and played two hard-fought battles, as both games finished in a scoreless draw.
York has a solid defensive unit to help them in their playoff push. They've allowed just 16 goals in 14 games, thanks largely in part to goalkeeper Brittney Blount (Ottawa), who was named a 2009 OUA first-team all-star and is a member of the Canadian national team. Blount started all 14 games for the Lions and recorded seven shutouts.
Oddly enough, the team's leading scorer is first-year backup goalkeeper Shannon Vance (Goderich, Ont.), who tallied four goals during the season, but it's OUA first-team all-star midfielder Effie Petrou (Oakville, Ont.) who has been instrumental in York's scoring attack. Despite scoring just three goals, Petrou has made herself a key part of the offensive plays, assisting on several goals.
Waterloo has been solid this season, winning seven of 14 games. Rookie forward Courtney Bisch (Wellesley, Ont.) has had a great first season with the Warriors, scoring five goals. With fellow second-team all-stars Kara Moro (Port Moody, Ont.), defender Katherine Olsen (Calgary) and goalkeeper Amy Tabbert (Nithburg, Ont.), the Warriors will pose a problem for York's offence.
The second quarter-final game features the UPEI Panthers of Atlantic University Sport (AUS) taking on the No. 3-seed Western Mustangs. The Panthers won the Maritime field hockey championship on their home turf Oct. 17-18 and will be competing for a berth in the nationals. Mikaela Ellis (Charlottetown) was named league most valuable player and will be a student-athlete to watch.
Western has won a number of OUA championships in a variety of sports, but never in field hockey. The Mustangs with a 8-4-2 record in the regular season feature one of the league's top scorers in Michelle Weber (Ilderton, Ont.) with 11 goals. She is complemented by Elsbeth Tate (Richmond, B.C.) and Madeleine Wootton (Plattsville, Ont.) who combined for 10 goals in 2009.
The losers of the quarter-final games will play on Saturday morning in the consolation game, prior to the semifinals in the afternoon.
The Guelph Gryphons and Toronto Varsity Blues will be playing a waiting game until Saturday. But as far as they're concerned, their biggest competition all weekend could very well be each other. Considering the two teams have squared off in three of the last four OUA finals, the Gryphons and Blues are familiar with each other and know what they're going up against.
The Gryphons have conquered the OUA this season, going 12-0-2, due in large part to OUA player of the year Brienne Stairs (Kitchener, Ont.) and OUA rookie of the year Tegan Stairs (Kitchener, Ont.). The dynamite duo has helped the Gryphons soar to No. 1 in OUA in a couple of different respects, including in the standings.
Brienne, the older of the two sisters, was the cornerstone of scoring for Guelph. At the end of the regular season, she led the league in scoring with 30 goals and 25 assists, while Tegan made quite an impression with seven goals and five assists. These sisters are clearly working well together, along with Krissy Wishart (Hamilton, Ont.) and Angela Lancaster (Burlington, Ont.), who have 10 and seven goals, respectively. Brienne, Lancaster and Wishart were all named OUA first-team all-stars.
But it's not just the offence that's impressive. Over the course of 14 games, the mostly-rookie defence squad has been on point. With five new defensive players, it's a wonder they've manage to gel so quickly, but who are we to ask questions? With the help of goalkeepers Dorothy Marcy (Oliver, B.C) and Kaye McLagan (Mitchell, Ont.), this unit has let just 10 goals into their house, the fewest of all OUA teams.
Toronto has their share of OUA all-stars on their bench. In fact, the Blues took four spots on the first-team list, including Kyesia O'Neale (Mississauga, Ont.), Kristen Shier (North Vancouver, B.C.), Hannah Tighe (Penticton, B.C.) and Kaelan Watson (Richmond, B.C.), and the Blues haven't done too bad in the scoring department either. The Varsity Blues lost just one game all year with a record of 10-1-3.
Shier is Toronto's top goal-scorer, second only to Guelph's Stairs in the league, with 11 goals on record. Also up in the Top 10 with her is Rianna Sterk (Embro, Ont.) and Natalie Provenzano (Richmond Hill, Ont.) with nine goals each and O'Neale with six.
Just like Guelph, the Blues have an outstanding defensive corps, allowing just one more goal in their net than the No. 1 Gryphons for 11 in 14 games. Shier has been playing double duty for the Blues, leading in goals and generating a resilient defensive shield for the Blues. Paired with Watson, the Blues have created a threat on defence.
The two teams which play in Sunday's final advance to the CIS women's field hockey championship at the University of Victoria from Nov. 5-8.
2009 OUA FIELD HOCKEY SCHEDULE
Quarter-finals
Friday, Oct. 30, 2009
Game 1 – 12:00 p.m. Waterloo (4) vs. York (5)
Game 2 – 2:00 p.m. Western (3) vs. UPEI
Semifinals
Saturday, Oct. 31, 2009
9:00 a.m. Consolation Game (Quarterfinal losers)
6:00 p.m. Guelph (1) vs. Game 1 Winner
8:00 p.m. Toronto (2) vs. Game 2 Winner
Sunday, Nov. 1, 2009
11:00 a.m. OUA Bronze Medal
1:00 p.m. OUA Final
– OUA –
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