The University of Toronto Varsity Blues field hockey team fell to the Guelph Gryphons 1-0 in the OUA championship game on Sunday, November 1 in London, Ont.

It was the third consecutive OUA final featuring the Gryphons and the Blues, with Guelph taking home the crown twice over the past three seasons.

Tegan Stairs (Kitchener, Ont.) took credit for the only goal of the contest, tipping in a shot from her sister Brienne only a couple of minutes into the game.

Both teams had plenty of scoring opportunities, particularly the Blues who could not convert their numerous chances in the second half to even the score.

"We missed two chances - an open-netter and a breakaway," said head coach John DeSouza. "You can't miss chances against a team like that. If you do, you're going to have a tough time."

Guelph goaltender Dorothy Marcy (Oliver, B.C.) was the stand out of the match, stonewalling the Blues forwards and corner unit to preserve the shut out and the OUA banner for the Gryphons.

Both Guelph and Toronto will travel out West next weekend (Nov. 5-8) for the 2009 CIS championships, hosted by the University of Victoria.

"We're looking forward to the challenge," said DeSouza. "It's going to be important for us to recover quickly and get psyched up for it. I think we've got some things in the bag that we can use."

Toronto will enter the tournament as the No. 4 seed and will be joined by the Gryphons, UBC, UVIC and the University of Alberta in the pursuit of CIS gold.

For more information, scores and highlights on your favourite Toronto teams, please visit the home of the Varsity Blues at http://www.varsityblues.ca.