The University of Toronto Varsity Blues field hockey team dropped their first two games to the Victoria Vikes and Guelph Gryphons at the CIS championships on Thursday, November 5 in Victoria, B.C.

For the second consecutive year, Victoria defeated Toronto on the opening day of the national tournament, defeating the Blues 1-0. In 2008, the Vikes took a 2-1 decision from the Varsity Blues en route to the program’s record-tying 11th McCrae Cup title.

With Victoria generating early pressure, Angela Buttress of North Vancouver, B.C. intercepted a clearance attempt by the Blues and found the top corner, scoring the game’s lone goal just two minutes into the contest.

Defender Anna Sophie Kehrein (Speyet, Germany) was named player of the game for the Blues, playing excellent defence in the backfield to minimize the Victoria attack.

In the final game of the first day, the Blues fell 5-2 to their OUA rivals Guelph Gryphons.

This marked the highest-scoring game at the national tournament since 2003 and was a rematch of last Sunday’s OUA final, which Guelph took 1-0.

Kristen Shier (North Vancouver, B.C.) scored on a penalty stroke, while Natalie Provenzano (Richmond Hill, Ont.) found the goal on a well taken reverse stick shot in the Blues defeat.

Toronto player-of-the-game honours were presented to second-team all-Canadian Kyesia O’Neale of Mississauga, Ont.

The No. 4 Blues will look to get in the win column tomorrow (Nov. 6) when they take on the No. 5 Alberta Pandas. They will round out the round robin competition on Friday (Nov. 7) against the No. 2 UBC Thunderbirds. 

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