GUELPH, Ont. (CIS) – The University of Toronto Varsity Blues are off to the gold-medal final at the CIS women’s field hockey championship thanks to a 4-1 win over their OUA archrival and tournament host Guelph Gryphons, Friday afternoon.
With one day left in the preliminary round, Toronto tops the round-robin standings with a perfect 3-0 record and nine points, followed by reigning CIS champion UBC (2-1) and Victoria (2-1) with six points apiece, and Waterloo (0-2) and Guelph (0-3), both still looking for their first points at the competition.
The winner of the UBC-Victoria matchup Saturday at 12:20 p.m. will join U of T in Sunday’s national final. Saturday’s other round-robin duels will see Toronto take on Waterloo at 10 a.m., and Guelph and Waterloo wrap up the preliminary round at 4 p.m.
The Blues, who are 3-0 at the championship for the first time since 2000, last played for CIS gold in 2007, when they captured their 10th McCrae Cup in front of their home crowd.
“It’s really exciting. In my rookie year I was new and was just sort of along for the ride, helping where I could,” said fourth-year all-Canadian midfielder Hannah Tighe of the 2007 win. “But this year I’m captain so it’s cool to be a leader on a team that’s making it to the finals.”
The score was level 1-1 at the half but Toronto’s offence exploded in the second with three goals and it came from a variety of players.
“It clicked, we all clicked,” Tighe said about their offence. “Our forwards have really done a lot for us this season. They’re getting it, they’re finding the baseline, they’re attacking the circle and we’re just finding the net.”
Third-year midfielder Katherine McNeill of West Vancouver, B.C., opened the scoring in the 26th minute on a short corner.
Two-time reigning CIS player of the year Brienne Stairs tied it at 1-1 in the 33rd minute. It was the first goal of the tournament for the Kitchener, Ont., native, who led the OUA this season with 32 markers in 14 games and the first goal scored against the Blues at the championship.
Goaltender Kathryn Williams of Burlington, Ont., was solid again between the U of T pipes.
All-Canadian defender Kaelan Watson of Richmond, B.C., blasted the ball past Gryphon netminder Kaye McLagan of Mitchell, Ont., just hitting the top of the backboard, putting Toronto ahead 2-1 just after the half.
Natalie Provenzano of Richmond Hill, Ont., and all-Canadian Kyesia O’Neale of Mississauga, Ont., rounded out the scoring with their first of the tournament.
McLagan started in net for the Gryphons and made some stellar one-on-one saves before being replaced by fourth-year Dorothy Marcy of Oliver, B.C., in the 58th minute.
Tighe of Penticton, B.C., was named player of the game for the Blues for her dominance through the centre.
GAME NOTES: U of T and Guelph have met in the past four OUA finals, Guelph winning three of them, including a 3-2 victory in the 2010 title match... The last time Toronto beat Guelph at the CIS championship was in the 2007 gold-medal game, in overtime... The two teams have only met six times in history at the CIS tournament: Toronto has the upper hand with a 3-2-1 record.
SCORING SUMMARY
TOR 1-3: 4
GUE 1-0: 1
First half
26th, TOR, Katherine McNeill (1)
33rd, GUE, Brienne Stairs (1)
Second half
41st, TOR, Kaelan Watson (1)
49th, TOR, Natalie Provenzano (1)
54th, TOR, Kyesia O.Neale (1)
Goaltenders
TOR: Kathryn Williams (W, 70:00, 1 GA, 2-0)
GUE: Kaye McLagan (L, 58:00, 4 GA, 0-3)
GUE: Dorothy Marcy (12:00, 0 GA, 0-0)
Players of the game
TOR: Hannah Tighe (Penticton, B.C.)
GUE: Brienne Stairs (Kitchener, Ont.)
For all the info on the 2010 CIS women’s field hockey championship, visit: www.cis-sic.ca.
PRE-CHAMPIONSHIP SEEDING
1. Guelph Gryphons (OUA champions)
2. UBC Thunderbirds (Canada West champions)
3. Toronto Varsity Blues (OUA finalists)
4. Victoria Vikes (Canada West second place)
5. Waterloo Warriors (OUA bronze medallists)
STANDINGS, SCHEDULE & RESULTS
Round-robin standings (after 7 of 10 games)
GP W L T GF GA PTS
1. Toronto 3 3 0 0 8 1 9
2. UBC 3 2 1 0 8 4 6
3. Victoria 3 2 1 0 7 4 6
4. Waterloo 2 0 2 0 2 11 0
5. Guelph 3 0 3 0 3 8 0
Thursday, Nov. 4
9:30 Round-Robin 1: Guelph 1, UBC 2
11:50 Round-Robin 2: Toronto 3, Victoria 0
15:30 Round-Robin 3: UBC 6 Waterloo 2
17:50 Round-Robin 4: Guelph 1 Victoria 2
Friday, Nov. 5
10:00 Round-Robin 5: Toronto 1 UBC 0
12:20 Round-Robin 6: Victoria 5 Waterloo 0
16:00 Round-Robin 7: Guelph 1 Toronto 4
Saturday, Nov. 6
10:00 Round-Robin 8: Toronto vs. Waterloo
12:20 Round-Robin 9: UBC vs. Victoria
16:00 Round-Robin 10: Guelph vs. Waterloo
17:30 Tie-Breaking Strokes (if necessary)
Sunday, Nov. 7
10:00 Bronze medal
13:00 Championship final: Toronto vs. TBD
About Canadian Interuniversity Sport
Canadian Interuniversity Sport is the national governing body of university sport in Canada. Fifty-one universities, 10,000 student-athletes and 550 coaches vie for 21 national championships in 12 different sports. CIS also provides high performance international opportunities for Canadian student-athletes at Winter and Summer Universiades, as well as numerous world university championships. For further information, visit www.cis-sic.ca.
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For more information contact:
Michelle Pino
Media Relations & Sports Information Officer
University of Guelph Department of Athletics
Off: (519) 824-4120 ext. 53159
Cell: (519) 400-4622
mpino@uoguelph.ca
Michel Bélanger
Manager, Communications & Media Relations
Canadian Interuniversity Sport
Ph: (613) 562-5670 ext. 25
Cell: (613) 447-6334
Fax: (613) 562-5669
belanger@universitysport.ca
www.cis-sic.ca
