The Varsity Blues field hockey team continued their winning ways with a 5-2 victory over the Guelph Gryphons in the OUA gold medal game on Sunday, October 28 in Waterloo, Ont.
 
With the win, the Blues improve to a perfect 14-0-0 heading into the 2012 CIS field hockey championship, hosted by the University of Toronto, November 1-4 at Varsity Centre. Toronto, Guelph, Western, UBC and Victoria are all set to battle for national supremacy.
 
Five different Varsity Blues scored en route to Toronto’s second consecutive and sixth OUA banner in the past nine seasons. The Blues have won a league-leading 29 provincial titles since 1971.
 
The game got off to a thrilling start as U of T’s Lauren Mansfield let a blistering shot go from 15 feet out to beat Gryphons goalie Kaye McLagan in the 3^rd minute.
 
The Gryphons wasted little time as OUA rookie of the year Allison Chute tipped the ball past Blues goalie Katherine Williams (Burlington, Ont.) on the ensuing drive to even the score. The game remained 1-1 at the half.
 
The skies opened up in the second half, but despite the downpour, the Blues did not lose their focus . Toronto took over midway through the frame, with four goals in a 13-minute span to cruise to victory.
 
Sophomore midfielder Amanda Woodcroft (Waterloo, Ont.) opened the flood gates off a short corner setup by Tegan Stairs. The Blues would extend their lead to 3-1 as Rachel Fackoury (Maryhill, Ont.) finished off a perfect pass by Kelley Lusk (North Vancouver).
 
Tegan Stairs got in on the action with a tic-tac-toe play with her sister, Emma, to make it 4-1 in favour of the Blues. Toronto leading scorer Ally Evanyshyn added one more in the 66^th minute before OUA player of the year Brittany Seidler scored one for the Gryphons.