The University of Toronto Varsity Blues field hockey team dropped a narrow 3-2 decision to the five-time reigning national champion UBC Thunderbirds on Day 1 of the 2016 CIS field hockey championship at Back Campus Fields.
 
Down 2-0 at the half, the Blues rallied as U Sports rookie of the year Rachel Spouge got the home team on the board in the 42nd minute, scoring off a penalty corner opportunity.
 
UBC responded as Emily Martin notched what would be the eventual game-winner five minutes later, but that didn't stop the Blues. Third-year forward Morgan Sleeth scored to bring the Blues within one again in the 64th minute and rookie netminder Elizabeth O'Hara came up with some beautiful saves to keep the game close.
 
"I thought we played really well in the second half," said Varsity Blues head coach John DeSouza. "We haven't played a game at this speed all season. We always dictate the tempo and today UBC dictated the tempo so I like what we had to do to catch up to it. Our girls are confident and they feel good about themselves right now and I think leading into the tournament it will be good for us."
 
Next up for the Varsity Blues (0-1) is a match with the Guelph Gryphons (0-1) in a repeat of last Sunday's OUA final tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. The Thunderbirds (1-0) will take on the Vikes (1-0) in an all-Canada West battle at 4:00pm. Both games will be streamed live on SportsCanada.TV.
 
Official championship website: http://english.cis-sic.ca/championships/fh/index

SCORING SUMMARY
UBC: 2-1: 3
TOR: 0-2: 2
 
First half
UBC Stephanie Norlander (1), 1st minute
UBC Stephanie Norlander (2), 17th minute
 
Second half
TOR Rachel Spouge (1), 42nd minute
UBC Emily Martin (1), 48th minute
TOR Morgan Sleeth (1), 64th minute
 
Goaltenders
UBC: Rowan Harris (W, 70:00, 2 GA, 1-0-0)
TOR: Elizabeth O'Hara (L, 70:00, 3 GA, 0-1-0)
          
Players of the game
UBC: Hannah Haughn (North Vancouver, B.C.)
TOR: Nicole Spring (Oakville, Ont.)
 
STANDINGS, SCHEDULE & RESULTS
 
Round-robin standings
 
                        GP       W        L          T         GF       GA      PTS
1. Victoria        1          1          0          0          4          2          3
2. UBC             1          1          0          0          3          2          3
3. Toronto        1          0          1          0          2           3         0
4. Guelph         1          0          1          0          2           4         0
 
 
NOTE: 3 points for a win and 1 point for a tie.
 

Thursday, Nov. 3

16:00 Game 1: Victoria 4, Guelph 2
18:30 Game 2: UBC 3, Toronto 2
 

Friday, Nov. 4

16:00 Game 3: UBC vs Victoria (SportsCanada.TV)
18:30 Game 4: Toronto vs Guelph (SportsCanada.TV)
 

Saturday, Nov. 5

12:30 Game 5: UBC vs Guelph (SportsCanada.TV)
15:00 Game 6: Toronto vs Victoria (SportsCanada.TV)
 

Sunday, Nov. 6

12:30 Bronze medal Match (SportsCanada.TV)
15:00 Championship final (SportsCanada.TV)
 
About U Sports
 
U Sports is the national brand for University Sports in Canada. Every year, over 12,000 student-athletes and 500 coaches from 56 universities vie for 21 national  championships in 12 different sports. U Sports also provides higher performance international opportunities for Canadian student-athletes at Winter and Summer Universiades, as well as numerous world university championships. For further information, visit usports.ca or follow us on:
 
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