The University of Toronto Varsity Blues field hockey team opened the 2019 OUA championship with a dominant 7-0 victory over the McGill Martlets on Friday afternoon (Oct. 25) in Guelph, Ont.

With the win, the Blues advance to tomorrow's semifinals, where they will face the third-seeded York Lions at 9 a.m.

FROM HEAD COACH CASS MENDONCA: "Our goal was to come out today and just play Varsity Blues field hockey and I think we achieved that. We still have other things that we have to fix but coming up with the win today was good for us, and raises our hopes heading into the semi."

HOW IT HAPPENED: Blues leading scorer Emily Ziraldo opened the scoring in the ninth minute of the match and rookie standout Madeline Sherwood doubled up the Blues lead five minutes later as Toronto built a 2-0 advantage after the first quarter.

U of T opened the flood gates as Anna Costanzo scored less than two minutes into the second frame and Rachel Spouge tallied 10 minutes later. Hilary Ziraldo added a goal off a stroke just before the whistle blew and the Blues led 5-0 at halftime.

Emily Ziraldo added her second of the game in the third quarter, while Costanzo notched her second in the fourth to round out of the scoring.

Liz O'Hara made one save in the shutout victory.

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