The University of Toronto Varsity Blues women's water polo team defeated the McMaster Marauders 24-4 on Tuesday, October 12 at Varsity Pool.

It had been 588 days since the Blues played a game and even though it was only an exhibition match, both teams student athletes were overjoyed at the opportunity to play again.

For the Blues, this year's squad of 21 counts 15 members who have never played a game for the school. 

The teams took no time to trade pairs of goals as the Blues would strike only to see the Marauders tie things up on the next attack.  However, after the temporary 2-2 score two minutes into the game, Toronto stepped into high gear, scoring five straight to lead 7-2 after the opening quarter of play.

In the second period, the Blues struck for two more goals to run their streak of unanswered goals to seven before McMaster answered back with one of its own.  Then, just as in the first quarter, the Blues offence came roaring back to life scoring six straight goals to close out the half with a commanding 15-3 lead.

Superior conditioning helped Toronto to a 9-0 third quarter, running the total of consecutive unanswered goals to 15.

Entering the final frame, the Blues led 24-3.  McMaster netted the lone goal of the final quarter to close out the scoring.

"You could see that everyone at the pool, including players, coaches, referees and minor officials were very rusty" observed Blues head coach George Gross, Jr. "But it was easy to see the excitement on everyone's faces mixed with relief that it once again was 'game on'".

First-year attacher Vega Jones of Surrey, B.C., paced the Blues with six goals.  Lauren Dundee (Perth, Scotland) popped in four goals, while Deena Charles (Langley, B.C.),  Serena Spencer (London, Ontario) and co-captain Tori Wilson (Kitchener, Ontario) all notched hat tricks. 

Emily Grossman (Sunnyvale, California) and Kaitlyn Palmer (Ottawa, Ontario) each scored twice, while Julianna Hill (Victoria, B.C.) rounded out the scoring with a single tally.

Three of the Blues four goalies, co-captain Rachael Jaffe (Irvine, California) and Hana Truchla (Toronto, Ontario) and Averi Doxtator (Ottawa, Ontario), saw at least one quarter of action.

UP NEXT: The Blues host the Queen's Gaels on Saturday, October 30 at 12:30 p.m.

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