The University of Toronto Varsity Blues women's water polo team ran the table in its opening tournament of the year at the U of T Fall Classic.
The Blues swept all four games in taking down NCWP rivals the Ottawa Gee-Gees, Queen's Gaels and Carleton Ravens along with Ottawa-based club team, Capital Wave.
The Blues began Day one with a rematch of last year's NCWP title game, facing Queen's. The Blues began tentatively getting out to a 2-0 first quarter lead. Toronto then shook off the rust and exploded for five unanswered goals to head into halftime ahead 7-0. The Blues' third quarter counterattack opened the floodgates for a 9-1 run. The final period was another shutout (4-0) leading to a 20-1 victory.
First year winger Devon Lynch burst on the scene in her first game as a Varsity Blue to pace the Toronto attack with six goals. Co-captain Lauren Dundee popped in four goals. Another first year, Sarah August, also made her mark in her inaugural game with a hat-trick. Vega Jones chipped in with a pair of goals, while co-captain Kaitlyn Palmer, Julia Decaire, Hannah Levin, Serena Spencer and Chloe MacVicar added singles.
Later in the day, the Blues went up against Carleton and came away with a 15-2 win. Toronto grabbed a 4-1 first quarter lead before matching their earlier output of five unanswered goals in the second frame to lead 9-1 at the half. The same outcome occurred in the third quarter putting the Blues ahead 14-1.
Co-captain Sarah Wentling led the way with four goals. August, Decaire, Jones and Lynch all notched a pair while Dundee, Levin and Spencer scored once each.
Starting goalie Hana Truchla had five saves.
On Day two, the Blues' first match was against Capital Wave. The opening quarter was closely contested and the Blues escaped with a narrow 1-0 lead. In the second period, the Blues vaunted attack again kicked in to provide the same 5-0 score and a 6-0 halftime advantage. The teams traded goals three times in the third quarter as Toronto kept its six goal lead entering the final frame. Although the Blues again gave up three markers in a quarter, the offence replied with five of its own leaving Toronto with a 14-6 triumph.
Levin paced the Blues attack with five goals while Spencer added a hat-trick. August and Lynch both scored twice with Emma Benoit and Decaire notching one apiece.
Truchla was even busier than the previous day recording seven saves.
The Blues final opponent was the Ottawa Gee-Gees. This time, the Blues didn't wait until the second quarter to record a 5-0 score jumping out to that advantage in the opening period. Toronto piled on six more in the second quarter while only conceding once for a 11-1 half time lead. The second half produced a pair of three goal quarters and the Blues ended their weekend with a 17-2 victory.
All twelve field players got on the board for the Blues. Decaire, Dundee, Jones, MacVicar and Wentling all found the back of the net twice. August, Benoit, Levin, Lynch, Palmer, Spencer and co-captain Sara Sutherland tallied singles.
Truchla made six saves in the first half and back-up goalie Averi Doxtator had five in her half.