The CIS championship began a potential final-preview as the thesecond-seeded University of Toronto Varsity Blues, the second seed, took on the first-ranked, Canada West Champions, the UBC Thunderbirds.
The first half of the game, which ended scoreless, was played out mostly in Toronto’s end of the field, with neither team managing to generate many significant offensive chances. Toronto didn’t get its first meaningful offensive opportunity until late in the half, which head coach John DeSouza later attributed to intimidation on the part of the Blues.
“The girls know who is on the other team, there are 11 national-team players on there, but when we started to see we could move the ball around as well as they could they started to pick it up, ” he noted.
UBC stormed out in the second half as forward Katherine Gillis had numerous shots on goal, Fortunately, Toronto goalie Kathryn Williams made some key saves, and the Blues defense played remarkably well to keep it scoreless.
“We played great team defense, which we haven’t had all season long,” said DeSouza. “We stepped it up a notch, we’re at the CIS level we need to be at.”
Following a UBC penalty corner, the Blues were up first on the scoreboard. Teagan Stairs led the offensive charge and carried the ball up field before sending it across to her sister, Emma Stairs, who put the ball in the net at the 56-minute mark.
“Tegan and I play off each other and play really well together,” said Emma Stairs. “I was super nervous when I got the ball. I felt so much pressure to put it in and I just slipped it through her legs.”
However, with less than two minutes left in the game, a couple of costly fouls put Toronto on the defensive and UBC was awarded a penalty corner in what was to be the final play of the game. Just seconds before the final buzzer, UBC defender Miranda Mann scored on the penalty to end the game in a 1–1 draw.
“In the last two minutes, those things happen. We turned the ball over way too much in the last five–six minutes,” said DeSouza.
While it was a heartbreaking finish to a hard-fought game, the Blues put the rest of the teams on notice with their performance. “We stepped up,” said Tegan Stairs. “It’s great to play on home turf and it’s amazing to have everyone here cheering us on.
“I think this game establishes us as one of the teams to beat and shows that we have what it takes to win it all.”
Despite the disappointing finish, DeSouza drew a lot of positives from the game, and praised Stairs for her exemplary play. “Teagan is a game breaker. When she gets the ball she’s exciting to watch and she’s going to cause teams a lot of problems.”
