In their second match on the opening day of the CIS field hockey championship, the University of Toronto Varsity Blues crushed the Western Mustangs 6–0 in a resounding victory.

The Blues and Mustangs met twice during the regular season. Toronto came out of both games victorious, winning 7–1 in their first meeting and 5–0 later in the year.

“We’ve had a lot of success against Western this year,” said Blues head coach John DeSouza. “We’ve played them three times now and have had some pretty high-scoring games. I think it was just a matter of getting the first one and then we started to gain our confidence and get our legs under us.”

Mustangs head coach Jeff Pacheco concurred. “They came out with something to prove after a stale performance versus UBC this morning. We’ve had a tough time against U of T all year and the scoreboard doesn’t hide that.”

The Blues opened the scoring early and ruthlessly added to their lead, as they scored five goals in only 14 minutes of play.

Toronto’s Ally Evanyshyn began the scoring off a cross-pass in the circle, which she shot into the right side of the net. Tegan Stairs, a CIS All-Canadian, increased the lead only three minutes later by capitalizing on a rebound in front of the net. Stairs was a named an OUA All-Star after a regular season in which she ranked fourth in the OUA with 11 goals.

Varsity Blues player of the game Kelley Lusk further extended U of T’s lead on a penalty corner, scoring off a perfect shot from the middle. The Blues continued to roll as Alex Thicke scored three minutes later, on an outstanding tic-tac-toe passing play with the assistance of Kaelan Watson and Sara Ali.

Amanda Woodcroft, also a CIS All-Canadian, put the Blues up 5–0 after tipping a pass from Vancouver-native Heather Haughn into the net, just three minutes after Thicke’s goal.

Toronto gave Western little opportunity to recover or attempt a comeback; coming out of the half, Stairs recorded her second goal of the game off a long, wide-angled shot.

Western’s best opportunity came with only four minutes remaining in the game as Mustangs’ forward Jessica Crawford hit a hard shot that just streaked past the net.

The Blues have notched eight shutouts this season, including a 4–0 victory over the Waterloo Warriors in the OUA semifinal last weekend.