A 1–0 victory over the fourth-seeded Victoria Vikes on Saturday afternoon was enough to see the second-ranked Varsity Blues advance to the FHC-CIS women’s field hockey championship final on home turf.
The Blues will go for gold Sunday at Varsity Stadium against the first-ranked UBC Thunderbirds, who ended their round robin with a 3–1 win over the Western Mustangs. The battle for the McCrae Cup is set to be a rematch of the first game of the CIS tournament, which finished in a 1–1 draw.
The Blues final round robin game against the Vikes was a tightly contested defensive battle with a slew of sloppy finishes.
Toronto looked lively in the opening minutes, but were unable to test Vikes goaltender Sheriden Goodmanson.
One of the Blues’ best opportunities came in the 43 minute off a penalty corner, when All-Canadian Kaelan Watson took a shot that ricocheted off the crossbar.
The deadlock was finally broken by Tegan Stairs in the 52 minute. The goal, Stairs’ third of these CIS championships, was assisted by her younger sister, rookie forward, Emma.
“Tegan is just a beast,” said Blues head coach John DeSouza.. “We rode her all season long. When the pressure is on, she’s the one that takes it off, and when we need something to happen, she makes it happen out there.”
While the Blues managed to emerge victorious from the match against Victoria and end the round robin series with seven points, they were forced to wait for the result of the tussle between the UBC Thunderbirds and the Western Mustangs to determine whether they would in fact advance to the finals.
The Mustangs went into their final game 2–1–0 with six points, while the Thunderbirds were 2–0–1 with seven points. A UBC win or draw would see the Blues and the Thunderbirds advance to the championship final, while a Western win would pit the Mustangs against the team with the better goal differential.
Toronto’s win and Western’s loss means the Mustangs are relegated to battling the Guelph Gryphons for bronze.
The Blues were very much mindful of the fact that their eventual fate did not entirely rest in their hands.
“It’s been an emotional roller-coaster for us,” explained DeSouza. “We’ve done everything we can right now. Not many teams get a second lifeline like we do so we’re very happy with what we’ve done.”
“You don’t know where you’re going to end up until the last game,” said Tegan Stairs. “Coach DeSouza just told us that regardless of where we end up, we know we’re one of the best teams out here, and all season long we’ve been able to prove that. When we end the season we want to end it on our own terms.”
“We stayed composed, which is important in a tough game,” echoed Amanda Woodcroft. “For the next game we need to stick to the game plan. We were a little disappointed yesterday, but we’ve moved passed that as a team, and we’re ready for tomorrow.
“I’m so excited.”
