VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds women's field hockey team secured their ninth straight Canada West title on Saturday with a 2-0 win over the Alberta Pandas at Wright Field.
It took less than a minute for the 'Birds to find what turned out to be the game-winning goal. Early pressure in the Alberta circle led to a penalty stroke, and
Poonam Sandhu made no mistake in converting the chance to put her side on top.
The T-Birds got their second goal early in the second half from rookie
Sarah Keglowitsch.
Robyn Pendleton made a run down the left wing and crossed the ball into the circle, where Keglowitsch was able to navigate through the crowd in front of the net to get the final touch for the goal.
“The kids played really well today,” said UBC head coach Hash Kanjee. “We've been working on a couple things, and I know 2-0 probably doesn't fully reflect our play, but it was a very solid performance. We needed to take a little step this weekend, so I'm happy that we did. Canada West is now tucked away so we don't have to worry about that, and tomorrow we can just focus on the things we need to fix.”
The score easily could have been more lopsided if not for the play of Alberta goalie Alyssa Greco. She made two great saves in the first half, first on Cassie Tayler who was sent in alone on goal only to be denied by a pad save, and then on a shot-deflection just in front of goal by Sandhu.
She also stopped Tayler at the side of the net in the second half with a superb sliding save. Sandhu let fly with a great second half strike that was also deflected wide by Greco, and Pendleton made numerous promising runs into the circle late in the game that Greco did well to handle.
“
Katie Jameson,
Caitlin Evans and
Miranda Mann were especially effective for us today, and Robyn at the end had some great runs, and was just unfortunate not to get anything out of them,” said Kanjee.
Alberta falls to 4-5-2 with the loss, but the Pandas can still finish with a .500 record if they can upset the 'Birds in their rematch tomorrow. The T-Birds are now 7-2-2 on the year and will be looking to finish the regular season with their eighth win when the sides go at it again on Sunday at 1 p.m.
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