CALGARY – With their spot in Sunday's CIS title game already locked up, the UBC Thunderbirds capped off an unbeaten preliminary round with a 2-0 win over the Guelph Gryphons on Saturday at Hawkings Field.
 
Canada West Rookie of the Year Sarah Keglowitsch netted the game winner early in the second half, weaving her way past defenders into the circle and drawing Gryphons goalkeeper Kaye McLagan out of her net before slotting the ball home.
 
Natalie Sourisseau gave the T-Birds an insurance goal just two minutes later, banging home the rebound of a Robyn Pendleton shot from in close.
 
The win sees UBC finish the preliminary round 4-0, and they will square off against the host Calgary Dinos (3-1) for the national championship on Sunday at 1 p.m.
 
"Calgary has a lot of seniors, and those guys are going to throw everything and the kitchen sink at us tomorrow," said UBC head coach Hash Kanjee. "We've got to be ready for it and on our best behaviour, and we just have to rise to the occasion and do the work necessary. It's going to be a lot of hard work."
 
The T-Birds put plenty of pressure on the Gryphons in the first half, generating five shots and three penalty corners, but were unable to find a goal.
 
Guelph almost stole one going the other way too thanks to some missed marking assignments, but the T-Bird defence recovered and shut down the Gryphons' attack the rest of the way.
 
"I think we are ready for tomorrow, but it didn't really show in the first 20 minutes," said Kanjee. "We gave up the ball more than we needed to, and were a little bit lackadaisical, and Guelph almost got a nice goal because of it. But our defence played great today. Jenna McNeil, Miranda Mann and Caitlin Evans were all solid and made a big difference in the outcome today."
 
Bea Francisco earned her second shutout of the tournament for the 'Birds. Keglowitsch's goal was her second of the tournament, and it was the first for Sourisseau.
 
The T-Birds have outscored opponents 10-3 en route to their perfect tournament record.
 
The Gryphons fall to 1-3, but will still play for bronze against either Toronto or Alberta. Those two sides clash later on Saturday, and Toronto (1-2) will join Guelph tomorrow unless Alberta (0-3) wins by at least two,  which would even their record with Toronto but put them ahead on goal differential.
 
The bronze medal game is slated for 10 a.m. on Sunday at Hawkings field, followed by UBC and Calgary's gold medal match at 1 p.m.