TORONTO (CIS) – The No.1 UBC Thunderbirds remain undefeated after posting a 4-0 shut out win over the No. 4 Victoria Vikes in the final game of Day 1 of the 2012 FHC - CIS women's field hockey championship, Thursday evening at Varsity Centre.
“We had a good start, then we kind of lost our way a little bit and it hasn't really been one of our better performances,” said UBC head coach Hash Kanjee. “We have some things to work on but we'll take the three points and move forward.”
Second-year defender
Sara McManus of Delta, B.C., opened the scoring in the seventh minute with a straight shot off a penalty corner that would stand as the game-winner. The first half would end with both teams trading chances but neither able to capitalize on alternating penalty corners.
The score remained close until the 41st minute when CIS all-Canadian
Natalie Sourisseau put UBC up by two. The Kelowna, B.C. native corralled the ball in the circle before firing it into the top right corner for the first of two on the night.
With momentum building, Vancouver native
Cassandra Tayler added a third goal as an insurance marker in the 53rd minute. With only five minutes left, Sourisseau would add her second of the match to seal the four-goal victory for the Thunderbirds and move them into a tie for first with the No. 2 Varsity Blues after two games.
Richmond, B.C.'s
Bea Francisco notched her fifth shutout of the season and second straight against the Vikes. The third-year keeper was only really tested once and stacked the pads for a save on a break late in the first half. Dating back to their final regular season game the Thunderbirds have now outscored Victoria 10-0 in the last 140 minutes of play against each other.
The two teams met four times during the regular season, with UBC sweeping the series by a combined score of 15-3.
Victoria (0-2-0) goes up against fourth-seed Western Mustangs (0-1-0) at 9:20 a.m. tomorrow in a match that could have heavy implications for a medal on Sunday.
“I'm quite proud of my athletes and we've got a big game tomorrow,” said Vikes head coach Lynne Beecroft. “We'd obviously like to be playing for a medal. If we do our job against Western we at least have a chance to play for the bronze medal on Sunday.”
The Thunderbirds (1-0-1) take on the No. 3 Guelph Gryphons (1-0-0) in the final game of Day 2, tomorrow afternoon at 1 p.m. Pacific.
SCORING SUMMARY
UBC: 1-3: 4
VIC: 0-0: 0
First half
UBC
Sara McManus (1), 7th
Second half
UBC
Natalie Sourisseau (1), 41st
UBC
Cassandra Tayler (1), 53rd
UBC
Natalie Sourisseau (2), 65th
Goaltenders
UBC:
Bea Francisco (W, 70:00, 0 GA, 1-0-1)
VIC: Sheriden Goodmanson (L, 70:00, 4 GA, 0-2-0)
Players of the game
UBC:
Natalie Sourisseau (Kelowna, B.C.)
VIC: Allana Macdonald (Vancouver, B.C.)
PRE-CHAMPIONSHIP SEEDING
1. UBC (Canada West champions)
2. Toronto (OUA champions)
3. Guelph (OUA finalists)
4. Victoria (Canada West second place)
5. Western (OUA bronze medallists)
STANDINGS, SCHEDULE & RESULTS
Official championship website:
http://english.cis-sic.ca/championships/fh/index
Round-robin standings
1. Toronto (1-0-1, 4 pts.)
2. UBC (1-0-1, 4 pts.)
3. Guelph (1-0-0, 3 pts.)
4. Victoria (0-2-0, 0 pts.)
5. Western (0-1-0, 0 pts.
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