VICTORIA (CIS) – The University of British Columbia Thunderbirds started their run for their 15
th McCrae Cup with a 10-0 win over the Waterloo Warriors on Oct. 31 at the University of Victoria. The opening game of the tournament was a David and Goliath story as the T-Birds tallied six penalty corner goals and four on free play, while boasting a starting roster of eight players with international experience.
ThreeThunderbirds found the back of the net twice, including
Cassandra Tayler,
Natalie Sourisseau and
Abigail Raye, while
Sophie Huijskens,
Kate Gillis,
Sara McManus and
Hannah Haughn also got on the board.
Bea Francisco was credited the shutout after facing only one shot as the T-Birds dominated with 13 penalty corner opportunities throughout the game.
For the Warriors goalkeeper Nickole LeVear was outstanding despite a lopsided goal margin. The third-year posted 17 saves, 13 of which came in a wave of UBC attack in the second frame. Alana Raymond and Ally Kocukov did well to maintain possession coming out of the backfield for the Waterloo squad with 12 players in their first or second year of play.
The Thunderbirds opened play with two goals in the opening four minutes, both credited to Tayler. Fifth-year defender and recent Gail Wilson award winner
Miranda Mann set up both options on penalty corners with a deceptive drag to the right post. Only four minutes later and an original shot from Tayler was deflected by Gillis past LeVear to make the score 3-0 for the T-Birds.
Rookie Huijskens got her reverse stick on a Mann penalty corner option in the 21
st minute to give the 'Birds a commanding 4-0 lead entering the break.
Much of the same action continued in the second half with Mann setting up Raye in the 42
nd minute and Haughn in the 63
rd on right-side penalty corners options. Midfielder Sourisseau showed her experience putting away a fore-hand hit from the stroke mark in the 46
th and a back-hand shot from the top of the circle in the 48
th.
To seal the game McManus capitalized on a straight-shot corner option, while Raye added her second of the game with a reverse-stick shot after a Waterloo turnover. Despite the score margin the young Warriors had strong performances from Raymond, Kocukov and, in particular, Le Vear, who was named player of the game. Raye was given the honours for the T-Birds.
The final score was 10-0 in favour of the two-time defending champions, UBC, who will now turn around to face the No. 2-seeded Guelph Gryphons at 4:30 p.m. PST. The Warriors will face hosts, the Victoria Vikes at 6:30 p.m. Both games will be broadcast live at http://cis-sic.tv.
Official championship website: http://english.cis-sic.ca/championships/fh/index
SCORING SUMMARY
UBC: 4-6: 10
WAT: 0-0: 0
First half
UBC:
Cassandra Tayler (1), 3
rd minute
UBC:
Cassandra Tayler (2), 5
th minute
UBC:
Kate Gillis (1), 8
th minute
UBC:
Sophie Huijskens (1), 21
st minute
Second half
UBC:
Abigail Raye (1), 42
nd minute
UBC
Natalie Sourisseau (1), 46
th minute
UBC
Natalie Sourisseau (2), 47
th minute
UBC:
Sara McManus (1), 50
th minute
UBC:
Abigail Raye (2) , 51
st minute
UBC:
Hannah Haughn (1), 64
th minute
Goaltenders
UBC: Nickole LeVear (L, 70:00, 10 GA, 0-1)
WAT:
Bea Francisco (W, 70:00, 0 GA, 1-0)
Players of the game
UBC:
Abigail Raye (Kelowna, B.C.)
WAT : Nickole LeVear (Milton, Ont.)
STANDINGS, SCHEDULE & RESULTS (PACIFIC TIME)
Round-robin standings
GP W L T GF GA PTS
1. UBC 1 1 0 0 10 0 3
2. Victoria 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
3. Guelph 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
4. Waterloo 1 0 1 0 0 10 0
NOTE: 3 points for a win and 1 point for a tie.
Thursday, Oct. 31
16:30 Game 1: Waterloo 0 vs. UBC 10
(CIS-SIC.tv)
18:30 Game 2: Victoria vs. Guelph
(CIS-SIC.tv)
Friday, Nov. 1
16:30 Game 3: Guelph vs. UBC
(CIS-SIC.tv)
18:30 Game 4: Victoria vs. Waterloo
(CIS-SIC.tv)
Saturday, Nov. 2
13:00 Game 5: Guelph vs. Waterloo
(CIS-SIC.tv)
15:00 Game 6: Victoria vs. UBC
(CIS-SIC.tv)
Sunday, Nov. 3
13:00 Bronze medal
(CIS-SIC.tv)
15:00 Championship final
(CIS-SIC.tv)
Note: All games will be played at UVIC Field 1.
