VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds clinched a berth to the CIS women's field hockey championship with a 4-0 victory over the Calgary Dinos at Wright Field in Vancouver on Saturday.
 
Emily Martin's goal with 17 seconds left in the first half changed the tone of the game as the Thunderbirds added three more in the second, on goals from Sophie Jones, Niki Best and Meghan Hayden.
 
On the game-winning goal, with a Calgary player off on a green card, Sarah Keglowitsch had the ball outside of the circle and hammered a hard shot into the scoring area. Martin was able to get a stick on it, tipping the low ball to the right of a frozen Calgary netminder Beckett Frisch.
 


The first half was fairly even with neither team having a dominant advantage in quality scoring chances. UBC went into the break with four penalty corners compared to Calgary's three.

Lauren Hayes had the first good scoring chance for Calgary in the 10th minute, as she took the ball nearly half the field before firing a hard shot from the right side of the circle. UBC goalkeeper Rowan Harris, however, was up to the task in kicking out the attempt from Hayes.
 
In the 16th minute, Sophie Jones fired the ball just wide of the net. Then four minutes later, she had another chance on goal but Frisch made a great diving save to her left to keep the game scoreless. Both plays began from corners.
 
Calgary had two corners of their own in less than a minute in the 27th minute, with the second leading to the best opportunity of the day for the Dinos. Meghan Norlander fired a shot on Harris and the rebound bounced back out in front of the goal. Kimiko Durrer spun around to swipe at the loose ball but missed, failing to score into the open net.
 
Sophie Jones added an insurance marker in the 54th minute, finding the back of the net off a penalty corner.
 
Six minutes later on a goalmouth scramble, a loose ball squirted out to the left side of the circle, where a wide-open Niki Best made no mistake to put UBC up 3-0
 
Hayden then rounded out the scoring with another penalty corner goal in the 67th.
 
Saturday's result moved UBC to 3-3-1 and dropped Calgary to 0-5-0, meaning the Dinos can not catch the T-Birds for the final Canada West berth to the CIS national championship tournament, Nov. 5-8 in Victoria.
 
UBC and Calgary will face off again on Sunday at 11 a.m. PT, at Wright Field. It will be the final regular season game for the Thunderbirds, while the Dinos will have two games at Victoria next weekend to conclude the 2015-16 season.
 
SUMMARY
SCORING
CGY:  0 – 0 : 0
UBC:  1 – 3 : 4
 
35' - Emily Martin - FG - UBC 1-0
Halftime
54' - Sophie Jones - PC - UBC 2-0
60' - Niki Best - FG - UBC 3-0
67' - Meghan Hayden - PC - UBC 4-0
 
CARDS
CGY - Sabrina Wong (GC - 35')
UBC - Meghan Hayden (GC - 41'), Gabby Jayme (YC - 48')
 
GOALTENDING
CGY - Beckett Frisch - 70 minutes played, 4 goals against
UBC - Rowan Harris - 70 minutes played, 0 goals against