VICTORIA (CIS) – The Guelph Gryphons dropped the four-time defending national champions, the UBC Thunderbirds, 2-1 to open the 2015 CIS-FHC women's field hockey championship hosed in Victoria. A goal in each half lifted the OUA runners-up over their Canada West counterparts.
 
Guelph tallied early scoring off a tip from second-year forward Olivia Lane in the sixth minute, while Moon Weijens buried a second-half penalty corner goal for the game winner. Gryphons net minder Morgan Kelley earned the shutout in the game.
 
UBC tied the game in the second half with a goal from Niki Best in the 44th minute. Canada West MVP and 2015 CIS First Team All-Canadian Hannah Haughn drove the offence for the T-Birds along side team mate and midfielder Sarah Keglowitsch. Third year Sophie Jones anchored the back line and was named UBC's Player of the Game.
 
The Gryphons got off to a good start in the game putting the young T-Birds under immense pressure right off the push back. The T-Birds surrendered a 15-m outlet pass deep in their right corner and Guelph pounced on the chance. A hard ball was fired across and beat a flurry of UBC defenders leaving Lane open at the far post to deflect the ball in for a 1-0 Guelph lead.
 
UBC, who boast just three players in fourth or fifth year, took the next 10 minutes to settle in. Guelph continued to test the UBC back line of Sarah Lowes, Sophie Jones, Amy Jones and Katrina Davis. The attacking dynamics of Ciara Condon, Allison Chute and Lane gave the T-Birds back line fits.
 
The Thunderbirds' first chance came in the 16th minute with a shot by Alyssa Nonis but Kelley made a great save to protect the Gryphons' lead. Both teams generated two penalty corners but were unable to capitalize on set pieces leaving the game 1-0 for Guelph at the break.
 


In the second half UBC started to find their strides as an impressive break out from their defensive 23-m line through Haughn sprung a lethal Thunderbirds attack. Haughn fought through traffic to find Keglowitsch on the right side. A quick give-and-go over distance allowed Haughn to next spring team mate Nonis who patiently slid the ball across the circle to the waiting stick of Best. The first-year T-Bird deflected the ball low in to the corner past Kelley to tie the game 1-1.
 
Guelph showed their offensive strengths to retaliate back after defending a Haughn-generated penalty corner to earn back-to-back set pieces of their own. The Gryphons were unsuccessful on their first attempt as Lane's far-post deflection hit the outside of the net but it didn't take long for Guelph to be rewarded.
 
In the 60th minute the Gryphons pulled short side to Weijens who, with all kinds of time, swept the ball hard and near side of UBC keeper Harris for the 2-1 advantage. 
 
UBC pushed hard for another tying goal but, unable to capitalize on their second-half set pieces, had to settle for the loss to open their campaign towards their fifth-straight national title.
 
With the 2-1 victory Guelph take the first win of the championship, while UBC will regroup. Both teams face their conference rivals tomorrow, Nov. 6, as UBC plays Victoria at 4 p.m. and Guelph takes on Toronto at 6:30 p.m.
 
Following today's match UBC's Sophie Jones and Guelph's Weijens were named Played of the game and were presented their CIS gifts from Canadian women's national team head coach Ian Rutledge.
 
Official championship website: http://english.cis-sic.ca/championships/fh/index

SCORING SUMMARY (official stats: CLICK HERE)
GUE: 1-1: 2
UBC 0-1: 1 

First half
GUE Olivia Lane (1), 7th minute
 
Second half
UBC Nicole Best (1), 44th
GUE Moon Weijens (1), 60th
 
Goaltenders
GUE: Morgan Kelley (W, 70:00, 1 GA, 1-0)
UBC: Rowan Harris (W, 70:00, 2 GA, 0-1)
 
Players of the game
UBC: Sophie Jones (West Vancouver, B.C.)
GUE: Moon Weijens (Zelhem, Netherlands)
 
 PRE-CHAMPIONSHIP SEEDING
 
1. Victoria (Canada West champions: 7-0-1 regular season / no playoffs in CW)
2. Toronto (OUA champions: 11-1-0 regular season / 2-0 conference playoffs)
3. UBC (Canada West runners-up: 4-3-1 regular season / no playoffs in CW)
4. Guelph (OUA silver medallists: 11-1-0 regular season / 1-1 conference playoffs)
 
STANDINGS, SCHEDULE & RESULTS (all times Pacific Time)
 
Round-robin standings
 
                        GP       W        L          T          GF       GA      PTS
1. Victoria        0          0          0          0          0          0          0
2. Toronto       0          0          0          0          0          0          0
3. UBC             1          0          1          0          1          2          0
4. Guelph         1          0          0          0          2          1          3
 
NOTE: 3 points for a win and 1 point for a tie.
 
Thursday, Nov. 5
16:00 Game 1: Guelph 2, UBC 1
18:30 Game 2: Toronto vs. Victoria (CIS-SIC.tv)
 
Friday, Nov. 6
16:00 Game 3: UBC vs. Victoria (CIS-SIC.tv)
18:30 Game 4: Guelph vs. Toronto (CIS-SIC.tv)
 
Saturday, Nov. 7
12:30 Game 5: Guelph vs. Victoria (CIS-SIC.tv)
15:00 Game 6: UBC vs. Toronto (CIS-SIC.tv)
 
 Sunday, Nov. 8
12:30 Bronze medal (CIS-SIC.tv)
15:00 Championship final (CIS-SIC.tv)
 
About Canadian Interuniversity Sport
 
Canadian Interuniversity Sport is the national governing body of university sport in Canada. Every year, over 11,500 student-athletes and 700 coaches from 56 universities and four regional associations vie for 21 national championships in 12 different sports. CIS also provides high performance international opportunities for Canadian student-athletes at Winter and Summer Universiades, as well as numerous world university championships. For further information, visit www.cis-sic.ca or follow us on:
 
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