VICTORIA - The UBC Thunderbirds completed a busy weekend of competition at their Canada West season-opening tournament in Victoria on Sunday with a 2-2 record. The T-Birds faced off against the defending champion and host UVic Vikes twice and the Calgary Dinos twice over the three-day round robin tournament and the 'Birds began the weekend with a statement 7-0 victory over the Dinos ahead of three more contests that awaited over the following two days.

For more on how the rest of the weekend played out please see individual game recaps below:

Saturday, October 2. UVic 3 UBC 1

The Thunderbirds women's field hockey team opened its doubleheader day by dropping a 3-1 decision to their cross water rivals and defending champion UVic Vikes at the UVic Field Hockey Turf, Oct. 2.

HOW IT HAPPENED
20th Minute – UVic 1, UBC 0

• Restarting at the centre line, the Vikes sent a quick pass into the circle to the waiting Chloe Langkammer, who took advantage of the out of position UBC goalkeeper to score the first goal of the contest.

34th Minute – UVic 2, UBC 0

• Awarded a corner early into the second half, Nora Struchtrup found the rebound off the initial shot attempt to send it to the back of the net and put UVic up by two.

39th Minute – UVic 3, UBC 0

• Heading down the field on a breakaway, a series of passes led to Ashton Aumen, who tapped the ball in to finish the play and score for the Vikes.

49th Minute – UVic 3, UBC 1

• On a Thunderbirds corner, the ball was served to Sara Goodman, who sent a strike past Robin Fleming to put UBC on the board.

WORTH NOTING

• UBC was awarded four corners in the first quarter to UVic's zero, all of which were thwarted by the Vikes' defence.
• The Thunderbirds controlled possession for most of the first half, allowing few Vikes' possessions until the first goal of the game.
• Hannah Rumble played the first three quarters of the game in net for UBC, while Ishaval Sekhon came in for the final 15 minutes.
• Following the game, the Vikes improved to 2-0 on the season, while the Thunderbirds moved to 1-1.

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Sunday, October 3. UBC 5 Calgary 0

VICTORIA, B.C. - In the final meeting between the University of British Columbia and the University of Calgary during the first Canada West round robin tournament of the season, the Thunderbirds came away with the 5-0 win over the Dinos, Oct. 3 at the UVic Field Hockey Turf.

With the win, the Thunderbirds improved to 2-1. The Dinos moved to 0-3 after the setback.

I net, Calgary's Tayler Guy played 60 minutes for the Dinos, allowing five goals, the lowest in the four games of the tournament. UBC saw a strong combined shutout performance from Ishaval Sekhon and Hannah Rumble for the Thunderbirds' second shutout of the tournament.

Calgary looked to get on the board early, as Valeria Aya Cristancho intercepted a UBC pass and managed to bring it in circle during the third minute. However, the Thunderbirds' defence was able to make the stop.

UBC would be the first to put a goal on the scoreboard in the eighth minute. While the initial Thunderbirds shot was saved in diving fashion by Calgary goalkeeper Guy, UBC's Jillian Wallace was in place to collect the Dave's deflection and shoot it to the back of the net before Guy could recover and take the 1-0 lead.

The Thunderbirds nearly added another in the 12th minute, when a pass down field found Wallace one-on-one in the circle. However, an out-stretched Guy was in place to make the save and keep it a one-goal game at the end of the first quarter.



The 19th minute would see UBC extend its lead by way of penalty stroke, which Jordyn Faiczak successfully made for her second goal of the tournament.

Around the 23rd minute, Calgary was able to get themselves back in the circle for a scoring chance. The initial shot from Maisie Hastings was saved by UBC goalkeeper Sekhon, leading to scramble in front of the net to try and get a stick on the rebound. The Thunderbirds came out of the scramble successful, clearing the ball out.

A couple minutes later, the Dinos earned their first corner of the game in the second quarter, but the attempted shot by Madison MacMillan was blocked by UBC, sending the game into the halftime break with the Thunderbirds up, 2-0.

While the third quarter began rather quietly for both sides, it was awakened in the 35?th minute with a laser shot from UBC's Thora Rae, whose shot from top left of the circle went on a rope to the back right of the net for the 3-0 Thunderbirds lead.

Calgary was awarded its second corner of the contest around the 40th minute, and after getting a few passes off after the serve in, their shot attempt was blocked and cleared away by the Thunderbirds, and keep the game 3-0 at the end of 45 minutes of play.

Consecutive saves from Guy on a UBC attack and ensuing corner started the fourth quarter off, but movements later, on the run on the right side of the cage, UBC's Kaia Cooper slipped the ball past Guy for the 4-0 Thunderbirds lead in the 51st minute.

Bring the ball back to inside their scoring 25, the Dinos forced UBC's Rumble to make the save on a shot attempt from Hastings. While Calgary was able to corral the save, the Thunderbirds were able to regain possession on the next pass.

Adding one final goal in the contest, UBC was awarded a second penalty stroke, which was successfully made by Sara Goodman in the 57th minute to seal the game in favour of the Thunderbirds, 5-0.

The two sides will meet again at the end of the month, as the Dinos, Thunderbirds, and University of Victoria Vikes will play a second Canada West round robin tournament at UBC, Oct. 22-24.

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Sunday, October 3. Victoria 3 UBC 0

VICTORIA, B.C. - In the final game of the Victoria leg of the Canada West round robin tournament, the defending champion UVic Vikes got the better of UBC for the second time in as many days in shutting out the visitors 3-0.

Starting off with a scoreless first quarter, it was UBC that saw a couple chances in the final five minutes of play. However, both their attempts were unsuccessful via block and a shot wide.

Victoria saw its first sold chance in the second quarter, as Georgia Booker received the ball just steps left of the penalty spot, but her shot was just wide.

The Thunderbirds were awarded the first corner of the game in the second quarter, but their shot attempt went wide to keep the game scoreless into the halftime break.

The scoreless minutes were put to an end in the 35th minute, as the Vikes found Chloe Langkammer near the penalty spot, who sent a high shot over the hand of the UBC goalkeeper.

Not even a minute later, Langkammer would score once again for the Vikes. This time from out left, she sent a laser shot to the top right of the net for the 2-0 UVic advantage.

Extending their lead once more in the third quarter, Victoria's Nora Struchtrup made a diving shot from the top of the circle that got past the UBC goalkeeper for the 3-0 lead.

UBC was awarded a corner to start the fourth quarter, but their shot was saved by the UVic goalkeeper.

In one final attempt to get on the board, the Thunderbirds used their second corner to fire off a shot after the serve in. However, it was deflected by the Vikes to end the threat.

Unable to find a response, the Vikes emerged victorious, 3-0, to end the final game of the tournament.

The two sides will meet again, along with the University of Calgary, at the next leg of the Canada West round robin tournaments, hosted by the Thunderbirds on UBC's Point Grey campus from Oct. 22-24.