LONDON, Ont. – On the strength of a Shannon Vance first-half goal, the No. 5-seeded York Lions booked a trip to the OUA semifinals with a 1-0 win over the No. 4 Waterloo Warriors Friday afternoon at TD Waterhouse Stadium.
The Lions will take on the Guelph Gryphons, who earned a first-round playoff bye after posting a 12-0-2 regular season record. That OUA semifinal contest will take place on Saturday, Oct. 31 at 6 p.m.
It didn’t come as a surprise that Friday’s York-Waterloo matchup was a closely-contested, low-scoring affair. In two previous games this season, the Lions and Warriors fought to a pair of scoreless draws. So when Vance scored in the 23rd minute on Friday, it was the first goal in over 160 minutes played between the two teams this year.
The rookie right-winger certainly chose a great time to break that scoreless streak.
“She always pulls through,” said Lions head coach Deb Fullerton. “She has a natural talent because she’s an ice hockey player. She has the natural ability to tip the ball in near the net.”
Vance is actually the team’s second goalkeeper. But Fullerton decided to try the Goderich, Ont. native in the field earlier in the year. And Vance responded, scoring a team-high four goals in the regular season. She did it again on Friday in the postseason.
“It was just a straight shot outside the ‘D’, and I just tipped it and I went past the goalie,” said Vance.
The Lions, who controlled the play for much of the game, had other opportunities to score, but couldn’t cash in an insurance goal.
“We created a lot of offence even though we were not scoring,” said Fullerton. “Today the difference was I asked my players to put the ball in the circle a lot more often – wherever and whenever they could. We got more chances than we’ve ever had with this team [Waterloo].”
The Lions also got a strong effort form their goalkeeper, Brittney Blount. The first-team OUA all-star wasn’t busy in the first half, but she had to come up with some big saves down the stretch. Perhaps the biggest was on a shot by Waterloo’s Jaimie Wey with just 3:30 remaining in the game as the Warriors scrambled around the York net in the final minutes trying to tie the game.
With the win, the Lions will now play the No. 1-seeded Guelph Gryphons in an OUA semifinal game at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 31 at TD Waterhouse Stadium. The winner will earn a berth to the CIS National Championships. Though Fullerton knows a win won’t come easy, she thinks it can be done.
“We’re just looking to hold them to a tie,” she said. “And if we can hold them to a tie, we’re happy about going into strokes.”
For her part, Vance is full of confidence heading into tomorrow’s game.
“I think we have a really good chance at getting to Victoria for the CIS,” she said.
The Warriors, meanwhile, will hit the field again on Saturday, Oct. 31 at 9 a.m. for the OUA consolation final against the UPEI Panthers, who lost their Quarter-Final game (6-0) against the Western Mustangs on Friday.
2009 OUA Field Hockey Championship - Updated Scores and Schedule after Day 1
Friday, Oct. 30
York 1 Waterloo 0 (Quarter-Final)
Western 6 UPEI 0 (Quarter-Final)
Saturday, Oct. 31 – TD Waterhouse Stadium
9 a.m. - Waterloo vs. UPEI (Consolation Final)
6 p.m. - Guelph vs. York (Semifinal)
8 p.m. - Toronto vs. Western (Semifinal)
Sunday, Nov. 1 – TD Waterhouse Stadium
11 a.m. - OUA Bronze-Medal Game
1 p.m. - OUA Gold-Medal Game
