LONDON, Ont. – The last time Western hosted the OUA women’s field hockey championships (2004-05), the Mustangs were nowhere to be found. The team posted a 4-8-2 record in the regular season that year, finishing 6th in the standings and a long way out of the playoffs.
But a lot has changed since then.
When the Mustangs take the field at TD Waterhouse Stadium this weekend for the 2009-10 OUA championships, it will mark the third straight year that the squad has competed in the final weekend. And this time they’ll have the advantage of playing on home turf.
The Mustangs posted a record of 8-4-2 in 14 regular season games this year, and are looking to earn a berth to the CIS Championships with a top-two finish this weekend. Last year Western captured an OUA bronze medal at Varsity Field in Toronto. They’ll open the weekend with a quarter-final matchup against the Atlantic University Sport (AUS) representative – the University of Prince Edward Island (UPEI) on Friday, Oct. 30 at 2 p.m.
Leading the way for the Mustangs will be Michelle Weber (Ilderton, Ont.). The fifth-year senior finished tied for second in the league with 11 goals in 2009 en route to being named an OUA all-star for the fourth time in her career. The Mustangs, meanwhile, boast three other league all-stars, including fourth-year midfielders Sarah Cobourn (Mississauga, Ont.) and Louise Radford (Guelph, Ont.), as well as veteran Kirsten Jewell (Toronto, Ont.).
But a top-two finish will not come easy for Western. To do so, they’ll have to finish ahead of one of the two powerhouses in OUA women’s field hockey: Toronto and Guelph. Both teams have earned byes to the semifinals on Saturday, Oct. 31.
The University of Toronto has been a dominant team for years. They’ve won four out of the last five OUA championships dating back to 2004-05, while posting a combined regular season record of 67-4-13 during that span. The Varsity Blues are defending league champions, having beaten Guelph 2-1 in last year’s final. This year, Toronto went 10-1-3 in 14 regular season contests to finish second heading into the playoffs.
The Blues have four first-team all-stars on their roster, including fourth-year forward Kyesia O’Neale (Mississauga, Ont.) and fifth-year defender Kristen Shier (North Vancouver, B.C.), who finished tied with Western’s Weber for second in the league in goals (11). The other Toronto all-stars are second-year defender Kaelan Watson (Richmond, B.C.) and third-year midfielder Hannah Tighe (Penticton, B.C.).
The Varsity Blues, though, have company atop the OUA standings.
Though they’ve won just one OUA championship, the Guelph Gryphons have put up an equally impressive win-loss record in recent seasons. Since 2005-06, the Gryphons have gone 56-5-9. They beat Toronto 2-1 in the gold medal game in 2007-08 to capture their first league title. This year, Guelph enjoyed its best regular season ever, going 12-0-2 to earn the top seed heading into this weekend. In their two games against Toronto, Guelph went 1-0-1, winning a 2-1 affair on Sept. 26 and coming away with a 3-3 tie on Oct. 9.
The Gryphons are led by Brienne Stairs (Kitchener, Ont.), who earned OUA Player of the Year honours in 2009 after scoring a league-high 30 goals. The third-year forward is joined by her sister, Tegan Stairs (Kitchener, Ont.), who was named the OUA Rookie of the Year this season. She scored seven goals and was named a second-team all-star.
Guelph also boasts all-star Krissy Wishart (Hamilton, Ont.) and Angela Lancaster (Burlington, Ont.). Wishart was fourth in the league with 10 goals, while Lancaster scored seven.
Waterloo and York will play the first game of the weekend, a quarter-final matchup on Friday, Oct. 30 at 12 p.m. The Warriors went 7-4-3 in the regular season to finish fourth overall. It was an 11-point turnaround from 2008 and marked their first winning season since 2005. As a result, Waterloo head coach Eshan Ali was named 2009 OUA Coach of the Year. Waterloo also had four second-team all-stars, including Courtney Bisch (Wellesley, Ont.), Kara Moro (Port Moody, Ont.), Katherine Olsen (Calgary) and Amy Tabbert (Nithberg, Ont.).
York went 6-5-3 to earn the final OUA playoff spot. Goalkeeper Brittany Blount (Ottawa, Ont.) was a big part of that. The fifth-year senior was named a first-team all-star for the second time. Fourth-year midfielder Effie Petrou (Oakville, Ont.), meanwhile, earned a first-team all-star nod for the fourth year in a row.
The winners of the semifinal matchups on Oct. 31 will not only move on to the gold medal game on Nov.1, but also earn a berth to the 2009 CIS National Championships to be held at the University of Victoria from Nov. 5-8.
2009 OUA Field Hockey Championship
Friday, Oct. 30 – TD Waterhouse Stadium
12 p.m. - Waterloo vs. York (Quarter-Final)
2 p.m. - Western vs. UPEI (Quarter-Final)
Saturday, Oct. 31 – TD Waterhouse Stadium
9 a.m. - Losers of Friday’s games (Consolation Final)
6 p.m. - Guelph vs. Winner of Waterloo/York (Semifinal)
8 p.m. - Toronto vs. Winner of Western/UPEI (Semifinal)
Sunday, Nov. 1 – TD Waterhouse Stadium
11 a.m. - OUA Bronze-Medal Game
1 p.m. - OUA Gold-Medal Game
