LONDON, Ont. – It took penalty strokes to do it, but the University of Toronto Varsity Blues field hockey team got past the Western Mustangs in their semifinal game Saturday night to advance to the OUA Final where they will take on the Guelph Gryphons on Sunday.

The Blues outscored the Mustangs 3-2 in penalty strokes after the teams played to a 1-1 draw in regulation. Toronto goalkeeper Samantha Lyzun (West Vancouver, B.C.) clinched Saturday’s victory when she saved Western’s final stroke attempt from Louise Radford (Guelph, Ont.).

“That is nerve-wracking,” said Toronto forward Natalie Provenzano of the penalty stroke format. The rookie from Richmond Hill, Ont. put Toronto on the board first in the shootout as the No. 2 stroker.

“For me, shooting that was incredible,” she said. “We do that in practice, and it was my chance to do it for my team.”

Kristen Shier (North Vancouver, B.C.) and Kaelan Watson (Richmond, B.C.) also scored for the Blues, while Kirsten Jewell (Toronto, Ont.) and Megan Scraper (West Vancouver, B.C.) netted Western’s goals in stroke play. Scraper’s goal and Kelley Lusk’s (North Vancouver, B.C.) miss set up a chance for Radford to tie it up and send it into sudden-death stroke play. But the fourth-year defender was stopped by Lyzun on a shot to the lower left corner of the net.

It was the first time either team had participated in a penalty stroke situation in OUA play this year, as ties were permitted during the regular season. Both coaches certainly understood the risky nature of stroke play.

“Anybody can win it,” said Toronto head coach John DeSouza. “It’s a terrible way to lose, but you have to figure out a winner somehow.”

“It’s a tough burden to bear,” said Western coach Jeff Pacheco. “But when you’re on the winning side it’s pretty tasty.”

It certainly was for the Varsity Blues, who earned a trip to the 2009 CIS Championships with Saturday night’s win. The national event will take place from Nov. 5-8 at the University of Victoria.

But it could have easily been Western.

Though they trailed 1-0 after an early Toronto score, the Mustangs responded in the 17th minute to tie the game on a Radford goal off a corner.

“It [early goal] didn’t even phase our girls,” said Pacheco. “They battled, and they were very resilient.”

Western went on to control much of the play in the second half, creating several scoring opportunities around the Toronto goal. But the Mustangs were unable to break the tie.

“That’s just it though. You can dominate a game, but if you’re not getting the end result, teams hang around,” Pacheco said. “Then it goes down to a five-on-five situation as opposed to that team situation in regular play.”

Toronto was also unable to get the end result after Provenzano put the team up 1-0 in just the second minute of the contest. A big reason for that was the play of Western goalkeeper Gillian Cummings, who made several key stops throughout the game.

“I wasn’t expecting the kind of goaltending that they got,” said DeSouza. “She [Cummings] saved the last three corners in the last five minutes, and they were good shots on goal and she made great saves.”

Despite the loss, the Mustangs came away pleased with their effort.

“I think it was our best game against U of T in a long time,” said midfielder Petra Kovacs(Strathroy, Ont.), a fifth-year senior. “I think we really put it to them. We had a lot of chances.”

Unfortunately for the Mustangs, they’ll have to wait another year before trying again to make it to the OUA final.

Toronto, meanwhile, will get that opportunity this year. And they’re no strangers to the territory, having won four of the last five OUA championships. They’ll take on the Guelph Gryphons in a rematch of the last two OUA finales. Guelph won the banner in 2007, while Toronto took back the crown in 2008. Sunday’s final goes at 1 p.m. at TD Waterhouse Stadium.

“We want to make sure that we try and contend for that banner and defend it,” said DeSouza. “Guelph has been riding a pretty good high right now. I’m expecting a good game. I think the girls are ready … we’re playing with a little bit more confidence. I feel very good about our chances tomorrow.”

Prior to the OUA final, the Western Mustangs and York Lions will meet for the bronze-medal game at 11 a.m. at TD Waterhouse Stadium.