TORONTO (CIS) – The No. 5 University of Western Mustangs notched their first-ever win on the national stage with a 3-1 upset victory over the No. 4 Victoria Vikes on Day 2 of the FHC - CIS women’s field hockey championship, Friday at Varsity Centre.
The two teams had never met prior to today, as the Mustangs did not face Victoria in their only other CIS championship appearance in 2003.
With the win, the Mustangs improve to 1-1-0 and sit just one point behind the No. 1 UBC Thunderbirds (1-1-1) and No. 2 Toronto Varsity Blues (1-1-1), while Victoria drops to 0-3-0 and sits fifth in the standings.
“The girls played fantastic,” said CIS coach of the year, Western’s Jeff Pacheco. “I thought we stuck to the game plan very well. We played a full 70 minutes, which we are now becoming accustomed to.”
Both teams are in tough tomorrow as the Mustangs take on the No. 3 Guelph Gryphons (2-0-0) and Thunderbirds, while the Vikes end their round robin draw versus the host Varsity Blues.
“Tomorrow will be a tough day,” added Pacheco. “We have our work cut out for us. It will be the busiest day of field hockey for Western in the history in the program.”
CIS all-Canadian Katelyn Rogonowicz of Burlington, Ont., opened the scoring as she fired the ball past Victoria goalie Sheriden Goodmanson (Victoria) in the 2
nd minute. The goal was Western’s first of the tournament after the Mustangs fell 6-0 to the Varsity Blues yesterday.
Victoria evened the score, also notching their first goal of the championship, when rookie midfielder Amanda Watson of North Vancouver, B.C, snuck the ball past Western’s Bethan Blackburn in the 31
st minute.
The Vikes previously fell 5-0 to the Guelph Gryphons and 4-0 to the defending national champion UBC Thunderbirds on Day 1 of the tournament.
The game remained 1-1 at the midway point of the contest.
Second-year Mustangs forward Jessica Crawford of Oakville, Ont., got the go-ahead goal as she tipped a Megan Duffy shot to find the back of the net in the 43
rd minute. Vancouver native Safia Mohamed added an insurance marker in the 57
th minute to secure the 3-1 win.
“We played individually today and you can’t beat any team when you play individually,” said Victoria head coach Lynne Beecroft. “I’m hoping we can come out and play hard tomorrow. At the end of the day it comes down to goal differential.”
SCORING SUMMARY
WES: 1-2: 3
VIC: 1-0: 1
First half
WES Katelyn Roganowicz (1), 2
nd
VIC Amanda Watson (1), 31
st
Second half
WES Jessica Crawford (1), 43
rd
WES Safia Mohamed (1), 57
th
Goaltenders
WES: Bethan Blackburn (W, 70:00, 1 GA, 1-1-0)
VIC: Sheriden Goodmanson (L, 70:00, 3 GA, 0-3-0)
Players of the game
WES: Lauren Mackenzie (Burlington, Ont.)
VIC: Amanda Watson (North Vancouver, B.C.)
PRE-CHAMPIONSHIP SEEDING
1. UBC (Canada West champions)
2. Toronto (OUA champions)
3. Guelph (OUA finalists)
4. Victoria (Canada West second place)
5. Western (OUA bronze medallists)
STANDINGS, SCHEDULE & RESULTS
Official championship website:
http://english.cis-sic.ca/championships/fh/index
Round-robin standings (after 6 of 10 games)
GP W L T GF GA PTS
1. Guelph 2 2 0 0 8 2 6
2. Toronto 3 1 1 1 9 4 4
3. UBC 2 1 0 1 5 1 4
4. Western 2 1 1 0 3 7 3
5. Victoria 3 0 3 0 1 12 0
NOTE: 3 points for a win and 1 point for a tie.
Thursday, Nov. 1
9:30 Game 1: UBC 1 Toronto 1
11:50 Game 2: Guelph 5 Victoria 0
15:30 Game 3: Toronto 6 Western 0
17:50 Game 4: UBC 4 vs. Victoria 0
Friday, Nov. 2
10:00 Game 5: Guelph 3 Toronto 2
12:20 Game 6: Western 3 Victoria 1
16:00 Game 7: UBC vs. Guelph
(CIS-SIC.tv webcast)
Saturday, Nov. 3
10:00 Game 8: Guelph vs. Western
(CIS-SIC.tv webcast)
12:20 Game 9: Toronto vs. Victoria
(CIS-SIC.tv webcast)
16:00 Game 10: UBC vs. Western
(CIS-SIC.tv webcast)
17:30 Tie-Breaking Strokes (if necessary)
Sunday, Nov. 4
10:00 Bronze medal
(CIS-SIC.tv webcast)
13:00 Championship final
(CIS-SIC.tv webcast)
