GAME 3: CIS championship: Defending champ UBC improves to 2-0

Photo credit Guelph Athletics

GUELPH, Ont. (CIS) – The defending national champion University of British Columbia Thunderbirds had goals by six different players in their second outing of opening day at the CIS women’s field hockey championship en route to a 6-2 win over the fifth-seeded Waterloo Warriors, on Thursday afternoon.
 
The No. 2 T-Birds, who upset top-seeded and tournament host Guelph 2-1 earlier on Thursday, move to 2-0 and now enjoy a well-deserved rest until Friday at 10 a.m., when they face Toronto in their third of four round-robin matches.
 
The duel marked the only game of the day for the Warriors (0-1), who resume round-robin play Friday at 12:20 p.m. against Victoria.
 
UBC jumped to a 4-0 lead after 13 minutes and never looked back.
 
CIS rookie of the year Natalie Sourisseau of Kelowna, B.C., opened the scoring in the sixth minute, followed by goals from Katie Jameson of Vancouver, CIS all-Canadian and Canada West MVP Sarah MacAulay, also of Vancouver, and Miranda Mann of Duncan, B.C.
 
Sourisseau scored when she stepped up on the ball at the 25-yard line, pulled it to her reverse stick and shot it into the far corner.
 
Mann’s marker came on a penalty stroke. She stepped up and slotted the ball in the low corner.
 
Katelyn Murray of New Hamburg, Ont., put one past UBC goalie Bea Francisco of Richmond, B.C., before halftime, on Waterloo’s first short corner of the game in the 27th minute, to make it a 4-1 affair at the break.
 
Murray took a pass on the left side from the centre of the circle and pushed the ball into the far corner.
 
Back from the intermission, Victoria Pearson of Tsawwassen, B.C., notched her second goal of the tournament on a short corner in the 37th minute to restore UBC’s four-goal advantage.
 
Waterloo replied with a goal of their own from second-year forward Courtney Bisch of Wellesley, Ont. Then freshman Cassandra Tayler of Vancouver put the defending champs up 6-2 to close out the scoring.
 
“I think it’s a learning experience,” said UBC head coach Hash Kanjee on playing on field turf. “We’ve only played two games on this. We want to watch what the other teams are doing. We want to see what Guelph and Toronto are doing, what works for them and see if we can adapt some of that into our game.”
 
Warriors goaltender Bronwen Clayfield-Jewett of Waterloo, Ont., made several key saves at the end of the first half and throughout the second, giving her team some momentum and confidence.
 
The rookie netminder was named Waterloo player of the game for her efforts.
 
“Our team is pretty proud of our performance,” said Clayfield-Jewett. “We came in as the wild card, we knew it was going to be a tough challenge but then we came in and gave UBC a game and scored a couple goals.”
 
That’s more than many teams have managed against the reigning CIS champs. Francisco was Canada West’s top goalie with six shutouts and a 0.75 goals against average.
 
The T-Bird defensive core was solid, making several textbook switches throughout the game to attack up the right side.
 
GAME NOTES: The last time Waterloo and UBC met was at the 2004 CIS championship when the Thunderbirds won 3-1... In his inaugural year as Waterloo’s head coach, Steven Rodrigues led his team to a CIS berth for the first time since that 2004 season.
 
SCORING SUMMARY

UBC:  4-2: 6
WAT:  1-1: 2
 
First half
6th, UBC, Natalie Sourisseau (1)
9th, UBC,  Katie Jameson (1)
11th, UBC,  Sarah MacAulay (1)
13th, UBC, Miranda Mann (1)
27th, WAT, Katelyn Murray (1)
 
Second half
37th, UBC, Victoria Pearson (2)
41st,, WAT, Courtney Bisch (1)
67th, UBC, Cassandra Tayler (1)
 
Goaltenders
UBC: Bea Francisco (W, 70:00, 2 GA, 2-0)
WAT: Bronwen Clayfield-Jewett (L, 70:00, 6 GA, 0-1)
 
Players of the game
UBC: Caitlin Evans (Duncan, B.C.)
WAT: Bronwen Clayfield-Jewett (Waterloo, Ont.) 

PRE-CHAMPIONSHIP SEEDING
 
1. Guelph Gryphons (OUA champions)
2. UBC Thunderbirds (Canada West champions)
3. Toronto Varsity Blues (OUA finalists)
4. Victoria Vikes (Canada West second place)
5. Waterloo Warriors (OUA bronze medallists)

STANDINGS, SCHEDULE & RESULTS
 
Round-robin standings (after 3 of 10 games)
 
                                  GP       W        L          T          GF       GA      PTS
1. UBC                        2         2          0          0          8          3          6
2. Toronto                    1       1          0          0          3          0          3
3. Guelph                     1        0          1          0          1          2          0
3. Victoria                    1         0          1          0          0          3          0
3. Waterloo                  1        0          1                      0          2          6         
 
Thursday, Nov. 4
9:30 Round-Robin 1: Guelph 1, UBC 2
11:50 Round-Robin 2: Toronto 3, Victoria 0
15:30 Round-Robin 3: UBC 6, Waterloo 2
17:50 Round-Robin 4: Guelph vs. Victoria
 
Friday, Nov. 5
10:00 Round-Robin 5: Toronto vs. UBC
12:20 Round-Robin 6: Victoria vs. Waterloo
16:00 Round-Robin 7: Guelph vs. Toronto
 
Saturday, Nov. 6
10:00 Round-Robin 8: Toronto vs. Waterloo
12:20 Round-Robin 9: UBC vs. Victoria
16:00 Round-Robin 10: Guelph vs. Waterloo
17:30 Tie-Breaking Strokes (if necessary)
 
Sunday, Nov. 7
10:00 Bronze medal
13:00 Championship final 
 
 
-CIS-