GAME 10 CIS championship: Host Gryphons beat Waterloo, will play for bronze

Photo credit Guelph Athletics

GUELPH, Ont. (CIS) – The tournament host Guelph Gryphons ended a disappointing preliminary round with a 5-2 win over Waterloo at the CIS women’s field hockey championship on Saturday afternoon, earning the right to play for bronze on Sunday.
 
Established tournament favourites for the second straight year prior to the event, the Gryphons end round-robin in fourth place with a 1-3 record, behind Toronto (4-0), UBC (3-1) and Victoria (2-2). Waterloo finishes fifth after dropping all four of its matches.
 
Guelph faces fourth-seeded Victoria for CIS bronze Sunday at 10 a.m., while No. 3 Toronto and No. 2 UBC battle for the McCrae Cup at 1 p.m.
 
In 2009, the Gryphons finished fourth as the No. 1 seed after dropping the bronze-medal game 2-1 to host Victoria.
 
In the round-robin finale, Guelph jumped out to a 4-0 lead after 20 minutes and never looked back. The score was 5-1 at halftime.
 
The Gryphons got offensive contributions from four different players in the win.
 
Second-team all-Canadian Tegan Stairs of Kitchener, Ont., scored a pair of goals, while sister Brienne, the two-time reigning CIS player of the year, Brittany Seidler of Oliver, B.C., and Courtney Lacey of Guelph tallied a goal apiece.
 
Goalie Kaye McLagan of Mitchell, Ont., wasn’t overly busy but came up big when she was needed.
 
“We knew we had to win today and there was no doubt in our mind we were going to win,” said Guelph head coach Michelle Turley. “We have beaten Waterloo three times before this season so I think that gave us a set of confidence and there was just no way we were going to lose. All of our forwards were flying today. It was an all out team effort I thought.” 
 
In the second half, the Gryphons had plenty of scoring opportunities and still dominated the play but went scoreless. 
 
Waterloo goal scorers were Jaimie Wey of Kitchener, Ont., and Melissa Lewis of Waterloo.
 
The Gryphons got on the board early as Seidler made a beautiful pass directly in front of the net to set up Brienne Stairs, who tipped it in past a diving Waterloo goalie in the second minute of play.  
 
The Stairs sisters set up the second goal minutes later, as Brienne brought the ball in past several defenders and passed off to Tegan in front of the net, who capitalized on a tip. 
 
The scoring continued when Lacey struck on a penalty shot in the 15th minute.
 
Tegan Stairs scored her second of the game as she streaked up the pitch and deked the Waterloo goalie and fired in the net.
 
Seidler netted her second of the tournament after making a couple of great moves to get open and fired the ball into the back of the net.

SCORING SUMMARY

GUE 5-0: 5
WAT 1-1: 2
 
First half
2nd, GUE, Brienne Stairs (2)
7th, GUE, Tegan Stairs (2)
15th, GUE, Courtney Lacey (1)
20th, GUE, Tegan Stairs (3)
21st, WAT, Jamie Wey (1)
26th, GUE, Brittany Seidler (2)

Second half
36th, WAT, Melissa Lewis (1)

Goaltenders
GUE: Kaye McLagan (W, 70:00, 2 GA, 1-3)
WAT: Bronwen Clayfield-Jewett (L, 70:00, 5 GA, 0-4)
 
Players of the game
GUE: Tegan Stairs (Kitchener, Ont.)
WAT: Katie Farrugia (Burlington, 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 (FINAL)
                       GP         W        L          T          GF       GA      PTS
1. Toronto        4          4          0          0        15          2         12
2. UBC             4          3          1          0          9          4         9
3. Victoria        4          2          2          0          7          5         6
4. Guelph         4          1          3          0          8          10         3
5. Waterloo      4          0          4         0           5          23        0
 
Thursday, Nov. 4
9:30 Round-Robin 1: UBC 2, Guelph 1
11:50 Round-Robin 2: Toronto 3, Victoria 0
15:30 Round-Robin 3: UBC 6, Waterloo 2
17:50 Round-Robin 4: Victoria 2, Guelph 1
 
Friday, Nov. 5
10:00 Round-Robin 5: Toronto 1, UBC 0
12:20 Round-Robin 6: Victoria 5, Waterloo 0
16:00 Round-Robin 7: Toronto 4, Guelph 1
 
Saturday, Nov. 6
10:00 Round-Robin 8: Toronto 7, Waterloo 1
12:20 Round-Robin 9: UBC 1, Victoria 0
16:00 Round-Robin 10: Guelph 5, Waterloo 2
 
Sunday, Nov. 7
10:00 Bronze medal: Victoria vs. Guelph
13:00 Championship final: Toronto vs. UBC 
 
 
-CIS-