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GAME 8 CIS championship: Blues wrap up perfect preliminary round
Photo credit Guelph Athletics
GUELPH, Ont. (CIS) – The third-seeded Toronto Varsity Blues wrapped up a perfect preliminary round at the CIS women’s field hockey championship with a 7-1 domination of the No. 5 Waterloo Warriors, on Saturday morning.
The OUA finalist Blues, who had already clinched a spot in the gold-medal final prior to the contest, finished the round-robin portion of the tournament with a 4-0 record and 12 points in the standings. In Sunday’s championship match, they will face either the defending national champion UBC Thunderbirds (2-1) or the Victoria Vikes (2-1), who face off later Saturday (12:20 p.m.) with second place on the line.
“I’m very happy with our performance today,” said Toronto head coach John DeSouza. “Because we qualified for the CIS final yesterday, it could’ve been a let-down game today, but the girls didn’t let up. They focused and as a result of the score I think it’s a telling tale of the offence we were able to generate so I’m happy with the game today.”
Toronto’s Natalie Provenzano of Richmond Hill, Ont., scored a hat-trick to lead Toronto to victory, while Alexandra Evanysnyn of Burlington, Ont., and Kelly Lusk of North Vancouver, B.C., had two goals apiece.
Lusk netted the first goal only two minutes into the match, setting the bar high for the rest of the game.
Much of the first half was played in the Waterloo end, however the Warriors held their own against the powerful Toronto offence early on.
In the eighth minute, Kara Moro of Port Moody, B.C., tied the affair at 1-1 with a goal from the top of the circle.
However, the Varsity Blues responded only five minutes later when Provenzano found the back of the net after a scramble in front of the cage.
As the first half wore on, the Waterloo defence began to buckle under Toronto’s pressure and in the 28th minute, Lusk netted her second of the game, swooping in for a one-time off the top of the circle, and scored a short corner goal for the Blues.
The first half ended with a 3-1 advantage for Toronto.
The second period mirrored the first half, with a greater part of the play being in the Waterloo end, as the Varsity Blues’ strong offence continued to challenge the Warriors weakening defence.
In the 44th minute, Evanysnyn scored her fourth goal of the tournament to make it 4-1. She struck again 15 minutes later after Waterloo goalie Bronwen Clayfield-Jewett made the initial save.
A minute later, Provenzano scored her third of the championship with a goal set up by Evanysnyn.
Toronto would not let up once on the Warriors and in the 68th minute, Provenzano earned the hat trick, earning her Toronto’s player-of-the-game honours.
Waterloo (0-3) will wrap up the round robin later this afternoon against the host Guelph Gryphons (0-3) at 4 p.m. The winner of the match will qualify for the bronze-medal game.
GAME NOTES: The Varsity Blues will play for CIS gold for the first time since 2007, when they captured their 10th McCrae Cup on home turf, and for the 17th time in 36 years since the inaugural CIS championship in 1975... Only UBC (12) and Victoria (11) have won more national titles...
SCORING
SUMMARY
TOR: 3-4: 7
WAT: 1-0: 1
First half
2nd, TOR, Kelley Lusk (1)
8th, WAT, Kara Moro (1)
13th, TOR, Natalie Provenzano (2)
28th, TOR, Kelley Lusk (2)
Second half
44th, TOR, Alexandra Evanysnyn (4)
57th, TOR, Alexandra Evanysnyn (5)
58th, TOR, Natalie Provenzano (3)
68th, TOR, Natalie Provenzano (4)
Goaltenders
TOR: Samantha Lyzun (W, 70:00, 1 GA, 2-0)
WAT: Bronwen Clayfield-Jewett (L, 70:00, 7 GA, 0-3)
Players of the game
TOR: Natalie Provenzano (Richmond Hill, Ont.)
WAT: Winnie Huynh (Mississauga, 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 8 of 10 games)
GP W
L
T
GF
GA PTS
1.
Toronto 4
4
0
0
15 2
12
2.
UBC
3
2
1
0
8
4 6
3.
Victoria
3
2
1
0
7
4 6
4.
Guelph
3
0
3
0
3
8 0
5. Waterloo
3
0
3
0
3 18
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 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: Toronto vs. TBD
-CIS-
