GAME 10 CIS championship: Pandas beat Blues, join UVic in final

VICTORIA (CIS) - Victoria native and all-Canadian Bunny Hughes turned a deep turnover into the game-winning goal as the No. 5-seeded Alberta Pandas earned a berth in the gold-medal final with a 2-1 win over the top-ranked and defending champion Toronto Varsity Blues, Saturday, in the 10th and final round-robin match at the 2008 CIS women's field hockey championship.

Championship web site: www.cisport.ca/e/championships/w_fieldhockey/2008

Alberta's win sets the stage for an unlikely final against the tournament host and No. 4 Victoria Vikes, with the two lowest seeds facing off for gold Sunday at 1 p.m. Pacific.

The title game will be a rematch of the 1997 final, when a 1-0 victory gave the Vikes their eighth national championship. At stake Sunday, is the Vikes 11th McCrae Cup, which would tie them with the UBC Thunderbirds for most in the CIS.

The 11-time champion T-Birds, who will play the Guelph Gryphons for the bronze medals, miss the final in back-to-back years for first time since 1996 and 1997.

With her team fighting to protect a 1-0 second-half lead, Hughes used her speed and reach to strip the ball from Blues' defender Kristen Shier. Hughes then let go a big backhand smash from five feet inside the arc which beat Toronto netminder Alice Zhao on the stick side. The goal would hold up as the winner, earning the Pandas a place in the gold medal game Sunday.

"I saw an opportunity to test her, and I took it and it just connected perfectly with my stick," said Hughes.

Toronto, the current OAU champ and defending CIS gold medalist, fought hard right to the end. CIS Player of the Year Cailie O'Hara put her team within striking distance, blasting a shot from the top of the arc off a short corner in the 65th minute. Alberta had given up goals in the final five minutes that turned a win and a tie into a tie and a loss twice already this tournament. But the return of Dilraj Bal, who had missed Alberta's morning game due to academic obligations, helped hold the fort.

The scoring opened in the 14th minute, when Rachel Sanders, from Kelowna, got her stick on a bouncing ball and knocked it between Toronto's goalie's legs. Sanders also scored Alberta's two goals in their 2-2 tie against Guelph earlier in the day, giving her three on the tournament. That ties Sanders with Guelph's Brienne Stairs for tops in the tournament.

The loss eliminates Toronto from the competition, as they finished fifth with just three points in the four games. But Blues coach John De Souza was still proud of the way his girls played.

"We fought right down to the end. We went down two early and sometimes that's the way the game goes," he said.

Alberta finished their regular season with a 3-5-1 record, good for third in the Canada West. UVic, hoping to be the third straight host to win gold, ranked second in the Canada West on the strength of a 6-4-2 record, but has struggled against Alberta. The Pandas held a 2-1-1 advantage over the Vikes in the regular season, and beat UVic 1-0 in the round robin. Alberta won its first and only CIS title in 2005, while the Vikes, last title came in 2002.

SCORING SUMMARY
ALB: 1-1: 2
TOR: 0-1: 1

First half
14th, ALB, Rachel Sanders

Second half
39th, ALB, Bunny Hughes
65th, TOR, Cailie O'Hara

Goaltenders
ALB: Tory Spencer (W, 70;00, 1 GA, 2-1-1)
TOR: Alice Zhao (L, 70:00, 2 GA, 1-1

Players of the game
ALB: Dilraj Bal (Kelowna, B.C.)
TOR: Jenna Adleman (North Vancouver, B.C.)

CHAMPIONSHIP SEEDING, STANDINGS & SCHEDULE (all times LOCAL: PACIFIC)

Pre-championship seeding
1. Toronto Varsity Blues (OUA champions)
2. UBC Thunderbirds (Canada West champions)
3. Guelph Gryphons (OUA finalists)
4. Victoria Vikes (second place Canada West)
5. Alberta Pandas (third place Canada West)

Final round-robin standings (after 10 of 10 games)

------------GP - W - L - T - GF - GA - PTS
1. Victoria 4 2 1 1 5 3 7
2. Alberta 4 2 1 1 6 5 7
3. UBC 4 2 1 1 4 3 7
4. Guelph 4 1 2 1 7 9 4
5. Toronto 4 1 3 0 5 7 3

Thursday, Oct. 30
Round-Robin 1: Toronto 1, UBC 0
Round-Robin 2: Victoria 3, Guelph 1
Round-Robin 3: UBC 2, Alberta 1
Round-Robin 4: Victoria 2, Toronto 1

Friday, Oct. 31
Round-Robin 5: UBC 2, Guelph 1
Round-Robin 6: Alberta 1, Victoria 0
Round-Robin 7: Guelph 3, Toronto 2

Saturday, Nov. 1
Round-Robin 8: Guelph 2, Alberta 2
Round-Robin 9: UBC 0, Victoria 0
Round-Robin 10: Alberta 2, Toronto 1

Sunday, Nov. 2
10:00 Bronze medal: UBC vs. Guelph
13:00 Championship final: Victoria vs. Alberta