Blues edge Vikes, set for gold-medal match at 40th CIS – FHC women’s field hockey championship

TORONTO (CIS) – The host University of Toronto Varsity Blues kept their perfect season alive with a narrow 1-0 victory over the Victoria Vikes on Day 3 of the 40th CIS-FHC field hockey championship at Back Campus Fields.

The Blues, who had already booked a spot in their 18th national final in program history, are 17-0-0 heading into tomorrow's gold medal match at 3 p.m.

They, along with Victoria, await the results of the last preliminary game between the UBC Thunderbirds and Guelph Gryphons. It will come down to goal differential should UBC win. If the T-Birds win by four goals, it would put them ahead of the Vikes in the standings for the remaining spot in the championship final.

Toronto and Victoria appeared in the first-ever national championship final, with the Blues claiming the title with a 1-0 victory.

Second-year Blues forward Nicole Spring of Oakville, Ont., scored the lone goal of the game in the 40th minute off a rebound in front of the Vikes net.

"We tried to implement a new system up front and I think we will be better at it tomorrow," said Varsity Blues head coach John DeSouza. "The girls gutted it out. We possessed the ball and created more scoring chances than them. It's always tough in a situation like this. As a coach you come in and tell them we want to play as best as we can but they're already looking forward to tomorrow."

The Vikes looked as if they had evened the score in the final minutes of the match, but the ball went off the foot of a Victoria player and was called back.

"I think that was one of our better team games," said Vikes head coach Lynne Beecroft, in her 31st season as bench boss. "I think there was really good communication and helping each other. If we do things collectively, great things can happen and I think we did things collectively today. We were unfortunate not to get the goal to tie it but it was a credit to us with the quick turnaround from playing last night. It was a pretty good game."

Source: CIS