Lee's hat trick leads Blues over Gaels

Fourth-year defender Alison Lee scored three goals in leading the University of Toronto Varsity Blues field hockey team to a 6-1 victory over the Queen's Gaels on Saturday afternoon (Sept. 26) at York University.

With the win, the Blues improve to 3-0 in the early goings of the season.

Lee opened the scoring off a penalty stroke in the 8th minute and veteran forward Tegan Stairs gave the Blues a 2-0 lead just over a minute later.

Veteran forward Ally Evanyshn scored in the 14th minute and 2015 Pan Am bronze medalist Amanda Woodcroft gave U of T a 4-0 advantage in the 21st minute.

The Gaels would get on the board in the 31st minute and Toronto held a 4-1 lead at halftime.

Lee added two more goals off penalty corner opportunities in the 40th and 65th minutes to round out the 6-1 victory.

The Varsity Blues return to action tomorrow (Sept. 27) as they take on the York Lions and McGill Martlets.

Source: Toronto Varsity Blues

Blues remain perfect with two big wins

The University of Toronto Varsity Blues field hockey team improve to 5-0 with two big wins over the York Lions and McGill Martlets on Sunday, September 27.

The Blues started the day with a 5-0 victory over the host York Lions.

Alison Lee opened the scoring, notching the eventual game-winner off a penalty stroke in the 16th minute. Veteran midfielder Amanda Woodcroft put the Blues up by two on a penalty corner opportunity in the 21st minute. Emma Stairs and Nicole Woodcroft then padded Toronto's lead with goals in the 32nd and 34th minutes to give Toronto the 4-0 advantage at halftime.

Lauren Sudac rounded out the victory with a goal in the 57th minute.

In the second game of the day, the Blues dominated and came out on top, 10-0, over the Martlets.

Emma Stairs got the Blues on the board in the fourth minute. From there, Nicole Woodcroft led the Blues with three goals, while Amanda Woodcroft had two and Ally Evanyshyn, Megan Johansen, Nicole Spring and Julia Costanzo all added single tallies in the victory.

Rookie goalie Sarah Fredo earned both shut outs on the day.

The Varsity Blues return to action next Saturday, October 3 as they head to London, Ont., to take on the Guelph Gryphons and Western Mustangs.

Source: Toronto Varsity Blues

Warriors earn back to back shutouts, topping Western and McGill

The Waterloo field hockey team picked up two shutout victories in Guelph today, blanking rivals Western Mustangs 1-0 followed by a 3-0 win over McGill.  The Warriors have got themselves off to a stellar start to the OUA season going 3-1-1 over five games and sit in second with nine points.

Waterloo played a complete 70 minutes taking care of business in both ends of the field in their opening match as the black and gold blanked arch rivals Western.  Rookie Logan Shewfelt (Waterloo) scored the lone goal in the 64th minute two secure the two points.
In Waterloo's second contest it was 2015 female athlete of the year Stephanie Snyder (Waterloo) who stole the show, potting three goals for the hat trick to lead her Warriors to the 3-0 win over the McGill Martlets.  Snyder now has five goals in as many games, the second most in the OUA. Snyder scored in the 7th minute to give Waterloo the 1-0 lead and added two more in the 43rd and 56th minute.  The Waterloo defence and goalkeeper Hilary Neeb (Wellesley) did the rest as she collected two more shutouts, giving her three on the young season.

The Warriors will be back in action next Saturday as they take on York for the second time this season.  The game will be played in London.

Source: Waterloo Warriors

Gryphons post shut out victory over Lions

The York University Lions field hockey team was defeated Saturday afternoon (Sept. 26) by the OUA-leading Guelph Gryphons 6-0 at York Stadium.
 
Guelph opened the scoring at the 15:37 mark of the opening half when they collapsed the Lion net and Allison Cute potted a goal for a 1-0 lead. Shortly after the Gryphons first goal, they added to their lead with a Daniela Jelec shot from distance which beat the Lion defensive wall and found the back of the net making the game 2-0 Gryphons.
 
At the midway point of the first half a Guelph forward was sprung on a partial breakaway. York goalkeeper Shanelle Fernando (Markham, Ont.) came charging out of the net but was avoided by the Gryphon attacker and with the net empty Sydney McFaul (Coquitlam, B.C.) displayed tremendous play as she sprawled out to make the save, keeping the game in reach at 2-0 at the half.
 
Two minutes into the second half the Gryphons were on the attack and managed to push the ball to the front of the Lion net, where Ciara Condon poked it past the goal line for their third goal. Guelph added two quick second half tallies after that, the fourth goal coming from Jessica Ballard at the 47:07 mark and the fifth by Chute, her second of the match that extended the Gryphon lead to 5-0.
 
In the final two minutes of the game Jelec wired her second goal to round out the scoring.
 
The next game for the Lions is Sunday (Sept. 27) when they play a pair of games at York Stadium, the first match starting at 10:45am against the undefeated Toronto Varsity Blues and the second at 4pm versus the Queen's Gaels.

Source: York Lions

Lions blank Gaels, fall to Varsity Blues

The York University Lions field hockey team split a pair of games on Sunday (Sept. 27) at York Stadium. The Lions were defeated in the morning by the Toronto Varsity Blues by a score of 5-0, but caught fire in the second game in shutting out the Queen's Gaels 4-0.
 
Against Queen's, the Lions attacked the Gaels defence and totalled four unanswered scores. York dominated the possession of the ball and it proved to pay dividends as just 11 minutes in, they marched down the field and Rachel Modestino (Oakville, Ont.) buried a rebound that was initially saved by Queen's goalkeeper Amanda Thoo.
 
York wasn't finished there, as 10 minutes later Ravneet Kalkat (Mississauga, Ont.) crashed the Gaels net and scored the second tally of the game. After the Kalkat goal the momentum was consumed by the Lions, leading to a first half that had them relentless in their pursuit to put the game out of reach.
 
The second half was the same story as the Lions offence moved the ball around and eventually broke the Gaels defence, resulting in a Michelle Per (Port Moody, Ont.) goal in the 62^nd minute. Ninety seconds later, Mikhaela Slavin (Pickering, Ont.) slid through a cluster of Gaels and found the loose ball and chipped in the fourth goal for the Lions.
 
Earlier in the day, the Lions came roaring out of the gates in the early stages of the match against the Varsity Blues. Per lifted a beautiful pass over the heads of the Blues defenders and onto the stick of Christina DeFranco (Markham, Ont.), but the Lions couldn't capitalize on the great play.
 
The Varsity Blues put the first goal on the board at the midway point of the first half when Alison Lee finished a tic-tack-toe play. The Varsity Blues seemed to be fuelled by the Lee tally as they were on the attack once again but were robbed by the right toe of York goalkeeper Shanelle Fernando (Markham, Ont.).
 
Soon after the big save by Fernando, Toronto's Amanda Woodcroft managed to stick handle through a pack of Lions and beat Fernando at the 20-minute mark to make the score 2-0. Twelve minutes after the second goal, Tegan Stairs of the Varsity Blues found the ball in a mad scramble in front of the Lion net and potted the third score.
 
The majority of the first half of the game was played on the Lions half of the field, and Toronto's Nicole Woodcroft hammered a shot by the York defence that clapped the back of the net which ended the first half of scoring at 4-0.
 
The second half showcased a more balanced attack from both the Lions and Varsity Blues and most of the action was played at mid-field. After both teams exchanged multiple attempts to push the ball down field, the Varsity Blues broke through the Lion zone and Lauren Sudac finished off the drive with the final goal of the game.
 
The Lions are now 2-3 on the season and will look to even their record on Saturday (Oct. 3) when they travel to London, Ont., to take on the Western Mustangs at 9am and the Waterloo Warriors at 2:15pm.

Source: York Lions