Defending champion Varsity Blues ready to host OUA Field Hockey Championship

BURLINGTON, Ont. – The University of Toronto Varsity Blues would like nothing more than to defend their title at home as they prepare to host the OUA Field Hockey Championship, October 30-31, at Back Campus Fields.

Standing in their way this weekend will be the Waterloo Warriors, York Lions, and the four-time champion Guelph Gryphons.

This year, the Gryphons and Varsity Blues finished the regular season with identical 11-1 records, however, Guelph will enter the Final Four as the No. 1 seed as a result of their point differential in head-to-head competition. 

On Sept. 20, in a rematch of last season's gold medal match, the Varsity Blues defeated their rivals from Guelph 5-2.  But it was the Gryphons who would get the last laugh, as later in the year they pounded nine goals past the Blues in a 9-5 victory, the most Toronto has surrendered in program history.  The ninth marker would be especially heartbreaking for Toronto as it proved to be the extra goal Guelph needed to claim the tiebreaker.

The Gryphons enter the championship looking to avenge last season's loss to the Blues in the final and appear poised to have the firepower to do it.  Led by OUA Coach of the Year Michelle Turley, Guelph averaged 5.5 goals a game but it is their strong defence that has them in a position to take a run at the championship.  The Gryphons finished the year with a 0.91 goals against average and beyond the 10 goals they surrendered in their two games with Toronto, they only allowed two more the rest of the season.

A pair of former OUA Rookie of the Year award winners, forward Allison Chute (Greenfield Park, Que) and Olivia Lane (Guelph, Ont.), pace the Gryphons offence, combining for 34 of Guelph's 66 goals this season.  Add to the mix the strong stick skills and playmaking abilities of Erin Houle (Burlington, Ont.), Guelph looks primed to take a run at their fifth title in program history.

Standing in their way, as they have done in eight of the past 10 OUA finals, will be the host Varsity Blues.

The Blues led the conference in goals this season with 75 in just 12 games and possess a dangerous lineup that will make opponents pay for any defensive lapse.

Forward Tegan Stairs (Kitchener, Ont.) scored 13 goals in 10 games this season for Toronto on her way to being named OUA MVP.  Stairs becomes the second Toronto player to win the award in the past two seasons, as her teammate Amanda Woodcroft (Waterloo, Ont.) took home the hardware last season.  Woodcroft, who last season became the first Varsity Blues player since 2008 to win the MVP award, appeared in all 12 games this season for Toronto and tied for second on the team with 11 goals.

To say that the Varsity Blues have a balanced attack would be a complete understatement, as 13 players on the roster found the back of the net this season.  Of those 13, seven Blues scored more than 5 times.  Forward Anna McNeil (Sutton, Ont.) made the most of her time on the field, scoring 6 goals in just 6 games.

Toronto has claimed an OUA-leading 30 provincial titles since 1971 and is looking for their second consecutive banner and fourth in the past five years.

The York Lions went 5-5-2 during the regular season and will head to the Final Four in Toronto, Ont. this weekend as the No. 3 seed.  The Lions proved this season that they can play teams close as six of their 12 games were decided by less than two goals, while two more ended in a tie.

York will look to Michelle Per (Port Moody, B.C) to kick start the offence this weekend, as the second-year administrative studies major, scored five goals in 12 games to lead the Lions.  Earlier this season in a weekend series with Western and Waterloo, Per scored the team's only two goals to lead the Lions to a pair of slim 1-0 victories.   She was named OUA Athlete of the Week for her efforts.

If the Lions hope to pull off an upset this weekend, they will need a pair of midfielders, Mikhaela Slavin (Pickering, Ont.) and Rebecca Titus (Scarborough, Ont.) to continue their strong defensive play.  York only allowed 17 goals in 12 games this season, with 11 of those coming in a pair of difficult games against Toronto and Guelph.

The Lions will take on the host Blues in the second semifinal on Friday afternoon at 2:00 pm.

If the Waterloo Warriors can pull of a semifinal upset of the Gryphons, expect to see a statue of Stephanie Snyder (Waterloo, Ont.) to be built overlooking Warrior Field.  Snyder, a three-time OUA all-star, scored a remarkable 12 of the Warriors' 14 goals this season and has scored every goal for Waterloo since Sept. 26.  Waterloo finished the season with a 5-6-1 record and enters the Final Four ranked fourth.

The Warriors will also look to OUA Goalie of the Year, Hilary Neeb (Wellesley, Ont.) to try and keep the games close for Waterloo.  Despite receiving just 1.2 goals-per game of support, the fourth-year English/history major kept the Warriors in almost every game she played in, as seven of their 12 games this year were decided by two or less goals.

Waterloo will need to find a way to try and slow down the Gryphon attack as in their only meeting this season, Guelph beat Waterloo 8-1 in a game where the dynamic duo of Chute and Lane scored seven of the Gryphons eight goals.  Snyder had the lone marker in the contest for the Warriors.

The Gryphons and Warriors will kick off the championship on Friday at noon.

The winners of both semifinals will meet up on Saturday at 2:00pm in the championship final, with both teams also advancing to the 2015 CIS Championship, Nov. 5-8 at the University of Victory.

Advance tickets to the OUA Field Hockey Championship are now on sale here. 

If you can't make it to the University of Toronto Back Campus Fields, fans can catch all the action live Friday and Saturday on OUA.tv.