Megan Duffy scored on a penalty stroke in the 64th minute to put the fifth-seeded Western Mustangs in medal contention with a 2-1 upset win over the No. 3 Guelph Gryphons in the eighth preliminary round match of the FHC-CIS women's field hockey championship, Saturday morning at Varsity Centre.
With the game deadlocked 1-1, an intentional foul by Guelph in their circle set up a Duffy penalty stroke. The Ilderton, Ont., native made no mistake, firing the ball into the bottom right corner for the game-winner.
The Mustangs (2-1-0) wrap up their preliminary schedule this afternoon versus the top-seeded UBC Thunderbirds (2-0-1) at 4 p.m. Despite that result, Western will contend for their first medal on the national stage, having finished sixth in their only other appearance in 2003. A win, however, would advance Western to their first McCrae Cup final in program history.
The Gryphons end the round robin with a 2-2-0 record and awaits the results of the final two games to determine their fate. A Western and Toronto loss this afternoon would book Guelph's ticket to the final, otherwise, the squad would look to repeat as CIS bronze medalists.
The McCrae Cup final is set for Sunday at 1 p.m., with the bronze medal game scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. Both games will be streamed live on cis-sic.tv.
"The game was well played on both sides and our girls did the simple things right," said Western head coach Jeff Pacheco. "I can't say enough about what the girls are doing right now. They are sticking to the game plan and playing confident hockey while having a lot of fun too."
The Mustangs opened the scoring on their fourth penalty corner opportunity when the ball came to rookie midfielder Anna Bukta at the side of the net. The London, Ont., native made no mistake finding the back of the net to give Western a 1-0 lead in the 13
th minute.
Guelph evened the score on a penalty corner of their own in the 25th minute with a goal from Greenfield Park, Que., native
Allison Chute, the 2012 OUA rookie of the year.
Both teams exchanged opportunities in the second half. Gryphons goaltender
Kaye McLagan of Mitchell, Ont., came up with a big save on Duffy in the 46th minute off a penalty corner. CIS player of the year
Brittany Seidler drove the Gryphons into the circle on numerous occasions but the Mustangs defenders denied everything that came their way.
Duffy proved to be the hero with her marker in the 64
th minute, and earned player of the game honours for her efforts.
"Western came out hard," commented Gryphons head coach
Michelle Turley. "We've got to give credit where credit's due. They played very well. We didn't have our best game today."
SCORING SUMMARY
WES: 1-1: 2
GUE: 1-0: 1
First half
WES Anna Bukta (1), 13
th
GUE
Allison Chute (4), 25
th
Second half
WES Megan Duffy (1), 63
rd minute
Goaltenders
WES: Bethan Blackburn (W, 70:00, 1 GA, 2-1-0)
GUE:
Kaye McLagan (L, 70:00, 2 GA, 2-2-0)
Players of the game
WES: Megan Duffy (Ilderton, Ont.)
GUE:
Daniela Jelec (Mississauga, Ont.)
PRE-CHAMPIONSHIP SEEDING
1. UBC (Canada West champions)
2. Toronto (OUA champions)
3. Guelph (OUA finalists)
4. Victoria (Canada West second place)
5. Western (OUA bronze medallists)
STANDINGS, SCHEDULE & RESULTS
Round-robin standings (after 8 of 10 games)
GP W L T GF GA PTS
1. UBC 3 2 0 1 10 1 7
2. Guelph 4 2 2 0 9 9 6
3. Western 3 2 1 0 5 8 6
4. Toronto 3 1 1 1 9 4 4
5. Victoria 3 0 3 0 1 12 0
NOTE: 3 points for a win and 1 point for a tie.
Thursday, Nov. 1
9:30 Game 1: UBC 1 Toronto 1
11:50 Game 2: Guelph 5 Victoria 0
15:30 Game 3: Toronto 6 Western 0
17:50 Game 4: UBC 4 vs. Victoria 0
Friday, Nov. 2
10:00 Game 5: Guelph 3 Toronto 2
12:20 Game 6: Western 3 Victoria 1
16:00 Game 7: UBC 5 Guelph 0
Saturday, Nov. 3
10:00 Game 8: Western 2 Guelph 1
12:20 Game 9: Toronto vs. Victoria
(CIS-SIC.tv webcast)
16:00 Game 10: UBC vs. Western
(CIS-SIC.tv webcast)
17:30 Tie-Breaking Strokes (if necessary)
Sunday, Nov. 4
10:00 Bronze medal
(CIS-SIC.tv webcast)
13:00 Championship final
(CIS-SIC.tv webcast)
