VICTORIA (CIS) – The nation's most storied women's field hockey programs opened tournament play on day two of the CIS championship, and it was perhaps fitting that the no. 2 UBC Thunderbirds and no. 3 Victoria Vikes battled to a 0-0 draw.
The two west coast rivals, who share the CIS record with 11 national championship victories apiece, went scoreless through 70 minutes in a defensive stalemate. The tie kept both teams undefeated in round-robin competition with UBC now standing at 2-0-1, and Victoria moving to 1-0-1.
"It was a tough game and they're a tough team," said Victoria's #Perri Espeseth#. "We came out strong but we just couldn't put it in the back of the net. Zero-zero is always a weird score because the game could have gone either way."
Espeseth, a two-time all-Canadian defender of Duncan, BC, was named Victoria game-MVP after another strong performance anchoring the backline. Espeseth's defensive performance was matched by UBC's fifth-year senior Samantha Smith of Vancouver, BC, who earned player of the game honours for the T-Birds.
Victoria All-Canadian netminder #Kaitlyn Williams# picked up her second straight shutout of the tournament, and ninth of the 2009 campaign. Her counterpart, Dina Bulfone of Delta, BC, recorded the shutout for UBC.
Williams endured a couple of close calls in the late stages of the game after Victoria's 2008 all-Canadian defender Katie Tittler left the game with a knee injury. UBC's all-Canadian forward Elise Milosevich twice generated quality scoring chances, but failed to produce what could have been the deciding goal.
The 0-0 draw was the same result as when the T-Birds and Vikes met in last year's round-robin match-up. It also marks the first time Victoria has taken a point from UBC in five games this season. The T-Birds swept the season series 4-0 en route to their seventh consecutive Canada West championship.
The Vikes will return to the pitch later in the day, when the top-ranked defence will be challenged with containing Guelph's (1-1) prolific offence at 4 p.m. The Gryphons scored 68 goals during the regular season and have potted six through two tournament matches, while the Vikes have yet to surrender a goal.
UBC will wrap-up their round-robin schedule on Saturday with a 12:20 p.m. game against the Toronto Varsity Blues (0-2). Toronto was victorious the last time these two teams met, scoring a 1-0 victory in the 2008 CIS tournament's opening game.
SCORING SUMMARY
Victoria: 0-0: 0
UBC: 0-0: 0
First half
No scoring
Second half
No scoring
Goaltenders
Victoria: Kaitlyn Williams (T, 70:00, 0 GA, 1-0-1)
UBC: Dina Bulfone (T, 70:00, 1 GA, 2-0-1)
Players of the game
Victoria: Perri Espeseth (Duncan, BC)
UBC: Samatha Smith (Vancouver, BC)
