GUELPH, Ont. (CIS) - Rookie forward Alexandra Evanysnyn scored two goals and fellow first-year forward Alex Thicke added one to lead the No. 3-seeded Toronto Varsity Blues to a 3-0 win over the No. 4 Victoria Vikes in the second game of the CIS women's field hockey championship, Thursday afternoon.

After a scoreless first half, Evanysnyn, a native of Burlington, Ont., who had 10 goals in 14 games during the regular season, tallied twice in a span of five minutes early in the second period (39th, 43rd) to give the OUA finalist Blues a 2-0 lead.

Thicke, a native of North Vancouver, B.C., who found the back of net 11 times in conference play, added an insurance marker in the 70th and final minute of the match.

Kathryn Williams, also of Burlington, earned the shutout in net for the Blues.

“I think her size and her reflexes benefited her today,” Toronto coach John De Souza said of Williams. “Victoria has always been good on set pieces especially penalty corners, we felt that KJ would be the better one to intimidate them.”

The first half proved to be a goaltenders battle.

Vikes goalie Kaitlyn Williams of White Rock, B.C., made some big saves with composure in the first 35 minutes, including a diving save on a wide open Toronto forward, to keep the game level.

At the other end, Toronto's Williams stopped both first shots and rebounds on several occasions.

It wasn't until the second half that the Blues offence woke up scoring three goals, two on short corners.

In the 39th minute, Toronto got going, attacking down the right side of the field before cutting inside with Evanysnyn eventually putting away the opening marker.

Minutes later, the Blues again capitalized on Evanysnyn's stick when she slotted the ball passed Williams in a penalty corner scramble.

Evanysnyn was awarded player of the game for Toronto.

Thicke scored on a last-minute penalty corner.

Victoria had few chances in the second half despite earning six penalty corners. One chance came when Vikes forward Whitney Siegmann of Kelowna, B.C., was two metres high of cutting the Toronto lead to one midway through the second half. After taking a cross circle pass and shooting, she collected her own rebound and flicked it just over the U of T net.

The rest of the Vikes' shots and cross attempts were broken up by Williams and the Blues defence.

Victoria couldn't capitalize on short corners, of which they had 11 in the 70 minutes. Toronto had just four, scoring on two of them.

“We're lucky we play on this [turf] all year round. Victoria practices on water-based and so we've done a lot of work on our penalty corners: hit outs, stick stops that kind of thing,” De Souza said regarding his team's effective penalty corners.

All-Canadian Kaelan Watson of Richmond B.C., took control of the Blues backfield, while ex-York Lion Frankie Vondrejs stayed cool and collected to navigate the ball out of the Toronto zone throughout the game.

Veteran defender Perri Espeseth of Duncan, B.C., also a CIS all-Canadian, was the centre of the Vikes defence and attack and was the player of the game for Victoria.

This is the first time Toronto has beaten Victoria at the CIS championship since 2007, when the Blues captured their 10th and last McCrae Cup.

The Blues (1-0) resume round-robin play against the defending champion UBC Thunderbirds (1-0) in Friday's first game at 10 a.m.

Victoria (0-1) will play the top-seeded and tournament host Guelph Gryphons (0-1) in the late Thursday game at 5:50 p.m. at Varsity Field.

UBC beat Guelph 2-1 in the tourney opener earlier Thursday.

GAME NOTES: Since Lynne Beecroft took over as head coach in 1984, the Vikes have won 11 CIS titles – second all-time to UBC's 12 - and have been present at the championship every year except one... The Blues have come in fifth place two years running since winning the McCrae Cup at home in 2007.

SCORING SUMMARY
TOR: 0-3: 3
VIC: 0-0: 0

First half
No Scoring

Second half
39th: TOR: Alexandra Evanysnyn (1)
43rd: TOR: Alexandra Evanysnyn (2)
70th: TOR: Alex Thicke (1)

Goaltenders
TOR: Kathryn Williams (W, 70:00, 0 GA, 1-0)
VIC: Kaitlyn Williams (L, 70:00, 3 GA, 0-1)

Players of the game
TOR: Alexandra Evanysnyn (Burlington, Ont.)
VIC: Perri Espeseth (Duncan, B.C.)

For all the info on the 2010 CIS women's field hockey championship, visit: www.cis-sic.ca <http://www.cis-sic.ca> .