VICTORIA, B.C. – It all comes down to this weekend as the University of Victoria Vikes women's field hockey team has a chance to defend their 2013 Canada West conference win. The three-time defending UBC Thunderbirds will be in town for the ultimate field hockey double-header right in the middle of B.C.'s oldest and most prestigious high school field hockey tournament, the Bridgman Cup.
 
The Vikes and T-Birds will go head-to-head for two games, Oct. 11-12, in Victoria with the Canada West title and the CIS national championship top seed on the line. Both teams have already secured spots at this year's championship, hosted in Toronto, Ont. from Oct. 30 - Nov. 2. The Vikes sit in first with a 4-0-2 record, while the T-Birds, with two games in hand, are 2-0-2, still with a pair of games to play against the winless and scoreless Calgary Dinos.

Victoria and UBC played to two 1-1 draws earlier in the season, making this weekend a highly anticipated preview of what may come on the final day at the CIS championship.
 
Third-year Vikes forward Amanda Kurianowicz was named Canada West 1^st Star of the Week for the week ending Oct. 5 for her four-goal performance over Calgary. The Vikes swept the Dinos with two 3-0 victories. Kurianowicz's four goals puts her at the top of the conferences statistics list with five goals, ahead of UBC Thunderbirds midfielder Hannah Haughn who has three.
 
Vikes keepers Larissa Piva (South Kamloops Secondary) and Sheriden Goodmanson (Lambrick Park Secondary) each have two shutouts to their name, while the Vikes have relied heavily on their class of eight third-year players. Defenders and Claremont graduates Rosie Beale and Annie Walters-Shumka have been strong in anchoring the back line, while Crofton House's Andrea Jones has been pivotal in the center of the pitch. Team Canada member and Oak Bay graduate Kathleen Leahy provides consistency in the midfield both in defence and offensive distribution.
 
Rookies Lindsay Cole (Mount Douglas), Jenna Dhillon (St. Michael's Univeristy School) and Kristina Walters-Shumka (Claremont Secondary) have had no issues with being slotted in where needed as Cole already has two goals to her name and Kristina Walters-Shumka has logged considerable minutes throughout the season.
 
Lone fifth-year Alexis Veljacic (Gleneagle Secodnary) will celebrate her last two games on home turf before competing in her last national championship, an opportunity for the Vikes to win the program's 12^th title.
 
As for the mighty Thunderbirds, who lost nearly an entire starting line up of national team players, they will rely heavily on too small but dangerous players. Five-foot-one midfielder Haughn (Handsworth Secondary) is a former CIS Rookie of the Year, two-time CIS All-Canadian and championship MVP and is only in her third year of play. Five-foot-two defender Rachel Donohoe (Argyle Secondary) was last year's Canada West MVP and a CIS All-Canadian. In addition, midfielder Poonam Sandhu (John Oliver Secondary), keeper Lauren Logush (Villanova College), Haughn and Donohoe have all been active member's of Canada's senior national team that has had a busy summer preparing and competing in the Commonwealth Games.
 
The Thunderbirds are also under the guidance of a new head coach, Robin D'Abreo, who has spent time coaching both Canada's senior men's and women's teams. D'Abreo is not stranger from the game, amassing 237 caps with Canada's men's national team and competing in the 2000 Olympics and three Commonwealth Games.
 
Vikes head coach Lynne Beecroft, a former Olympian herself, is riding the wave of her 31^st season, where she hopes to get the Victoria program back on the CIS map. The Vikes last won a national championship in 2008, in Victoria, bringing their total to 11 banners, where they were tied with UBC. Since then, the T-Birds have earned three-straight titles to help bring their CIS record-holding total to 15.
 
Results from this weekend's games could determine the outcome of the Canada West standings, regardless of next week's 'Birds and Dinos double header. UBC will play Victoria at 11 a.m. on both Oct. 11 and 12.
 
Notes: The Bridgman Cup, which hosts a wide range of the top AA and AAA high school girls teams, will take place from Oct. 10-12, breaking for the Vikes and T-Birds games. Nearly all the members of the UBC and Victoria squads have, at some point, participated in the Bridgman Cup, won last year by Cowichan High. The tournament began in 1937.