VICTORIA, B.C. - The University of Victoria Vikes women's field hockey team got the pre-season start they wanted with early wins over both Brown and Yale University. To open their NCAA tour the Vikes beat Brown 2-1, while the following day the team beat Yale 4-1. The Vikes will close out their pre-season tour with a game against Harvard.

The Vikes started with their match against Brown, Aug. 29, with a quick start and were led by captains and fourth-year defenders Kathleen Leahy and Annie Walters-Shumk. The Vikes held possession for the majority of the first quarter of the game and were rewarded within the first five minutes. Leahy sent second-year forward Lindsay Cole a well-paced ball up the left side of the pitched. Cole utilized her crafty one-on-one skills through a flurry of Brown defenders to calmly slip one past their goalie and lift the Vikes 1-0.

Play continued back and forth for the remainder of the half with both teams earning penalty corner chances, while neither team was able to capitalize. The second half the Vikes came out strong and earned an early penalty corner. Soon after, the Vikes scored in free play, thanks to the quick hands of Leahy, who secured the 2-0 lead with her trademark deceptive sweep. Brown responded with a quick goal catching the Vikes off-guard on a set-play but the game ended with a final score of 2-1 in favor Victoria.

The Vikes travelled to New Haven on Aug. 30 to play their second match of their pre-season tour against the Yale Bulldogs. Victoria opened the game with a long aerial deep into the Bulldogs' back, left corner. Both the Vikes and Bulldogs matched up evenly in the first half with a majority of the play happening in between the two 23-meter areas. The Vikes finally broke the deadlock on a penalty corner conversion from fourth-year defender Rosie Beale approximately mid way through the half.he Vikes held their 1-0 lead entering half time.

After regrouping during half time the Vikes continued to build and start to really maintain the majority of the possession. First-year forward Jocelyn Carleton generated a penalty stroke agfter  tough battle in front of the net, while fellow rookie Alexis De Armond confidently stepped up to the spot to roof the ball into the top left of the mesh and give the Vikes a 2-0 lead.

A dynamic passing pattern that started from the backfield made its way to Lindsay Cole on the attacking baseline. Cole collected the ball and made a smart guard pass to midfielder Jenna Dhillon, who quickly found open left midfielder Mei Lin Cheung at the top of the circle. Cheung connected perfectly with well-positioned second-year forward Delaney Booker who converted on her first goal as a Vike, giving the team a confident 3-0 lead.

The Vikes pushed on however the Bulldogs generated a short corner shortly after Vikes' third goal. The Bulldogs cut Victoria's lead to two, getting on the board and leaving the score 3-1 for the Vikes.

With 15 minutes left in the game the Vikes found the back of the net on another set piece. With a lay-off left option from the top battery to Leahy, fourth year Andrea Jones trailed into the circle to connect on a deflection and give the Vikes a comfortable 4-1 lead and eventual win. The Vikes out-shot Yale 28-9 and had nine short corners to Yale's four.  

With some new confidence, the Vikes will prepare for their last game of their pre-season tour against Harvard on Aug. 31.