Victoria, BC – The University of Victoria and the University of British Columbia squared off for the women's field hockey Canada West Championship, Oct. 19 at Lynne "Buzz" Beecroft.
 
The game began with a quick UBC penalty corner. The attempt was blocked but turned into a point-blank scoring opportunity. Anais Chace stacked her pads and came up big to deny UBC's first key chance of the game.
 
The Vikes turned up the offensive heat and it paid off resulting in a penalty corner of their own. Libby Hogg blasted a shot on net, but Robyn Goh stood tall to turn aside the shot. Another penalty corner was awarded to the Vikes and this time Julia Boraston with the attempt. Her shot was blocked by Olivia Okano and another Vikes' opportunity off the rebound was blocked by Kenzie Girgis.
 
The Thunderbirds used the momentum of their defensive stand to create an offensive rush of their own. In the 12 minute, Kaia Cooper broke the scoreless tie as she blasted one past the Vikes' keeper to put the Thunderbirds ahead 1-0.
 
The Vikes looked to answer back with Macy Hogg breaking through T-Bird defenders, but her scoring attempt turned aside by Robyn Goh. This concluded the first quarter as the Thunderbirds held their 1-0 lead.
 
The 2^nd quarter was played mostly in the neutral zone with neither team finding any real scoring chances. Both defensive units made offensive entries difficult with timely clears. The Thunderbirds still held on to their 1-0 lead as the game headed for halftime.
 
The 3^rd quickly began with the Thunderbirds earning a penalty corner. Off the corner, Kenzie Girgis sent a shot on net. Anais Chace made big pad save but Sydney Le was there to bury the T-Birds' second of the game.
 
The quarter ended after the Thunderbirds' defence stood strong against a flury of Vikes' shots. The key shot came off the stick of Vikes' captain Libby Hogg, but her attempt was turned aside by the T-Birds' defenders.
 
The Vikes began to rally in the 4^th as back-to-back penalty corners led to their best offensive opportunities of the game. Both chances were denied by Thunderbirds' keeper Pascale Pottier as she made two diving saves to keep the Vikes scoreless.
 
The Vikes broke through in the 50^th minute as Libby Hogg blasted a shot off of a penalty corner. Her shot was redirected by Brontë Thurbide past the Thunderbirds' keeper. The goal narrowed the UBC lead to 2-1 with ten minutes left to play.
 
The Vikes refused to quit. With the goalie pulled the Vikes were awarded another penalty corner. The ball was passed to Libby Hogg who directed a shot towards net. The shot was initially saved and caused a scramble in front of the Thunderbirds' net. With all the bodies in front of the net, Amanda Adams was able to find the ball and put it in the back of the net and brought the game to a 2-2 tie.
 
While the shootout result had no impact on the winner of the game, a tie forced a bonus shootout. The shootout went 3-1 in favour of UBC as Mikayla Stelling, Kenzie Girgis, and Laurien Bruijning found the back of the net on their attempts. The lone Vikes' shootout goal was scored Molly Harris.
 
Due to tiebreakers, the tie was all Victoria needed, and the Vikes were crowned Canada West Champions.
 
From the field:
"I think today, they just grinded it out and left everything on the pitch," said Vikes head coach Krista Thompson on her team's effort. "UBC is a team with a lot of talent, individually and collectively. I think our strength lies in the group, and today was a collective team effort and everybody showed up. I couldn't be more proud of their fight."

The next action will come at the Women's Field Hockey at Field Hockey Canada University National Championship in Charlottetown, P.E.I, Oct. 31 – Nov. 2.