Two goals each from Cilia van Nierop and Rosie Beale helped the University of Victoria Vikes secure their passage to the CIS national women’s field hockey championships with a 6-0 win at home over the University of Calgary on Saturday.
Lindsay Cole and Emily Wong also scored for the Vikes who clinched second place in the Canada West, behind the UBC Thunderbirds. Both teams qualify for nationals at the University of Toronto from Nov. 3 to 6. It will be the Vikes’ 12th straight trip to the CIS finals.
Larissa Piva earned the shutout in goal for Victoria.
“We played a little bit rattled in the first few minutes, but after that I think that we played well,” said Vikes head coach Lynne Beecroft.
“For the first 10 or 15 minutes, I thought we played really well, then the Vikes came back and picked up the speed,” said Peter Taylor, head coach of the Dinos. “It was a good game for us, the score doesn’t actually justify how well we played.”
The win may have been a costly one, however, as fifth-year Vike Kathleen Leahy left the game due to injury.
“There are some positives and some negatives from the game today, with possibly losing Kathleen due to injury. The other kids stepped it up a notch though,” Beecroft said.
The Vikes and Calgary will be back in action today at 11 a.m. at UVic.
