The three-peat was sweet. Even more so as it took four years to accomplish with a dark pandemic 2020 season thrown into the mix.
The University of Victoria Vikes won their third consecutive U Sports women’s field hockey championship, and 14th in team history, with a shootout victory Sunday in Game 3 of the best-of-three 2021 national final against the host University of Toronto Varsity Blues.
“After no games last year, this was really joyful,” said UVic head coach Lynne Beecroft, whose club won Canada West at 7-0-1 to qualify for the national final.
“I’m super proud of the players to lose the first game on U of T’s home ground and then come back to win the next two. It was quite a ride.”
All three games were decided on penalty strokes after regulation time and overtime ended deadlocked. The deciding game was tied 2-2 with UVic outscoring Ontario-champion Toronto 3-1 in the shootout.
“That was the most stressful of my championships,” said Beecroft, a former Olympian as a player.
That’s saying something since Beecroft has been at the helm of all 14 of UVic’s national championship sides and had her team in the national tournament for an incredible 35th time with a total of 30 gold, silver and bronze medals to show for it.
UVic goalkeeper Robin Fleming of Duncan was named MVP of the national championship series.
“Robin was amazing in the final two shootouts,” said Beecroft.
The Cowichan Secondary graduate held her own in the crease.
“We put in a lot of work over the last two years to get here and we didn’t give up,” said Fleming, in a statement.
“I’m so proud of all of my teammates. They made my job easy. They made me not have to do much in the second half [Sunday]. I’m not a fan of shootouts, but I’m just so happy and proud that it all paid off.”
UVic boasts Anna Mollenhauer, projected the latest in a long line of Olympians for Canada to come out of the Vikes field hockey program on both the women’s and men’s sides. The St. Michaels University School graduate Mollenhauer appears tabbed for national team duty as soon as Paris 2024 Olympic qualifying play. Mollenhauer displayed her steeliness by playing the remainder of Game 3 with a suspected broken toe incurred in the fifth minute.
Also key to the U Sports championship run were Stefanie Sajko, out of Mount Douglas Secondary, and Nora Struchtrup, out of Oak Bay High. The Vikes trio of Mollenhauer, Sajko and Struchtrup helped Canada qualify for the 2021 junior World Cup from Dec. 15-16 in Potchefstroom, South Africa, by winning the Americas regional junior qualifier in Santiago, Chile, in September.
U SPORTS RUGBY: The versatile Sophie de Goede of Victoria did it all by scoring a try, three penalty goals and a convert to lead host Queen’s University to a 26-18 victory over the Ottawa Gee Gees in the U Sports women’s championship game Sunday in Kingston, Ont.
The Oak Bay High graduate gave up a Test match with Canada against No. 1 England on Sunday in London in order to be with Queen’s in the nationals. It was worth it as the Islander was named both U Sports MVP and national tournament MVP in making the Golden Gaels indeed golden with their first national title.
The UVic Vikes, beaten by Laval 32-26 in the bronze-medal game Sunday, won the Fair Play Award. The Vikes were missing notable players Renee Gonzalez, Gabrielle Senft and Canada West all-star and Olympian Sara Kaljuvee. The trio were with the Canadian national team for its 51-12 Test loss against England on Sunday and are now preparing to take on Wales this week in preparation for the 2022 World Cup.
