Club and country can be well served all at the same place.
National team coach Ian Rutledge gave Kathleen Leahy a well-earned pat on the shoulders Thursday night as he presented the University of Victoria Vikes field-hockey star with the player-of-the-game award.
It was only appropriate because Rutledge may be relying on Leahy on the road to the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics after sa国际传媒 failed to qualify for Rio 2016.
There were both team and personal ambitions on the line Thursday as the CIS championship opened under the watchful gaze of Rutledge.
Leahy, of the top-ranked Vikes, gave Rutledge plenty to think about with a hat trick as host UVic got off to a quick start in the round robin with a 4-1 victory over the second-ranked University of Toronto Varsity Blues.
The fourth-ranked Guelph Gryphons defeated the four-time defending national champion and third-ranked UBC Thunderbirds 2-1 on a winning goal by Moon Weijens with 10 minutes remaining in the other opener.
鈥淲e have cohesiveness and are well balanced . . . it鈥檚 not all about one player,鈥� said Leahy, of the undefeated sa国际传媒 West champion Vikes.
鈥淢ost of our players are in their fourth or fifth season, so we have an experienced group.鈥�
Fellow fourth-year UVic player Rosie Beale said the commitment runs deep: 鈥淲e are more like a family than a team. We play for each other.鈥�
At the championship banquet on Wednesday, Leahy was named winner of the CIS Gail Wilson Award for outstanding service to the sport on and off the turf. She helps coach her alma mater Oak Bay High, and in the Victoria Junior League, and is also a mentor in Special Olympics.
鈥淔ield hockey showed me who I am and shaped me as a person . . . so I want to give back to the sport,鈥� said Leahy.
The 2015 CIS national championship features eight players who have a combined 98 caps. That list includes Leahy and Beale of UVic and 2015 Pan Am Games bronze-medallists Hannah Haughn of UBC and Amanda Woodcroft of Toronto.
鈥淲e鈥檙e a young group of players in the national team program, with about half still playing at school in the CIS or NCAA, and that鈥檚 amazing because there鈥檚 still a lot of learning going on,鈥� said Leahy.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 a huge credit to this young group [internationally] as we begin a new cycle looking toward doing well at events like the World Cup, World League, 2018 Commonwealth Games [in Gold Coast, Australia], 2019 Pan Am Games [in Lima, Peru] with the ultimate goal being Tokyo 2020.鈥�
UVic coach Lynne Beecroft鈥檚 quest for her 12th CIS national title, in 32 years at the Vikes helm, continues today with an all-sa国际传媒 West clash between UVic and UBC at 4 p.m. followed by an all-Ontario derby between Toronto and Guelph at 6:30 p.m. The round-robin portion concludes Saturday with the Vikes playing the Gryphons at 12:30 p.m. and the Thunderbirds meeting the Varsity Blues at 3 p.m. The top two teams advance to the gold-medal final Sunday at 3 p.m. while the bottom-two teams play for the bronze medal at 12:30 p.m.
CIS RUGBY: The fifth-seed and Quebec-champion Concordia Stingers defeated the sa国际传媒 West-champion and fourth-ranked UVic Vikes 34-12 in the women鈥檚 national quarter-finals Thursday in Kingston, Ont. The youthful Vikes, making their first CIS tournament appearance in a decade since hosting in 2005, are relegated to the consolation round. But with loads of potential for the future. 鈥淭his is just the beginning for this team. We are a very young team and return seven or eight starters,鈥� said rookie Vikes head coach Brittany Waters, in a statement.
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