As the University of Victoria Vikes jubilantly lifted aloft the U Sports women’s field-hockey championship trophy, one of the players shouted: “Don’t drop it.”
Little chance of that, as the Vikes won their fourth consecutive national championship and 15th overall in head coach Lynne Beecroft’s lauded 39-year career.
The sa国际传媒 West-champion Vikes defeated the Ontario-champion York University Lions 2-1 Saturday afternoon on the UVic turf field, which was ringed by fans, to sweep the best-of-three U Sports national final series 2-0. The Vikes won the first game 2-0 on Friday.
“This never gets old,” said Beecroft, the former Vikes player and Olympian, who is retiring after nearly four decades on the UVic bench.
“This one was special, knowing it’s the last time.”
The Vikes’ standout attacking defender Anna Mollenhauer stretches the field like few in the sport.
She went from representing sa国际传媒 at the World Cup in Spain and Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England, over the summer — with the qualifiers for the 2024 Paris Olympics looming — to closing out her five-season U Sports career with her fourth national title while being named finals MVP.
“This one is special, and one I will remember for sure, because it was on home turf and my last game as a Vike,” said Mollenhauer, the first performer to be named U Sports player of the year three times in her career.
“We play with our hearts. We never refer to ourselves as a team but as a family. I feel I have won this with 19 sisters.”
Mollenhauer, who also tallied Friday, scored one of UVic’s goals, with Cara Butler getting the other on Saturday. Lexi Hannah replied for York. Judy Cristante was named player of the game for UVic and Frances St. Louis for York.
Beecroft, meanwhile, reflected on the full-circle nature of her coaching journey. Beecroft and Nancy Mollenhauer [nee Charlton], who is Anna Mollenhauer’s mother, had just returned from placing fifth with sa国际传媒 in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
Beecroft had graduated from the Vikes and Charlton was entering her fifth season at UVic and suggested Beecroft stay with the program as a coach. The rest is Vikes, and U Sports, dynastic sporting history.
“I had never coached before. So I came into coaching because of a Mollenhauer and I go out with a Mollenhauer,” said Beecroft.
