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It was by the skin of their teeth, but the University of Victoria Vikes will have an opportunity to accomplish what they achieved back in 2008 鈥� win a national field hockey title at home.
Stefanie Langkammer鈥檚 goal, with just over nine minutes left, gave coach Lynne Beecroft鈥檚 women鈥檚 team a much-needed 1-1 draw with the Guelph Gryphons on a wet and cool Saturday afternoon at UVic.
The two teams finish with identical 1-1-1 records through the round-robin portion of the CIS event, but the Vikes benefited from their opening 4-1 win over Toronto that helped toward the goal-differential in the tie-breaking formula.
Victoria will play the four-time defending champion UBC Thunderbirds in today鈥檚 3 p.m. championship game after they tied the Toronto Varsity Blues 2-2 on Sophie Jones鈥檚 goal in the dying seconds. Both those teams also finished with 1-1-1 records, but the T-Birds advance on the tie-breaker.
Jones鈥檚 goal was as big as Langkammer鈥檚 effort for the home side. 鈥淭hat was huge,鈥� said a relieved Beecroft, who was hanging on every scoring opportunity until that point.
鈥淚f I could go out there and put the ball in the net myself, I would have,鈥� she added with a chuckle.
鈥淚鈥檓 really pleased. We played 70 good minutes of hockey. We were on our heels in the first three minutes and got scored on, but that was it
鈥淔or the most part, we kept our composure.
鈥淲e had the ball in their end, for most of the second half, anyway.鈥�
Now, Beecroft has a chance to do what her team did back in 2008, the last time Victoria claimed a women鈥檚 CIS field hockey title.
鈥淚t will be a good game and it will be tough,鈥� she said.
鈥淲e had a group of kids [in 2008] that really came together in their four or five years. Ali Lee [now UVic鈥檚 communications officer] was our only fifth-year player and very much a catalyst of our win. Everybody contributed and that鈥檚 the way this team is. It鈥檚 not a one-person show. We have to rely on everybody.鈥�
The Vikes celebrated the tie, but know the job is not done yet.
鈥淚 looked up at the 10-minute mark [remaining] and my heart was going like: 鈥楥ome on girls, come on, we have to get this,鈥� 鈥� said Vikes goalkeeper Larissa Piva.
鈥淚t would be unreal if we could win this at home, with all of our parents and family here. It would mean the world to us.鈥�
It looked bleak heading into those final 10 minutes. The rain finally let up, but the Vikes attack plodded on and finally cashed in.
Moon Weijens had opened the scoring off a Guelph penalty corner in the fourth minute of the game and they tried to hang on for dear life, to no avail.
鈥淲e played our hearts out and I am so proud of our girls,鈥� said Guelph head coach Michelle Turley. 鈥淲e gave it everything we had. It鈥檚 hard going against a team with home-team advantage. There were tons of fans and we did a good job of blocking out the crowd.鈥�
Guelph will face Toronto for bronze at 12:30 p.m. today.
Victoria will be in search of its 12th McCrae Cup crown while UBC chases its record 17th.
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