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sa国际传媒 West rivals the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds and the University of Victoria Vikes will clash for national supremacy today with the McCrae Cup up for grabs at the U Sports women鈥檚 field hockey championship in Toronto.
The T-Birds will attempt to claim their sixth straight national crown after dismantling the Guelph Gryphons 5-0 in semifinal play on Saturday.
Needing just a tie against Toronto, the Vikes and Varsity Blues battled to a 0-0 result that propelled Victoria through.
It will be a tough hill to climb for coach Lynn Beecroft鈥檚 Vikes, who have lost twice and tied twice in four previous meetings with UBC this season. The T-Birds also defeated Victoria 3-2 in last year鈥檚 national championship final at UVic and are undefeated against the Vikes in their past 10 meetings on the national stage (6-0-4).
The Vikes dominated Toronto on Saturday but freshman goaltender Elizabeth O鈥橦ara was spectacular, thwarting every Vikes advance.
鈥淪he played outstanding,鈥� said Beecroft. 鈥淪he鈥檚 not big so you think you have lots of net to shoot at, but she just seems to find a way to get there, whether it鈥檚 her stick, her body or whatever. She had a great game today, for sure.鈥�
Stephanie Norlander led the T-Birds on Saturday with three of the five goals as top-seeded UBC cruised into the championship game.
Today鈥檚 final, at noon Pacific time, will be the 25th national gold-medal match for UBC. The T-Birds have won a U Sports-best 17 women鈥檚 field hockey titles.
Norlander, a fourth-year all-Canadian, leads the tournament with five goals.
In sa国际传媒 West basketball play, the Vikes women found out that if the No. 1 Regina Cougars are the measuring stick, then No. 10 UVic has some work to do.
For the second straight night, the Vikes fell behind early, this time by a 20-2 margin, before dropping a 69-53 decision to the hosts.
Charlotte Kot and Katie Polischuk led the now 2-0 Cougars with 17 and 16 points, respectively, while Jenna Bugiardini replied with a team-high 16 for the 0-2 Vikes. Marissa Dheensaw had seven rebounds for Victoria.
In men鈥檚 play, coach Craig Beaucamp鈥檚 Vikes lost 77-57 to the Cougars. Grant Sitton had 15 points for Victoria, which is now 1-1, while Brian Ofori had 17 for Regina, which is also 1-1.
At the U Sports women鈥檚 rugby championship in Victoria, the Vikes dropped a 29-20 overtime decision to Concordia in one consolation semifinal, while McMaster peppered Acadia 24-5.
The two winners advance to today鈥檚 consolation final at 11 a.m. at Wallace Field.
St. Francis Xavier faces Ottawa in today鈥檚 gold-medal game at Centennial Stadium at 3 p.m. after Guelph takes on Calgary in the bronze-medal game at 1 p.m., also at Centennial.
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