Photo credit David Moll, Calgary

CALGARY (CIS) – The University of Calgary Dinos moved one step closer to their first-ever appearance in the national final thanks to a convincing 3-0 win over the Toronto Varsity Blues in the seventh preliminary round match of the FHC-CIS women’s field hockey championship at Hawkings Field, Friday evening.

After the second of three days of round-robin competition, Calgary sits in second place in the standings with a 2-1 record, behind UBC (3-0) but ahead of Guelph (1-2), Toronto (1-2) and Alberta (1-2).

The tournament host Dinos, making their first CIS championship appearance since 1997, wrap up the preliminary round Saturday at 10 a.m. Mountain against Alberta. Their best result in five previous trips to the nationals remains a pair of fourth-place finishes in 1982 and 1987.

Meanwhile, the Varsity Blues, crowned for the 11th time in program history a year ago and seeded first prior to this week’s tourney, need help to advance to Sunday’s final and get the chance to defend the McCrae Cup. Toronto closes out round-robin play Saturday at 4 p.m., also against Alberta.

Goals early in each half proved to be the difference between the Dinos and Blues on Friday night.

Three minutes into the match, Keara Chiquen notched her second of the tournament to give host Calgary an early 1-0 lead.

“It’s a big part of what we do tactically is try to score in the first five minutes,” said fifth-year Dinos head coach Jenn Swagar. “It sets the tone for us and we gain energy from it, and just build off of that.”

After a first half that saw both teams go back-and-fourth, Calgary started the second period in a very similar fashion to the first, as Michelle Roydhouse found the back of the net just a minute in.

The hometown crowd didn’t have to wait much longer to celebrate again. Six minutes after Roydhouse’s marker, Kaitlyn Longworth tallied her third goal of the championship off a penalty stroke, all but sealing the win for the third-seeded Dinos.

Despite the deficit on the scoreboard, it was the Blues who held the majority of the play in the Calgary end in the second half. Toronto had numerous penalty corners but was unable to get anything past goalkeeper Steph Petrowitsch, who was named the Dinos player of the game for her efforts.

“Steph [Petrowitsch] played the best game she’s played all season,” said Swagar. “She played a fantastic game and without her it would have been a different score.”

SCORING SUMMARY

CGY 1-2: 3
TOR 0-0: 0

First half
CGY: Keara Chiquen (2), 3rd

Second half
CGY: Michelle Roydhouse (1), 36th
CGY: Kaitlyn Longworth (3), 42nd

Goaltenders
CGY: Steph Petrowitsch (W, 70:00, 0 GA, 2-1)
TOR: Kathryn Williams (L, 70:00, 3 GA, 1-2)

Players of the game
CGY: Steph Petrowitsch
TOR: Francesca Vondrejs

PRE-CHAMPIONSHIP SEEDING

1. Toronto (OUA champions)
2. UBC (Canada West champions)
3. Calgary (Canada West second place)
4. Guelph (OUA finalists)
5. Alberta (Canada West third place)

STANDINGS, SCHEDULE & RESULTS (All times local: Mountain Time)

Round-robin standings (after 7 of 10 games)

GP W L T GF GA PTS
1. UBC 3 3 0 0 8 3 9
2. Calgary 3 2 1 0 8 6 6
3. Guelph 3 1 2 0 6 7 3
4. Toronto 3 1 2 0 3 6 3
5. Alberta 2 0 2 0 2 5 0

NOTE: 3 points for a win and 1 point for a tie.

Thursday, Nov. 3
9:30 Round-Robin Game 1: UBC 2 Toronto 1
11:50 Round-Robin Game 2: Calgary 3 Guelph 2
15:30 Round-Robin Game 3: UBC 2 Alberta 0
17:50 Round-Robin Game 4: Toronto 2 Guelph 1

Friday, Nov. 4
12:00 Round-Robin Game 5: UBC 4 Calgary 2
14:20 Round-Robin Game 6: Guelph 3 Alberta 2
18:00 Round-Robin Game 7: Calgary 3 Toronto 0

Saturday, Nov. 5
10:00 Round-Robin Game 8: Calgary vs. Alberta
12:20 Round-Robin Game 9: UBC vs. Guelph
16:00 Round-Robin Game 10: Toronto vs. Alberta
17:30 Tie-Breaking Strokes (if necessary)

Sunday, Nov. 6
10:00 Bronze medal
13:00 Championship final: UBC vs. TBD

-CIS-