Tension builds as two draws kick start the tournament in Charlottetown
It was a rematch of last year’s gold medal match and it did not disappoint. The opening match of this year’s 2025 University Championship featured a defensive 0-0 battle between the York University Lions and the University of Victoria Vikes.
UVic entered the tournament, rightfully, as the favourite and winner of the last five university championships. UVic finished with the best record in the Canada west, featuring another west-coast powerhouse, UBC. York qualified last year as the host. This year they won the conference, wading their way through the OUA bloodbath featuring Waterloo, U of T, and Guelph.
Both teams are stacked with talent. The Vikes have all-Canadians Maeve Connorton and Libby Hogg. Hogg also was tapped as the co-winner of the Liz Hoffman player of the year this season. They also have a depth of talent from Field Hockey Canada’s junior national team and NextGen pipeline. That combined with the coaching tandem of Krista Thompson and FHC Hall of Famer, Lynne Beecroft, UVic will always be a force to be reckoned with at this event.
The York Lions, a back-to-back qualifier for the new ‘final-four’ university championships is loaded top to bottom as well. All-Canadian Kathryn Carlow leads a veteran team featuring Elise Piper, Abby Thompson, Jewel Lew, Avery Davis and second-year goal-scoring threat Gates McAllister.
The teams traded early chances, with York securing the first penalty corner of the game. The teams were feeling each other out and playing conservative through the mid-field, avoiding exposing themselves. UVic found some juice in the second quarter and pressured hard. Back-and-forth they went with York winning the possession and chance battle in the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, UVic brought the pressure and hemmed York in for the last 10 minutes. Despite the chances at both ends, neither team were able to crack the scoreboard and the game finished in a nil-nil draw.
Lions’ captain, Abby Thompson said she’s proud of the team’s effort today and how this game will set up the rest of the event for York.
“We’ve had a great season coming into this after winning OUAs. Everyone is really stepping up and peaking at the right time,” Thompson said. She added that she believes the team is handling the quick turnaround from last weekend’s OUA championships well. “Since our season is so quick…with two games every weekend. We have that dialled.”
Photos from the day-one match up between York and UVic. Photos/Yan Huckendubler
On a beautiful, crisp afternoon in Charlottetown, the hometown PEI Panthers and the Dalhousie Tigers played to a thrilling 1-1 draw to close out the first day of action from the 2025 university championships. The powerhouse of the Atlantic, UPEI, trailed for much of the game but late heroics saved the day in a tight regional matchup.
Dalhousie came into the tournament as the second-place finisher out of the Atlantic University Field Hockey League, returning to the national tournament for the first time in over a decade. They have two all-Canadians in fourth-years Sanne Meijer vanLoendersloot, and Molly Doyle leading a veteran squad with some quality youth (Rookie of the Year nominee Sarah Viau) and a boatload of experience (seven upper classwomen).
The UPEI Panthers are led by coach of the year Lacey MacLauchlan and Atlantic conference MVP and all-Canadian Kayla Batchilder. They are coming off their fourth consecutive Atlantic title and looking to do some damage at the national tournament.
Dalhousie was looking for some redemption after dropping the Atlantic final 3-0 to UPEI. The Tigers brought the early pressure. Both teams earned some circle entries and PCs in the first half, but Dal largely carried the play. Mid way through the second quarter, Abby Henn escaped the D for a breakaway and earned a penalty stroke. Meijer vanLoendersloot made no mistake firing the stroke shot top corner to give Dal the 1-0 lead heading into the second half.
Dalhousie’s coach, Danielle Dempsey had her team looking airtight and fired up as they jumped on the Panthers again in the third quarter. But there was lots of fight left in MacLauchlan’s side as they earned several PCs in the final minutes of the third. The fourth quarter saw the day-light dimming, but the action heating up. The Panthers found their attacking confidence and put the Tigers under pressure right to the bitter end. Batchilder showed why she was the leading goal-scorer in the Atlantic this season as she finished off a broken play in tight, tying the game in the last two minutes.
The horn sounded, ending the first day of play in dramatic fashion. At the end of day one, it’s all square across the board with two draws. Tomorrow’s matchups feature UVic taking on Dalhousie and UPEI facing York. Catch all the action from the Field Hockey Canada University Championships on the CBC Sports YouTube Channel.
UPEI and Dal battle to the buzzer in a 1-1 draw in Charlottetown. Photos/Yan Huckendubler.
