Game on

The Dal Tigers women's field hockey team won the AUS championships and placed fifth at the Ontario University Athletics championship. (Nick Pearce Photo)

The Dalhousie Tigers women’s field hockey team had quite a Cinderella season.

With a 2-1 victory over the York Lions on October 20 in Toronto, the Tigers secured fifth place at the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) Championship. Add to that, the Atlantic University Field Hockey League Championship they won October 17 in Prince Edward Island and you get the best finish for the team in nearly 30 years. 

Tigers head coach Linda Bonin, who has been with the team for a decade, couldn’t be more thrilled with how the team played.

“Everyone was pretty nervous heading up to Ontario; we knew that the competition would be intense and that we’d have to step up our game in order to beat some of those Ontario university teams.”

The Tigers lost their first match at the OUA tournament on Friday afternoon to the Waterloo Warriors 0-3 but Coach Bonin says the score didn’t necessary represent how the team played. “The game was actually a lot closer than the score indicates. We were right there with them but unfortunately we didn’t get the bounces we needed. One stroke hit the post and we had a near goal on an open net as well. I guess luck just wasn’t on our side.” Second year Dalhousie student Alex Turiff from Vancouver, B.C. was named as the Tiger’s all-star for the game.

All-star players

The loss to Waterloo set up a game the following day against York, who had also lost their first game of the tournament.

Ms. Turriff was again a force for the Tigers, scoring twice in the first half. Despite some bouts of sustained pressure, the Lions were unable to respond before halftime when Shannon Vance scored in the 66th minute. Coach Bonin credits the team’s strong defensive play, coupled with a great offensive effort and a lot of heart for the win. Jessie Janes was awarded the game’s all-star for Dalhousie.

Ms. Janes, a third-year kinesiology student and native of Halifax, was also named a Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) second team all-Canadian on November 3, at the CIS all-Canadian awards banquet in Guelph, Ont.

A team captain for the Tigers, Coach Bonin describes Ms. Janes as a strong leader and great role model for her teammates, adding she played a huge part in pulling this year’s rookie-heavy team together and motivating them to work hard, both on and off the field. She scored a team-leading seven goals this season, the second highest scorer in the Atlantic University Field Hockey League. She was an Atlantic University Sport all-star this season as well as last, with the versatility to play either forward or defense at any given time.  

This is the second all-Canadian win for the Dalhousie women’s field hockey team in as many years; Alex Turriff was a second team all-Canadian for the 2009-10 season.