The UPEI Panthers edged the UNB Red Sticks 1-0 to win the Maritime Field Hockey League championship Sunday on the university’s turf field.
League MVP Mikaela Ellis scored the lone goal just over five minutes into the second half. Freshman keeper Bethany Nicholson earned the shutout.
“It was a really great passing play up the right side,” said Ellis in describing her goal. “I came through the middle and they passed it to me and I managed to get it in.”
UPEI started play Sunday with a 1-0 semifinal win over Saint Mary’s on a goal in the second half by league all-star Carolyn MacLeod. Katie Lezeu had the shutout.
In the other semifinal game, Maggie Yeamans had two goals as UNB defeated Dalhousie 2-1.
UPEI rookie head coach Sheila Bell said the Panthers and Huskies were well-matched with all league games ending in scoreless ties.
“We had played SMU very well all year, but we had trouble putting the ball in the net. We knew we could control the ball and give them a good game, but we needed to push on the offensive end and score,” she said. “It was a total team effort — the girls were very prepared and they really executed very well and worked very hard as a group. And they ended up getting that one goal, and sometimes in field hockey that one goal is enough.”
UPEI now advances to the OUS Field Hockey championship later this month in London, hosted by the University of Western Ontario.
However, their place in that tournament was actually secured before they even played in the gold-medal game. Of the six Maritime teams, only UPEI, St. Mary’s and Dalhousie were eligible to advance any farther in Canadian Interuniversity Sport action. Following the semifinals, UPEI was the only CIS-eligible team remaining.
In the bronze medal game, SMU defeated Dalhousie 2-1 on penalty strokes.
Saint Mary’s, the defending league champs, had entered the weekend of play as the top seed with UPEI seeded No. 2 and Dalhousie ranked No. 3. However, Ellis said the Panthers never felt like underdogs.
“We knew what we had to do, we knew we can compete with any team in the league and we knew the only way we could win was if we worked hard.”
Game 1 SMU 1 UNB 0
Rebecca Pointon
Game 2 UPEI 0 DAL 0
Game 3 UNB 2 Acadia 0
Maggie Yeamans
Kim Bagole
Game 4 DAL 3 ST FX 0
Katie Ozolins
Julie Van der Hoop
Jessie Jones
Game 5 SMU 1 Acadia 0
Arron Bonin
Game 6 UPEI 5 StFX 0
Mikaela Ellis 4
Hilary Buckley 1
Pool A SMU 6pts Pool B DAL 4pts
UNB 3pts UPEI 4 pts
Acadia 0 St FX 0pts
Sunday
9:00am UPEI 1 - SMU 0
Carolyn MacLeod
10:00am UNB beat DAL
11:00am Acadia vs StFX ( 3rd from each Pool)
12:00pm 3rd place
1:00 pm UPEI 1 - SMU 0
Mikaela Ellis
Department of Athletics