CALGARY – Robyn Pendleton scored twice as the UBC Thunderbirds beat the Calgary Dinos 4-2 at the Canadian university field hockey championship Friday.
The win guaranteed second-seeded UBC (3-0) a spot in Sunday’s gold-medal game.
“Our structure and passing was better. We took care of the ball better and attacked the way we should, and we got some results,” said Thunderbirds head coach Hash Kanjee.
“Scoring goals has been an issue this last little while, so it was great to get a few today because that will put us in the right frame of mind going forward.”
In other matches it was: No. 4 Guelph Gryphons 3, No. 5 Alberta Pandas 2, and Calgary 3, No. 1 Toronto 0.
After a two-and-a-half hour snow delay, Kaitlyn Longworth opened the scoring nine minutes into the game with a breakaway goal that put No. 3 Calgary up 1-0.
UBC answered with four unanswered goals, the first coming in the 21st minute after Abigail Raye tipped Pendleton’s shot into the net.
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Miranda Mann’s low shot from the top of the circle put the Thunderbirds up 2-1 before halftime.
Pendleton, the CIS player of the year, had a highlight goal in the 42nd minute. The Victoria native was brought down by Dinos goalkeeper Stephanie Petrowitsch as she made her run through defenders in the circle, but Pendleton still managed to guide the ball home as she fell over the keeper and went to ground.
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“That goal was just world class,” Kanjee said.
Pendleton then scored her third of the tournament just three minutes later with a similar run through the circle, this time staying on her feet to navigate around a charging Petrowitsch and score her team’s fourth goal.
Serena Lockhart pulled one back for the Dinos in the 48th minute, capping off a penalty corner with a point-blank shot from the side of the net to beat UBC goalkeeper Bea Francisco.
Sunday’s match will be the third straight national final for the Thunderbirds, who last won the McCrae Cup in 2009 against Alberta.
Also on Friday, Brittany Seidler scored twice as the Gryphons rallied to beat Alberta 3-2.
Seidler scored in the 57th and 62nd minutes while Candace Hawksworth put Guelph (1-2) ahead for good in the 65th minute.
“It couldn’t be a more exhilarating game for us,” said Gryphons head coach Michelle Turley. “They scored two goals early, and then we outplayed them for the last 25 minutes of the first half, but we just didn’t really put it on each other’s sticks.
“At the end we would have been willing to take a tie, but the kids were so fired up that they just weren’t going to lose.”
The Pandas (0-2) had an early 2-0 lead after Kinsco Santha and Jenny Gluska each scored within a two-minute span.
Calgary, meanwhile, made up for the loss to UBC with a 3-0 win over top-ranked Toronto.
Keara Chiquen, Michelle Roydhouse and Longworth each scored for the Dinos (2-1), who are trying to appear in the national final for the first time.
The defending champion Varsity Blues (1-2) had several penalty corners but were unable to beat Calgary goalkeeper Petrowitsch, who was named the Dinos’ player of the game.
“(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.”
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