Saturday was an encouraging start to the season for Coach Michelle Turley and the Guelph Gryphons field hockey team. In their home opener, the girls played a phenomenal game, crushing the McGill Marlets 10-0.
The game started off in McGill’s possession, but the Gryphons quickly took control as the forwards charged down the field. Daniela Jelec hit the ball right past the opposing goalie on a penalty stroke to start off the scoring. The second goal of the game came only five minutes later by midfielder Moon Weijens, who managed to get her stick as low as she possibly could to sweep the ball past the goalie’s blocker and into the back of the net.
Strong defensive plays up the right side kept the game focused in McGill’s end of the field for most of the first half, leading to an exceptional play by Crysta Stubbs. When the goalie stretched out to hit the ball away, Stubbs took advantage and swept the ball from her left side over the goalie for the third goal of the game.
The team dominated for the rest of the half with several opportunities on their penalty corners. They topped off the score to 6-0 during the 35-minute half, getting three more goals scored by Ciara Condon, Erin Houle, and Olivia Lane.
The Gryphons slowed down during the second half, allowing McGill to get a couple of penalty corners, but the opponents had no chance of scoring with Morgan Kelley in net for the Gryphons. The defenders pushed the ball back up the field, where Erin Houle took control and scored two consecutive goals, giving her a hat trick in the first game of her fifth year as a Gryphon. Allison Chute contributed with a beautiful shot to the top left corner. Weijens finished things off with her second goal of the game, making the score 10-0.
Overall the team had strong play from all areas of the field, but especially from the defenders who fed the ball to the midfielders and forwards the entire game. “For our first game, we all really connected as a team, and it had a great result for us,” said Stubbs, who is in her third season as a forward.
On Sunday morning, the team started out the day with a 5-2 loss against the University of Toronto Varsity Blues. The Blues initiated the scoring with a penalty corner goal, but the Gryphons gained possession shortly after and fought back. Weijens carried the ball up the field and hit it through for Chute who blasted it to the left side of the net to tie the game.
The Blues started off the second half with three goals in a row, two off the penalty corners, making the score 4-1. After an amazing attempt by Lane who charged to the net, Condon picked up the rebound to make it 4-2, giving the Gryphons some hope. Unfortunately, the Blues sealed the deal with a long hit into the circle to make it 5-2.
The team did not let the loss slow them down, defeating the Queen’s Gaels 6-0 on Sunday afternoon. In the first half the Gryphons dominated, with Lane scoring two goals and Chute with one. The Gryphons gave it everything they had in the second half, with two goals by first year Katherine MacMillan and one by Nicole Paola.
After this weekend, four Gryphons players – Chute, Houle, Lane and Condon – lead OUA stats for goals scored. The Gryphons named Erin Houle as Athlete of the Week following the weekend’s performance.
The Gryphons will go into their next game with a record of 2-1, facing off against the 1-1 Western Mustangs on Sept. 22.
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The Ontarion publishes independent, student-produced news, opinion, and commentary for University of Guelph students so that they can make informed decisions in their lives. To do this, The Ontarion provides learning opportunities and training in journalism, media production, leadership, board governance, and other aspects of nonprofit news.
The Ontarion is the University of Guelph’s independent student newspaper. It began in 1951 as part of the Ontario Agricultural College and then began to represent the entire University of Guelph once it amalgamated in 1964. The Ontarion incorporated in May 1970 as The Ontarion, Inc., a not-for-profit corporation registered with the province of Ontario.