The Queen's Field Hockey Team faced a challenging but eventually productive weekend, with their first win taking them forward into the upcoming week.
 
They started the weekend against one of the top teams in Canada, the Guelph Gryphons, with an 8-0 loss. After fixing some open-play defensive miscues, the Gaels headed into the next game against the York Lions, making two unfortunate mistakes in the first half on penalty corner defense. Despite their efforts and sense of urgency and confidence in the second half, the Gaels were unable to find the back of the net for a final score of 2-0.
 
The team finished their weekend against the McGill Martlets, transferring the energy from the last half of the York game into their game against McGill. The Gaels came out hungry and aggressive, dominating possession and general game play. Amber Halcovitch (Apsley, Ont.) was able to sneak one past the goalkeeper with some great individual stick work during a scramble near the net in the 28th minute. Despite the dominant play - spent almost entirely in McGill's half of the field - and multiple scoring opportunities, the Gaels were unable to capitalize and put a ball in the net again until the 64th minute, when Natali McGladrey (Vancouver, B.C.) beautifully redirected the ball past the McGill goalkeeper on a penalty corner opportunity. There was exceptional play by all individual team members, including a shut-out for goalkeeper Emily Kakouris (Scarborough, Ont.).
 
Congratulations to the Gaels who plan to continue this focused game play into next weekend where they will face the Waterloo Warriors (Saturday @ 2:15 p.m.) and will have another opportunity to play the York Lions (Sunday @ 9 a.m.) in Guelph, Ont.