U Toronto Tops McMaster Women
Collect 3rd OUA Gold in Five Years
Feb 10, 2004 © 2004 by Dave Cooper, U Toronto

TORONTO WOMEN WIN ONTARIO CROWN OVER MCMASTER
The University of Toronto Varsity Blues women's squash team won an exciting Ontario Universities (OUA) final against McMaster University from Hamilton, giving Toronto their third gold medal in the last five years.

Toronto jumped out to an early 2 match lead when their #6 Patricia Meindl won
the opening match comfortably 3-0 and this was quickly followed by co-captain
Emily Robson who defeated Soo Chan Carusone from McMaster by the same score.
The value of these 2 early wins without dropping a game was to be underlined
later as McMaster fought their way back into the match.

Toronto and McMaster were then involved in 3 exciting matches at #s2 3 and 4
which eventually decided the outcome of the final. First up the McMaster captain
and most experienced player Kim Milne went to 5 games against co-captain Nathalie Martinek which saw some great retreiving by both players.

It was a battle of two styles with Kim playing her shots and Nathalie running
them down. Nathalie held on in the 4th game 10-8 but eventually went down 7-9 in
the deciding 5th game. This brought the match score back to 2-1 to Toronto.

Toronto's #2 Lindsay Auld and #3 Karlene Headley-Cooper were then involved in two 5 game matches being played at the same time. Lindsay worked herself into a 2 game lead against Jenny Hogan while Karlene dug herself into a 2 game deficit. However almost in synchronization both games turned completely. Jenny Hogan from McMaster came back into the match controlling the pace of the game and using the lob to great effect to upset Lindsay's momentum. At the same time Karlene started to hit winners and aided by some errors from Carly Thompson levelled the match at 2-2.

University of Toronto's Women's Squash Team, 03-04 season (Photo U Toronto).

Before this match finished Jenny Hogan completed her amazing recovery to beat Lindsay Auld 3-2 and level the Final at 2-2. The outcome of the #3s match would determine how important the final match would be. If Carly won the match it would give McMaster a 3-2 match lead going into the last match....if Karlene won the 5th game it would take the presssure off.

The 5th game was a real battle with both players giving their all. By the narrowest
of margins 10-8 in the 5th Toronto squeezed past McMaster into a 3-2 lead. With
a countback on games wona nd lost it was clear that no matter what the outcome
of the last match Toronto had won the OUA gold.

UT Squad enjoys their victory. (Photo U Toronto).

Just for good measure Toronto's #1 Julia Hamilton gave an outstanding exhibition
of drops and volley kills against which Kristina Taylor from McMaster had no
answer to take the game 3-0 and ensure that Toronto had a convincing 4-2 win.
Earlier in the day Toronto had beaten the University of Western women 5-1 in the
semifinal and gave playoff experience to Yuka Jokura, Mary Jane Ferraro and
Catherine Scandrett.

The final positions in OUA women's final were
1. Toronto 2. McMaster 3. Western 4. Queens

The Toronto women were awarded 3 OUA Allstars - Julia Hamilton, Lindsay Auld and Karlene Headley-Cooper. Head coach David Cooper was awarded OUA Women's 2004 Coach of the Year. McGill which failed to qualify for the women's tourney, placed Diane Liu on the second all-star team. The 5-foot-8 science sophomore hails from Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass.

The Toronto women will continue to play exhibition games against teams from CSA next year.

Discussion is ongoing about the possibility of a Can AM University event in 2004-5
season. Any teams interested in playing against the U of Toronto women are invited
to contact Dave Cooper at 416 978 4113.

OUA Women's Tournament Results:

Match Score:		University of Toronto def McMaster University, Hamilton by 4-2 at Cedar Springs Racqurt Club, Burlington, Ontario
Position	University of Toronto	McMaster University, Hamilton	Winner	Scores
1	Julia Hamilton	Kristina Taylor	Toronto	9-0, 9-4, 9-1
2	Lindsay Auld	Jenny Hogan	McMaster	9-7, 9-7, 5-9, 4-9, 2-9
3	Karlene Headley-Cooper	Carly Thompson	Toronto	1-9, 4-9, 9-5, 9-2, 10-8
4	Nathalie Martinek	Kim Milne	McMaster	3-9, 9-4, 6-9, 10-8, 7-9
5	Emily Robson	Soo Chan Carusone	Toronto	9-2, 9-3, 9-6
6	Patricia Meindl	Dana Phillips	Toronto	9-2, 9-2, 9-6

 

OUA WOMEN’S ALL-STARS:

FIRST TEAM
Julia Hamilton, Toronto
Lindsay Auld, Toronto
Kristina Taylor, McMaster
Kim Farah, Western
Karlene Headley-Cooper, Toronto
Vanessa Steinwell, Western

SECOND TEAM
Jenny Hogan, McMaster
Carly Thompson, McMaster
Lindsay Wiseman, Queen’s
Carla Jackson, Ryerson
Kim Milne, McMaster
Diane Liu, McGill

COACH OF THE YEAR
David Cooper, Toronto

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