This past weekend marked the opening of the 2012 Warriors field hockey campaign as well as the first official games to be hosted by the University of Waterloo on Warrior Field. The team played a total three games and came away with mixed results, losing to Toronto 2-0 on Saturday morning, beating McGill 4-0 in the afternoon, and tying 1-1 with Guelph on Sunday afternoon. This leaves the Warriors with four points.
 
In the opening game, the Warriors faced the defending OUA Champions and No. 1 ranked Toronto Varsity Blues in a very spirited affair. The first half was back and forth with both teams looking strong defensively and limiting scoring opportunity. Toronto held an upper hand in penalty corners but first year rookie netminder, Hilary Neeb (Wellesley/) was quite outstanding in goal and kept the score at 0-0. Elisabeth Smith (Victoria/) and Vanessa Guido (Newmarket/) also made their Warrior debuts. 

The Warriors started the second half on the wrong foot and a slip by the defense allowed the Varsity Blues to score within a minute of the re-start. However, this didn't deter the team and they pushed forward with solid counter-attack opportunities. Unfortunately, it didn't result in a tying goal and 12 minutes later Toronto were able to capitalize on a break-away and add to their lead.

Despite putting even more pressure on the Varsity Blues, which resulted in two of their players being sent to the penalty box, Waterloo could only watch time expire.

After a two hour break, the Warriors were back out on the field to take on McGill. Not knowing what to expect from a new look Martlets team, the Waterloo team started out hesitant and slow, which unfortunately set the tone for the entire first half. There was very little cohesiveness between forwards, midfielders and defenders and if not for some solid defense by Captain, Ainsley Bearinger (Mannheim/) who seemed to come out the victor on every tackle whether on two feet or none, and fourth year, Jessana Wartman (Cambridge/), McGill might have taken an early lead on several counter-attacks.

It was vice-captain Wartman who opened up the scoring with a wonderful strike on a penalty corner at the 10^th minute and the Warriors were able to increase their lead at the 19^th minute mark with rookie Elisabeth Smith (Victoria/) netting her first OUA goal.

Unhappy with only leading 2-0 at half-time, the Warriors decided to put on their game faces on and started to give the home crowd something more to cheer about; Stephanie Snyder (Waterloo/) made a remarkable individual run and tore through the entire McGill defense in the 49^th minute to take the score to 3-0.

Several minutes later, Wartman had another great strike on a penalty corner variation hit the middle of the back-board but for some reason, the goal was disallowed. Despite having over 10 shots on net, the team couldn't find the fourth goal until 10 minutes from the end of the match when Alana Raymond (Ajax/) entered the scoring race off a rebound on another penalty corner for the 4-0 victory.

Waterloo would play their final match of the weekend on Sunday against the always tough Guelph Gryphons.

The Warriors were focused on starting strong and getting the home crowd behind them but this was not to be the case. Guelph were the fresher team and it showed as they gained three penalty corners within the first three minutes and took an early 1-0 lead and it would stay that way into halftime.

The second half proved no different except for the fact that the Warriors solidified play in the middle of the field; Wartman had another outstanding game at sweeper, fifth year veteran Katelyn Murray (New Hamburg/) made sure Guelph were taking shots from tough angles, Katie Farrugia (Burlington/) was having a great game at centre half, forcing play out to the wings defensively as well as quickly starting many counter-attacks, and rookie goaltender, Hilary Neeb (Wellesley/) was on top of every opportunity Guelph produced.

While the Gryphons were exploiting the gaps between the Warrior forwards and midfield as well as getting in behind the Waterloo defenders on several occasions, they were not able to put the game away and started to show frustration.

With only seven minutes left, a superb run down the right by Melissa Lewis (Waterloo/) found Courtney Bisch (Wellesley/) on the left post and she made no mistake in slotting home the equalizer. Guelph were stunned and this almost cost them again as Lewis broke through the middle a couple of minutes later, rounded the Gryphon goalie with ease but saw her shot saved on the line by Guelph's sweeper and the game would finish even at one's.

OUA play resumes for the Warriors on September 22nd and 23rd at Varsity Stadium in Toronto where they face York on Saturday morning and Western on Sunday at noon.