The University of British Columbia's Thunderbirds recently swept up their fourth consecutive national women's field hockey championship thanks to the efforts of many teammates who hail from the North Shore.
The Thunderbirds beat their indomitable hosts, Toronto Varsity Blues, in the gold medal game of the 40th CIS-FHC field hockey championship 2-0 on Nov. 2, which makes them now 16-6 all-time in the CIS title match.
But the stellar standout is that of the seven North Shore players on the team, two of them turned out to be among the tournament's 11 all-stars — Rachel Donohoe and Hannah Haughn.
"I am so proud of the girls," said first-year head coach Robin D'Abreo in a media release.
"This team has improved so much since we first started. It's absolutely incredible. It's a credit to the girls. They completely bought in to every single thing that the coaching staff put out there."
Donohoe, 20, playing centre defence or sweeper, said it was an honour to be selected to the team of 11 women who organizers believed to be the top athletes in the tournament.
She has been playing field hockey since Grade 4 and started to play it as an off-season sport because at the time she was more into soccer.
North Vancouver's Donohoe, who is studying kinesiology, played for the BC West Vancouver Vipers with the West Vancouver Field Hockey Club.
"For me, it's just knowing everything happens for a reason and whether it's a high or a low, if you continue doing what you do and you love it, it's always going to be a challenge," she said as advice to new players.
The Thunderbirds only had four returning players to the team this year, but coaching staff set them off in the right direction, according to Donohoe.
One of those returning team members was also North Vancouver's Haughn, 20, who echoed Donohoe's comments about it being a rebuilding year for her Thunderbirds team.
"We hadn't played Eastern teams yet this season and it's always a bit of a wild card going in," she said. "We weren't sure how it would go, but we're definitely always optimistic and we really came together as a team. I'm proud of how everyone played."
Haughn said while being selected as a top player in the national tournament was an honour many other players on her team deserved recognition too.
"It was a pretty big honour," she added. "Obviously there were a bunch of deserving athletes, especially not only from our team but from other teams as well."
Haughn also grew up playing in the West Vancouver Field Hockey Club and started out when she was seven years old.
"I've been playing on the national team since I was 16," she added. "It's just such a fast sport and it's such a skillful sport as well. It's a challenge."
Also enrolled in kinesiology at UBC, Haughn attributes some of her success as a player to her small stature at fivefoot-one.
"Just take every opportunity you can to learn and go try out for teams, you never know what'll happen next," she said as advice to potential new players who are thinking of trying out field hockey. "Never bring yourself down and always try out for teams."
The other North Shore Thunderbird team members are Meghan Hayden, Katrina Davis, Emily Martin, Amy Jones and Sophie Jones.
