Make it an even dozen for the women’s field hockey team.

The UBC Thunderbirds emphatically proved that they were the top team in Canada, defeating the University of Alberta Pandas 6–0 in the gold medal game Sunday to claim their 12th CIS Championship.

“This is a team that really plays well together.

”Ever since our preseason trip to Argentina, they have being getting strong as a group and it really showed today.” There were so many outstanding performances,” said head coach Hash Kanjee, who won his seventh championship as UBC coach.

The national championship, UBC’s first since 2006, once again gave the T-Birds the all-time lead in CIS titles, after UVic tied the T-Birds with their eleventh last year.

The top-ranked T-Birds advanced to the final with 3–1 victories over Guelph and Alberta, a 4–1 victory over Toronto, and a 1–1 draw against Victoria. The Vikes, perennially a tough team for UBC to play against, were upset by Alberta 1–2 on Saturday, paving the way for the Thunderbirds to face the Pandas in the finals.

In the final, UBC showed no mercy to their Panda foes, with CIS Tournament all-star forward Elise Milosevich scoring her second goal of the tournament and 13th goal of the season just one minute into the game to give the T-Birds the lead. Robyn Pendelton, who was awarded the Tournament MVP after the game, scored again for UBC ten minutes later, and from there the rout was on.

“They were on fire today, they were really moving the ball well,” said Kanjee. “It took the pressure off early and after that we got into a groove and we did the right things and I’m really happy for them.”

CIS Rookie of the Year Abigail Raye scored two additional goals for UBC, while Whitney Kroll and Kira Graham also added markers for the T-Birds, who finished off the 2009 season with an overall record of 14–2–1.

“It’s a pretty good way to finish a season. As a team we did really well and we finished our opportunities, which ultimately made all the difference,” said Pendelton.

“This is the game we’ve been dreaming of.”