UBC Edge Toronto 2-1 to Win the U SPORTS Title as Waterloo Take Bronze
UBC are national champions again, and they had to earn it the hard way. Toronto pushed them all the way to the final minutes in Waterloo on Sunday.
The Thunderbirds controlled the first quarter and got their reward in the 10th minute, captain Kenzie Girgis scoring from a penalty corner. Toronto grew into it after that. Catalina Meilleur and Allie Lavis combined to win a late second-quarter corner, and after the break Alicia Lung had two sharp efforts from back-to-back corners, one nearly tipped in by Lavis, the other just wide. UBC held on at 1-0.
The breakthrough came with under ten minutes left. A string of long passes cut Toronto open, and Amy Stelling finished in front of a wide-open net. 2-0. That goal turned out to be the winner, because Toronto weren’t done. Two more back-to-back corners in the closing minutes, and both times it was Maggie Mullins who received and delivered, driving a hard shot home on the second attempt to make it 2-1. The Blues ran out of time.
Mullins was named player of the match for the second time in the tournament, and she was also named tournament MVP. She’s the 2026 National Player of the Year, and she played like it all week. Toronto’s silver is their first national medal since silver in 2023, and the 27th overall national medal for the programme since 1975: eight bronze, eight silver, 11 national titles.
The bronze-medal game went to the hosts. Waterloo beat UPEI 3-0 earlier on Sunday, in front of their own crowd at Warrior Field. UPEI finish fourth after a tough week, beaten 4-0 by UBC on Saturday and 5-1 by Toronto on Friday.
The tournament had been tight all week. Toronto and UBC drew 1-1 in the opener on Thursday, Toronto beat UPEI 5-1 on Friday, UBC beat Waterloo 2-1, then Toronto held Waterloo 0-0 on Saturday to book the final, while UBC finished the pool unbeaten with a 4-0 win over UPEI. The final was a rematch of day one, and it played out exactly like the pool suggested it would: two sides almost impossible to separate.
For our money, the final did the tournament justice. UBC’s experience told in the end, but Toronto, led by the tournament’s best player, made them work for every inch of it.
