Dal denies UPEI a fifth Atlantic University Field Hockey League title in a row

Imogen Ewer is making the most of her time at Dalhousie University in Halifax.

Ewer, an exchange student from the University of Birmingham, scored the winning goal in a sudden-death penalty shootout to lift the Tigers past the UPEI Panthers 1-0 in the Atlantic University Field Hockey League championship game on Oct. 25.

“I’m actually only here for one year on my exchange from England,” Ewer told The Guardian in a post-game interview. “So, I’m just here for the year and then sadly, after, I leave these guys and go home.”

The Tigers victory denied the Panthers a fifth straight conference title. The Panthers went into the championship game undefeated in 2026.

“It was an excellent season, and we’ve won the last four years, so we have a little bit of a target on our back,” said UPEI head coach Lacey MacLauchlan. “But kudos to Dal – they played an excellent game; they wanted it; (played a) full 60 minutes, and when it comes down to a shootout, it’s anyone’s game.”

The Tigers and Panthers battled through a scoreless 60 minutes of regulation time in front of a big crowd at the UPEI turf field on a bright sunny afternoon.

The first round of the penalty shootout featured five players from each team. That ended with the Tigers and Panthers tied 2-2. The teams then went to sudden-death shots and after the Panthers missed, Ewer made no mistake scoring the title-clinching goal. Ewer also scored in the first round.

“I actually didn’t do my usual move,” said Ewer. “Usually, I just do a little drag left and try and take the keeper as far right as possible, so that I’m on their pad side rather than their stick side.

“But this keeper (UPEI’s Bria Matthews), she’s pretty hard to play against, so I knew it wouldn’t be quite as simple as that, so I just tried to read what she was doing, and kind of noticed she was a bit far out at first when I tried to take it over her, and then the second one, I knew I had to reach on the left, take it on my reverse but she didn’t make it easy.”

Ewer said her approach in the penalty shootout – also known as a shuffle – was to remain calm.

“I’m not necessarily easy as a shuffle taker, so when I was asked to go, I said I’d do it because everyone had faith in me,” said Ewer. “I always try and go in at an angle, move the keeper. But whatever plan I have usually goes out of my head, and I just kind of do what I think I can.”

MacLauchlan said a key to the Tigers’ success in the final was putting UPEI under a lot of pressure.

“(It’s) something that we haven’t been used to all season,” said MacLauchlan. “That was part of the key of their game, and then they, obviously, were marking really tightly as well, so it didn’t give us a lot of space.”

MacLauchlan also felt the Panthers started slowly.

“We came out a little flat, I would say, or maybe the nerves were getting the best of us for the first half,” said MacLauchlan. “I felt in the second half, we turned it around completely. It was, from my eyes, a brand-new team.”

Ewer, who added field hockey is a very big sport in England, said winning the conference title means a lot to the Tigers.

“I’ve only been here for a few months, and I can tell just how much it means to everyone, the girls, and the coaches,” said Ewer. “To try and do my part to help all of them has been everything.”

The following UPEI Panthers received 2026 Atlantic University Field Hockey League awards on Oct. 25:

Most valuable player

• Kayla Batchilder.

Coach of the year

• Lacey MacLauchlan.

All-stars

• Kayla Batchilder.
• Molly Doyle.
• Mia Lawlor.
• Charlotte Thompson.

Jason Simmonds is a sports reporter at The Guardian in Prince Edward Island. He can be reached at jsimmonds@postmedia.com and followed on X @JpsportsJason.