The writing was on the wall early in the 2018 OUA soccer season – Victoria Hinchliffe was ready for a breakout in her third year. The Guelph native got off to a sluggish start in 2017 though she would end that season as an OUA champion and Final Four hero after scoring decisive goals and match-ending penalty kicks in the Gryphons’ improbable run to a title. In 2018, Hinchliffe started fast and kept up a torrid scoring pace throughout the season, bagging 12 goals in 16 games, the third-highest total in the country. Many of them were huge in terms of impacting results and for her incredible clutch performances and all-around game, Hinchliffe was named both OUA MVP and to the All-Canadian First Team, becoming the first Gryphon in 15 years to achieve the latter.
“There are not many attacking players who work as hard in the defending phase of the game as Hinch,” said head coach Shayne Campbell. “We ask a lot of her on both sides and she is always willing to put that kind of work in. It's just the kind of player she is. Hinch has never stopped wanting to improve herself as a player.”