The University of Victoria Vikes women’s field hockey team usually doesn’t make a lot of noise until October or November when they are gearing up to play in another Canadian Interuniversity Sport championship.

If Vikes’ coach Lynne Beecroft had her way, the Canada West season would start today. Beecroft, who has won 11 CIS crowns, is excited about the blue-chip recruits joining the team next season.

Kathleen Leahy, a multi-sports star from Oak Bay, Sarah Keglowitsch from Shawnigan Lake and Jonel Boileau from Kelowna have all committed to the Vikes’ program.

Leahy is a cross-country runner as well as playing field hockey and soccer at Oak Bay High School. She was highly recruited by UVic’s Tracy David from the women’s soccer team.

“This last year, my passion for field hockey just exploded,’’ said Leahy. “I was very successful at it and probably the turning point came when I trained with Canada’s junior team.

“It was a very difficult decision to make but knowing the coaches and their styles probably helped with the decision. I still hope that I have enough time to play a little recreation soccer next year.’’

In January, the Canadian national field hockey coaches selected Leahy and Keglowitsch to the junior national team that will travel to San Diego next month to play test matches against the U.S. national Under-19 team. Boileau also attended that camp but she did not make the team.

“It will be very interesting to see how much better Kathleen will get when her total focus is field hockey,’’ said Beecroft. “Kathleen will be a great addition to our team. She has physical strength and good speed. She competes hard and as a defender, she’ll make sure that the ball is not in our net.’’

Beecroft loses her top defender from last year — Perri Espeseth — to graduation.

“Kathleen is a wonderful young lady and she brings the complete package to the team,’’ said Beecroft. “She is a terrific student [5.0 grade point average] and she will fit right in with our team.

“Jonel plays the game with a lot of desire. She is very fast and you can’t teach speed.’’ Boileau’s high school team — Kelowna Secondary — won the B.C. championship two years ago and last year, they were third while Oak Bay was fourth.

In 2010, Keglowitsch represented Canada on the Under-17 national team at the Pan American Youth Olympic qualifier. Canada placed second to Argentina at that event.

“With Sarah’s incredible work ethic, amazing speed and uncanny scoring ability, she will definitely be an impact player for the Vikes in 2011,’’ said Beecroft in a press release. “She is the type of player who will inspire her teammates, enhancing the Vikes’ chances of bringing home another CIS field hockey championship.’’

Last year the Vikes had a record of six wins, four losses and two ties in Canada West. At the CIS championship, the team lost the bronze-medal game to Guelph.

In Beecroft’s 27-year tenure, the Vikes have won CIS medals 23 times.