Martlet rugby
The McGill Martlets’ rugby squad travelled to Quebec City this past weekend for the CIS National Championships. It was the first time since 2005 that the team advanced to the season’s final weekend. They began the tournament playing the no. 1 seeded St. Francis Xavier X-Women—a team they had split their first two matches with earlier in the year. The no. 4 seeded Martlets upset their opponents 19-10 primarily behind the stellar play of junior centre, Caroline Suchorski, who garnered game MVP awards. On Saturday, with a chance to play for the Monilex Trophy on the line, the Guelph Gryphons dominated the Martlets by a score of 31-0 in an ugly affair.
Having been relegated to the bronze medal match, McGill faced the OUA champion Queen’s Gaels. Suchorski once again led the team in scoring with two tries and won match MVP honours. However, this time her efforts came up short as the Martlets fell 32-24 in a back-and-forth affair that was not decided until the 69th minute. In total, six lead changes were recorded during the physical contest.
Senior forward Julia White and sophomore winger Deanna Foster were named to the all-tournament team, while senior fly-half Brianna Miller was named CIS Player-of-the-Year.
Redmen and Martlet Soccer
The Martlet soccer team traveled to Stade CEPSUM on Friday evening for the division semifinal game against the RSEQ-leading Montreal Carabins. McGill entered the match with an 8-3 record against conference opponents, having tallied one loss and one tie game against the Carabins this season.
On the day, McGill not only had to go up against Montreal, but also the 100 km/h winds that blew through the city on Friday evening, wreaking havoc for the game plans of both squads. The teams remained scoreless until the second half, when Montreal’s 21-year-old Constance de Chantal scored a mere four minutes out of halftime. Despite the Martlets’ front-line effort to keep the team in the game, McGill was shutout for the sixth time this season. Carabins midfielder Steffy Roy-Ouellet put the game away for Montreal when she scored in the 87th minute of the game to seal the match, 2-0.
It was a similarly tough night for the McGill Redmen, as the team fell 3-0 to the division-leading Montreal Carabins. The Redmen have played well this season—despite their 4-5 record—and have shown the ability to play up to Montreal’s level in the regular season.
However, McGill’s game plan fell apart when the team was forced to shift from an offensive-minded attack to focus on defence after the Carabins’ Maxime Laurey scored in the 44th and 70th minute of the game. That set the table for Marcellin Bilali-Ibaku, who iced the game in the 83rd minute, dropping the Redmen out of post-season play.
Redmen hockey
The McGill Redmen hockey team secured their spot atop the OUA East division with a pair of wins on the road over the weekend against RMC and Concordia. David Rose and Ryan McKiernan paved the way for the 9-1 victory over RMC with two goals apiece, while freshman forward Jan Kaminsky led the team with four points. The Redmen offence generated a school record 75 shots in the blowout victory. Rookie backup goaltender Jacob Chouinard stood tall in net, stopping 19 of 20 shots to improve to 3-1-0 on the year.
In the second contest of the weekend sweep, the Redmen stifled the Concordia attack en route to a 3-1 win in the 27th annual Corey Cup classic. McGill sent 54 shots at Stingers’ goaltender Antonio Mastropietro who was almost unbeatable and kept the game from getting out of hand. After trailing 1-0 heading into the final frame, the Redmen finally sent one past Mastropietro on the powerplay. First-year winger Neil Prokop—who notched a goal and an assist—broke the tie with the game-winner just over 6 minutes into the period.
The Redmen return home for back-to-back games on Nov. 8 and 9 against OUA West divisional opponents Guelph and Western.
