McGill Redmen soccer comes into the 2015-2016 season with a youthful and energetic team, looking to improve on last year’s fourth-place league finish.

“Our team is young but talented,” Head Coach Marc Mounicot commented. “After four weeks of intense preparation, the players are ready for the season.” 

The team will feel the loss of scoring-machines Alexander King and Massimo Di Ioia, but incoming rookies Alexander Goldman from Scarsdale, New York; Roberto Bonalumi from Credaro, Italy; and Takeshi Kakudo from Tokyo, Japan will join sophomores Antoine Chauvel and Conor O’Loughlin to keep McGill’s offence clicking.

The midfield will continue to be anchored by RSEQ All-Stars Alexandre De Santis and Michael McIntyre, who dazzled crowds last year with their intricate passing and ability to control the pace of the game. Players to watch on defense include goalie and captain Max Leblond from Lille, France, playing out his final season. All-Stars Davide Salvoni and Alexander Lamont will be joined by two talented freshmen, Sanchit Gupta and Justin Dragan to complete McGill’s defensive core. 

The Redmen started their season on Friday with a low note: A 4-0 loss to local rivals, Concordia but followed up with a 5-0 result against Sherbrooke in their home opener.

The Martlets hope to build on last year’s middling season, where they finished fourth in the RSEQ with a 4-6-4 record. Senior forward Rebecca Green will captain an experienced squad—the Martlets lost only two players to graduation. McGill will be pleased with a promising, if relentless, off-season that saw the Martlets go 2-1 against CIS opposition and runners up in the Old Four Soccer Tournament.

Zoe Fasoulakis, a pre-season standout, will return as the rock of McGill’ defence. The fourth-year student was the Martlets’ best player in 2014 and was awarded RSEQ All-Conference honors along with midfielder Claudia Agozzino. Second-year forward Audrey-Ann Coughlan is also one to watch. She was a RSEQ Indoor League All-Star in 2015 and she has already scored two goals in the Martlets’ first two games of the season.

McGill commenced the season on Sept. 11 with a dominant victory over Concordia before falling to Concordia in their second game. They play UQTR and UQÀM next weekend, before facing the No. 1 ranked Laval at home on Sept. 25.

After eight consecutive RSEQ Championships, the McGill Redmen rugby team fell to the Concordia Stingers in last year’s final in a heartbreaking double overtime loss. This season, the team will look to build on their legacy of success over the last decade despite losing to graduation two RSEQ All-Stars in prop Kylan Gibbs and flanker Usman Naqvi. Reigning RSEQ Rookie-of-the-Year Calvin Simpson, an Arts student out of Victoria, B.C. will be a leader on the team. He will be flanked by returning fullback Thomas Stokes and centre Emeric Durand de Bousingen to form a potent scoring trio.

Head Coach Eric Van Sickle brings a steadying presence in his third full season at the helm, having previously served as associate and forwards coach for the team after spending many years playing rugby professionally. The Redmen kicked off their season against the Sherbrooke Vert et Or with a 19-5 win.

The Martlets single victory was one of a few brightspots in a tough 2014 campaign that saw the team stumble to a 1-9-3 record. Even with dominant individual performances by 2014 OUA All-Star Kylie Nabata and last year’s Goalie-of-the-Year, junior Marianne Elmer, the Martlets avoided the OUA cellar by only three points last season; however, with a young team this year that features 10 rookies on the 17 player roster, the Martlets are looking to make 2015 the year that will mark the beginning of a new era for McGill field hockey. Team captain Kylie Nabata, a biochemistry student from North Vancouver, B.C. will look to build off of her stellar 2014 season that established her as one of the league’s most dominant midfielders. Assistant captain Julia Rogers and senior defender Alice Podmore will also have to play key roles if the Martlets hope to do well this year.

The Martlets will kick off their season next weekend with a three-game road trip that features matchups versus Guelph, Queen's and Western. With Guelph and Queen’s taking two of the top three spots in the OUA last year, the outcome of this weekend will be a good indicator of what to expect for the remainder of the season.