Championships Cross Country

Women’s Cross Country

Monday Morning Quarterback: StFX and Dalhousie race to AUS titles in Women’s and Men’s Cross Country

U SPORTS Staff

Welcome to Monday Morning Quarterback, recapping the best U SPORTS stories from the week across CW, OUA, RSEQ, and the AUS during the 2021-22 season.

Cross Country

StFX X-Women and Dalhousie Tigers win 2021 AUS women’s and men's cross-country banners

The StFX X-Women and the Dalhousie Tigers raced to first place in the women’s and men’s team finishes at the AUS Cross Country Championships hosted by the Université de Moncton on Saturday.

Women’s race results

In the women’s 8km race, the X-Women claimed one individual medal and had six of the top 10 finishers to earn their first AUS women’s cross country title since 2012. The X-Women’s Siona Chisholm captured gold with a time of 29.19.

The Dalhousie Tigers earned a second-place team finish with two finishers in the top 10. The Tigers’ Kelsey Hogan took the silver medal with a time of 30.37.

Men’s race results

In the men’s 8km race, the Tigers edged out the X-Men to claim their 21st AUS men’s cross country title.

The Tigers had four runners finish in the top 10—Will Cox in third (25.53), Nick Robertson (26.08) in sixth, Hudson Grimshaw-Surette (26.21) in seventh and Daniel Rosen (26.23) in eighth.

The X-Men claimed a second-place team finish and one spot on the podium. Jacob Benoit (25:30) took home a silver medal while Graydon Staples (25.57) finished fourth and Luc Gallant (26.26) finished eighth.

The UNB Reds took bronze, led by Andrew Peverill (25.22) who took home the individual gold medal.

Women’s Rugby

X-Women hold on to win AUS title in Wolfville

The regular season results don’t always matter in the postseason. The StFX X-Women proved this by defeating the undefeated Acadia Axewomen 42-24 in the AUS Championship game in Wolfville.

The undefeated Axewomen posted two regular-season wins over the X-Women but were unable to hold off StFX’s explosive attack.

The X-Women went to work right away with two converted tries by Annie McMullon in the opening six minutes.

Madison Ross padded the lead to 21-0 on her first of two tries in the championship game. Off the scrum in the Acadia end, Ross found the space to squeeze in a 10-yard sprint for the try. All three StFX tries were converted by Danielle Franada.

The tables quickly turned in the second half, as Acadia pushed for a comeback. Senior prop Taryn McLachlan got the ball rolling in the first of three unanswered tries by the Axewomen.

The X-Women would stifle Acadia’s comeback attempts with second-year X-Women Tashayla Tynes adding two tries at the 74 minute and 79-minute mark to put the exclamation mark on StFX’s commanding victory.

 

Thunderbirds repeat as Canada West champions

The University of British Columbia Thunderbirds rattled off 40 consecutive points to take down the University of Victoria Vikes, 47-13, in the Canada West Women’s Rugby Championship Sunday afternoon from McMahon Stadium.
 
A close match in first half, the T-Birds exploded out of the gates in the second half to run away with their second straight CW title.

Victoria opened up the scoring on the day, marching down the field and getting on the board with a penalty goal from Alexia Pusch in the ninth minute.
 
The Thunder Birds answered back just three minutes later as Alayna Scramstad inched across for the first try of the day, followed by Savannah Bauder's first of her five converts to make it 7-3.

The Thunderbirds wouldn’t look back.
 
Bauder added a try of her own with a 55-yard sprint, splitting the defense at midfield and Florence Symonds turned the edge and out-muscled her defender before another long-distance run to quickly make it 26-3.
 
UBC’s Piper Logan added another distance trot with a 40-yard run before dotting down at the 54-minute mark.

The gold medal is the second in program history for UBC, now winning two in a row as they prepare for a return trip to the U SPORTS Women’s Rugby Championship held by Queen’s.

Football

Fourth quarter resurgence lifts Golden Bears over Rams

The Alberta Golden Bears (3-2) erased a 17-point fourth quarter deficit, storming back to earn a thrilling 23-22 win over the Regina Rams (1-4), Saturday afternoon in Edmonton.
 
Tyson Krushelniski scored a defensive touchdown with just 1:58 remaining in the fourth, before a successful onside kick set up the Bears game-winning field goal by Jonathan Giustini with just 1:02 remaining. Krushelniski recovered the fumble coughed up by Ram Emmett Steadman in the Regina end zone off a missed Bears field goal, returning it one yard for the defensive score.

Golden Bears quarterback Brad Launhardt completed 21 of 40 pass attempts for 236 yards and a touchdown, while Chevy Thomas hauled in seven catches for 108 yards and Alberta’s lone offensive major.

Josiah Schakel was a force on defence for the Golden Bears, finishing with nine solo tackles, two sacks and a pair of forced fumbles. Schakel is the U SPORTS leader in tackles per game, with an astonishing 9.1 total tackles per game.

Women’s Hockey

Bisons top Canada West standings after road series sweep

The University of Manitoba Bisons (5-1-0) women's hockey team picked up their second-straight win over the Saskatchewan Huskies (2-1-1) with a 2-1 win on Saturday night at Merlis Belsher Place in Saskatoon.

Ashley Keller and Samantha Sichkaruk had the goals for Manitoba - their fourth and third of the season respectively. Kimberly Davidson was a stalwart between the pipes for the Bisons, securing 29 saves in the victory.

With the weekend sweep over the Huskies, Manitoba moves into first-place in the Canada West standings.

Men’s Hockey

No.4 UBC sweeps MacEwan to push win streak to six

The No. 4 UBC Thunderbirds (6-0-0) scored three times in the first period and never looked back as they downed the visiting MacEwan Griffins (2-2-0) 5-2 Friday night at Father Bauer Arena for a program record fifth consecutive win to start a season.

On Saturday, the Thunderbirds earned another 5-2 win over the Griffins completing the weekend sweep and extending their season-long win streak to six games Saturday afternoon at Father Bauer Arena.

After the T-Birds opened up a two-goal lead through 20 minutes, the Griffins (2-2) battled back to get within one but never got any closer as No. 4 UBC (6-0) scored three consecutive times in the second and third periods, including a critical short hander by Austin Glover, while Rylan Toth earned his fifth win in net with 17 saves.

Not only did the Thunderbirds extend their season-long win streak to six games, but they have also scored at least four goals in each of them.

Women’s Soccer

No. 2 Montreal dominates UQTR to cap off undefeated season in RSEQ

 The No. 2 Montreal Carabins (13-0-1) women’s soccer team are heading to the RSEQ championship as the undefeated favorites, after a commanding 7-1 victory over the UQTR Patriotes (2-11-1).

Forwards Erika Bastien and Mégane Sauvé were offensively explosive for the Carabins scoring two goals apiece in the match.

The Carabins end the regular season at the top of the table and head into the RSEQ semifinals as the favourites, led by Maxyme Nobert who leads the Carabins with eight goals and one assist through fourteen matches.

Men’s Soccer

Cascades punch ticket to Canada West final four with 2-1 victory over Golden Bears

The University of the Fraser Valley men’s soccer team is heading to the Canada West Final Four, in the wake of a thrilling 2-1 road win over the Alberta Golden Bears on Friday afternoon.

Playing in the CW quarter-finals at Foote Field in Edmonton, the Cascades got goals from Taylor Richardson and David Parfett, and a pair of highlight-reel stops in the second half from goalkeeper Jackson Cowx – including one on a penalty kick deep in injury time.

Social media posts of the week

The CEBL is once again expanding, bringing professional basketball to Montreal.

The Montreal Alliance becomes the 9th franchise in the CEBL, joining the burgeoning league after the Scarborough Shooting Stars who were recently added in the second wave of expansion.

Montreal is already a hotbed of basketball talent with Chris Boucher and Khem Birch of the Toronto Raptors and Luguentz Dort of the Oklahoma City Thunder all hailing from the city.