Women’s Hockey
This coming weekend at the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) women’s hockey championship, the Varsity Blues are looking to capture their first Ontario hockey title since 2002.
The competition at this year’s championship will be extremely fierce. The weekend’s action is sure to feature some highly contested and exciting duels, with all games being played at U of T’s own Varsity Arena.
In the first semifinal, the upstart Brock Badgers (13-7-1-1) take on the highly touted Wilfred Laurier Golden Hawks (17-2-2-1). The Golden Hawks are undefeated this season versus Brock, and are on an impressive streak, finishing 9-1 in their last ten regular season games. However, the Badgers posted a solid 4-1 victory over Waterloo in the OUA quarterfinals.
The Queen’s Golden Gaels (11-8-1-2) battle the Varsity Blues (14-6-1-1) in the other semifinal in what is destined to be a nail-biter. Queen’s and U of T split the season series 2-2, with all four games being decided by one goal-two of which needed overtime to determine a victor. Appropriately, the Golden Gaels are coming off a 5-4 overtime victory in their quarterfinal match versus Guelph last weekend.
All four teams get to play on championship Saturday, either in the bronze or gold medal games.
-MATT VENTRESCA
Weekend Results
The weekend saw many teams competing for Ontario University Athletics (OUA) and Canadian Interuniversity Sports (CIS) medals on the road. Four teams were able to bring home new hardware.
The men’s fencing team was able to win its third OUA title in four years at Brock, while the women’s squad won bronze at the event. Nicholas Rudzik won the epee event, while the men’s foil team and men’s sabre team also finished first in their events. Piotr Lustyk rounds out the medal winners on the mens’s side, as he captured bronze in the epee.
Claire Midgley had a standout performance on the women’s side of the draw, as she won silver in the individual foil event and helped the foil team finish second in its event. Also, the women’s novice epee team claimed bronze. Watch for more fencing coverage in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, the track and field team won bronze at the OUA championship in Windsor. Jocelyn Adu-Gyumfi won individual gold medals in the 60m dash and long jump, while Jose Carvalho won gold medals in the men’s 100m and 600m sprints.
Amara Gossin and Mark Dillon also won gold medals, finishing in top spot in pole vault and high jump, respectively. Other medalists included Heather Moyse (silver in 60m dash), Ashley Jeffs (silver in pole vault), Genny McInnis (silver in 1000m dash), Michelle MacDonald (bronze in 300m dash), and Mark Stewart (60m hurdles).
The women’s volleyball won bronze medals last weekend, as they defeated York in the match for third place. The team had won the last four championships, but fell to host Western in the semifinal match this time around.
Asya Danilova and Li Yuk Lo were both given spots on the all-tournament team for their efforts.
Finally, in Edmonton the women’s swimming team took home a bronze medal at the CIS championship. Jen Porenta won three gold medals to lead the team. The men’s team finished in fourth place. Read next Thursday’s paper for a profile of Porenta.
The men’s competition featured a fine performance by Ian MacLeod, who won three medals as well. He was flying high after winning gold in the 100m butterfly, silver in the 200m butterfly, and bronze in the 50m butterfly.
The Blues fared well in team competition as well. The women’s 4x200m freestyle relay team won silver, the women’s 4×100 team won bronze, and the men’s 4x100m won bronze as well.
-MATT SOMERS
