Martlets undefeated streak ends against Stingers
Winger Janie Brassard scored a power play goal at 15:04 of the third period as the fourth-ranked Concordia Stingers rallied for a 4-3 victory over number three McGill on Sunday.
The loss was the first of the season for the Martlets, who fell to 7-1 in the Quebec women's hockey conference. Concordia improved to 5-2-1.
Heading into the contest, the McGill women had given up just five goals, but it was Concordia's all-star goaltender Cecilia Anderson who came out on top, making 19 saves in the win. Kalie Townsend kicked aside 28 in a losing cause.
Down 3-2 after two periods, the Stingers tied the game when Mary Jane O'Shea scored at 13:37 of the final frame. Also scoring for Concordia were Andrea Dolan and Marie-Pier Cantin-Drouin. McGill scorers were Kristin Leuszler, and freshmen Vanessa Davidson and Amanda Carmichael.
Both the Stingers and Martlets have a month off for exams and holiday break. They will resume play at Concordia's 37th annual Theresa Humes Tournament, Jan. 6-9.
Redmen, Martlets rest track stars at opening meet
Heather McCurdy was one of six McGill athletes to earn a medal and the only one to capture a gold, jumping a distance of 11.05 metres to win the triple jump at Saturday's McGill Open. The meet, the first local indoor competition of the season, featured a wide array of amateur track clubs along with university teams from Queen's, Sherbrooke, Vermont and McGill.
The only other McGill medallists were Joanna Williams, who won silver in the women's high jump with a jump of 1.6 metres, and rookie Charles-Francois Aka-Trudel, who won silver in the men's triple jump (12.57m).
Marie-Josée Le Jour of the St. Laurent Selects was the only person to break a Fieldhouse record. She tossed a distance of 17.63 metres to win the women's weight throw, breaking the mark of 17.59 set by Sherbrooke's Nathalie Thenor in 2002.
David Pedneault, a competitor for the Perfmax-Racing club, won the highlight event, the men's 60m sprint. He finished in 6.96 seconds, well short of the Fieldhouse record of 6.56 by Nicolas Macrozonaris. McGill's David Faille was second (7.00), followed by Bianco Richard of Club Multi-Sports les Vainqueurs (7.11).
Marie-Andrée Leblanc of the Sherbrooke Vert & Or captured the women's 60m dash in 7.73 seconds. McGill's Vanessa Horobjowsky and Maryse Dubreuil, both native Montrealers, finished second (7.92) and third (7.99), respectively.
Queen's posted the top university results at the meet, winning eight events on the men's side and five in the women's division.
Laval volleyballers sweep McGill
The Laval Rouge et Or showed the Martlets that even though they may have improved significantly, they're still far from competing with the country's top team. Undefeated and top-ranked Laval came away with a 3-0 victory over fifth-ranked McGill, winning 25-23, 25-17 and 25-9. On the men's side, Laval defeated the Redmen 3-1.
Laval improved to 10-0 atop the Quebec conference while the second-place Martlets dropped to 8-2. McGill senior Christine Borisov had 11 kills and two digs in a losing cause. Rookie power hitter Jennifer Thomson added seven kills and five digs, while Valerie Savard was credited with five kills, five digs and a perfect 3.0 passing ratio. Maxime Lefebvre, a fifth-year libero, had seven digs and a 2.25 passing ratio.
In men's play, Laval took a tight match that lasted an hour and 37 minutes. The set scores were a better indicator of how close the match was, with Laval winning 25-19, 13-25, 25-19 and 27-25.
"It was our best team effort of the season," said Head Coach Simon Berleur, in his first season at the helm of the Redmen. "We are a young team and it showed in the end as we were a little nervous out there when it got close."
Paul Grinvalds had a solid outing for McGill. He racked up 16 kills and three aces. Tym Frank added 15 kills and Sean Lynch led the team in digs with 15. It was a tough loss for the fourth-place Redmen (1-10) as Laval improved to 7-3 and moved 12 points ahead of McGill for the third and final playoff spot, with eight matches remaining.
The Redmen have six weeks to regroup over the holiday break and will resume play on Jan. 13 when they host the Montréal Carabins. The McGill women are off for the exam break and will return to action at the Gee-Gees Quality Hotel Tournament in Ottawa, Jan. 6-8.
