It was yet another busy weekend in varsity athletics with the men鈥檚 volleyball team in Newfoundland and both the men鈥檚 and women鈥檚 swim teams participating in a meet at Acadia University. This weekend also marked the end of the women鈥檚 and men鈥檚 soccer seasons at their AUS championships.
Women鈥檚 Hockey
The Tigers were at home this weekend, hosting Universit茅 de Moncton at Alumni Arena Friday evening. With ten minutes on the clock, Tiger Megan O鈥橬eill put AV俱乐部 on the board, scoring a shorthanded goal.
Early in the second period, Moncton tied things up, also scoring a shorthanded goal. With four minutes left in the period, Moncton added another goal on a power play.
Moncton continued to improve their lead with another power play goal in the third period. Lisa MacLean scored for the Tigers with ten minutes left, trying to close the gap but it wasn鈥檛 enough. Moncton won 3-2.
In their second game of the weekend, AV俱乐部 hosted UPEI on Saturday night. In the first period, the Panthers posted two goals, forcing the Tigers to play catch up. In the last minute of the first period, Tiger Courtney Sheedy scored on an assist from Sarah MacNeil. In the beginning of the second period the Tigers closed the gap with another goal from Elena Tsitouras. While the Panthers kept the pressure on, outshooting the Tigers 35-24, the rest of the game remained scoreless. The game went into overtime and each team had multiple chances on net but no goals were scored forcing a shootout. The Panthers won the shootout 1-0, taking the game 3-2.聽
The team will try to break their four-game losing streak when they play Mount Allison on November 9th.
Men鈥檚 Hockey
The men鈥檚 hockey team travelled to Antigonish on Friday to play StFX. The Tigers started off strong, with a goal from Brett Theberge early on. The X-Men tied the game up at the 12 minute mark and utilized their power plays to score two more goals before the period was over.
The Tigers started to come back with Brad McConnell scoring less than a minute into the second period. Chris Ivanko added another goal for Dal, tying up the game heading into the second intermission.
StFX regained the lead early in the third period until Patrick Daley scored on a power play with less than five minutes remaining. With the score deadlocked at 4-4, the game went into overtime.
Dal fell to StFX in the fifth minute of overtime when X-man Michael Kirkpatrick scored, giving StFX a 5-4 win.
The Tigers will have a rematch when they host StFX this Wednesday.
Men鈥檚 Volleyball
The Tigers had a successful weekend away, playing two games at Memorial University this past weekend. The Tigers played their first game on Saturday taking the match in three sets (25-19, 25-22, 25-16). Kristen O鈥橞rien helped lead the team both offensively and defensively with nine kills and seven digs. Teammate Jonathan MacDonald was named Dal鈥檚 player of the game, thanks to his multiple service aces.
The following afternoon, the Tigers repeated their performance, taking their second game of the weekend in three sets (25-19, 25-12, 25-16). Logan Baillie led the team defensively with nine digs and was named Dal鈥檚 player of the game.
The Tigers will have another doubleheader when they play UNB on November 15 and 16.
Women鈥檚 Soccer
On Thursday evening before the beginning of the playoffs, Victoria Parkinson, Joanna Blodgett and Kristy McGregor-Bales were all named AUS first team all-stars.
On Saturday, the women鈥檚 soccer team played in the AUS championship in Moncton. As the second place team going into the playoffs, the Tigers had an automatic bye to the semifinal on Saturday, playing Acadia.
The game was scoreless until the 57th minute when the Axewomen scored. Dal turned on the pressure and tied up the game with a shot from Victoria Parkinson. With a score of 1-1, the game went into overtime.
At the end of the first half of overtime, the Axewomen scored the winning goal, upsetting the Tigers, who were the two-time defending AUS champs, to take the game 2-1.
Men鈥檚 Soccer
On Thursday evening, Bezick Evraire and Nathan Rogers were named AUS first team all-stars. Rogers was also awarded the AUS Student-Athlete Community Service Award. Goalie Jason Ross was named a second team all-star.
The men鈥檚 soccer team also participated in the AUS championship, hosted by Saint Mary鈥檚 University. The Tigers played their first game of the weekend Friday evening, challenging Acadia for a spot in the semifinal. Acadia took an early lead but unsportsmanlike conduct by Axeman Zachary Shaffelburg resulted in a red card and forced Acadia to play short for the rest of the game. Striker Bezick Evraire聽tied up the game on a penalty kick following the call. With the score tied at 1-1 until the 90th minute, the game went into overtime.
When no goals were scored, the game ended in a shootout. Acadia managed to get one goal past Jason Ross but all four Tigers (Nathan Rogers, Jack Schembri, Zach Mbolekwa and Bezick Evraire) had their shots see the back of the net, giving Dal the win.
On Saturday afternoon, the Tigers went up against the second-ranked Huskies in the semifinal without starters Tyler Lewars, Nathan Rogers, Aaron Hoyle and Rob Engert who were all injured in Friday鈥檚 quarter-final. SMU was on the board early, with a goain the first ten minutes. Jack Schembri聽got the equalizer in the 19th minute.
The Huskies turned it right around, regaining their lead less than a minute later and maintaining it until the end of the game. The Huskies won 4-1 and eliminated the Tigers from the championship.
Swimming
The men鈥檚 and women鈥檚 swim teams headed to Wolfville this weekend to participate in the Jack Scholz AUS Invitational Meet. On day one of the meet, the women鈥檚 team took the top spot in six individual events: Rachel Shin (400m IM), Paige Crowell (200m breaststroke), Alison Grant (200m backstroke), Keishia Mills (50m breaststroke) and Molly Wedge (50m butterfly, 400m freestyle).
The women鈥檚 team (Ceilidh MacPherson, Molly Wedge Ainsley Fraser and Cara McCallum) also took the 400 freestyle relay and the 200m medley relay.
On the men鈥檚 side, David Sharpe (400m IM, 200 backstroke) and Chris Reith (100m backstroke, 400m freestyle) took the top spot in their events. The men鈥檚 team also place first in the 200m medley relay.
Day two of the meet was also successful for the women鈥檚 team, with four more first place finishes: Paige Robillard (800m freestyle), Keishia Mills (100m breaststroke), Molly Wedge (200m freestyle) and Rachel Shin (200m IM). The Tigers also took the 200m freestyle relay in a time of 1:50.86.
The men鈥檚 team also had multiple first place finishes: Chris Reith (1500m freestyle) and Kyle Watson (200m freestyle). The men also took first place in the 200m freestyle relay in 1:36.37.
After 38 events, both the men鈥檚 and women鈥檚 teams were safely in the top spots, winning their second meets of the season.