A slow start to the baseball season highlights key areas of improvement for the Marauders men baseball team
The season is underway for Marauders men’s baseball, with the maroon and grey team having played both the University of Guelph Gryphons and the Wilfrid Laurier University Golden Hawks in a two-game series.
The team has failed to win a single game in these four games; however, the scores in these matches have mostly been close.
In the first game against the Gryphons on Sept. 9, the Marauders only lost by one run, with a final result of 4-5. The following match saw the Marauders lose by larger margins with a score of 0-8.
A more recent matchup against Laurier on Sept. 10 saw the Marauders lose by a single run again by a score of 1-2. The subsequent match-up against the Golden Hawks finished with another loss of 6-10.
With these scores, it appears as though the issue lies in the Marauders defensive game, with their ability to limit runs and opposing offenses being vital in games to come.
With these scores, it appears as though the issue lies in the Marauders defensive game, with their ability to limit runs and opposing offenses being vital in games to come.
In terms of their focus for defensive improvements, better pitching may be the answer. For instance, in their second match-up against Guelph, the Marauders allowed 14 hits compared to only two hits allowed by the Gryphons.
Their lack of good defensive play especially shows against teams like Guelph, who boast great players on the defensive end. This was shown in both games, as the Gryphons kept the Marauders to only ten hits for the entire series.
On the offensive end, the Marauders seem to be in decent shape, shown by closer scores to Laurier with plenty of runs to the Marauders. Shortstop Anthony Polowick was a key contributor to this end, hitting a double and scoring in the lone run in the team’s match-up against Laurier.
On the offensive end, the Marauders seem to be in decent shape, shown by closer scores to Laurier with plenty of runs to the Marauders.
If the Marauders can clean up defensively, they will likely be more competitive in games to come. If not, their current record is likely to hold.
It’s the biggest margin of victory yet, but this time in an unfortunate Marauders loss for the Marauders women's rugby team
As the McMaster University women’s rugby team entered week five of competition, they geared up to face the Queen’s Gaels. The Gael’s hold the number one spot on the U Sports women's rugby leaderboard and are the reigning national champions. It was obvious from the get-go that it would be a tough match ahead.
Coming into the week McMaster ranked quite highly themselves, having secured the number nine position in the U Sports ranking. They were coming off a 77 to zero win against the Laurier Golden Hawks and looked to provide a real challenge for the Gryphons.
Unfortunately for the Marauders, they weren’t able to provide much resistance in their battle with Canada’s number one, losing by a final score of 96 to three. Following the loss, McMaster was removed from the U Sports top 10 list.
Facing a top ranked team has proven to be a challenge for most teams. The top five ranked teams have yet to be beaten.
Katie Mcleod, the captain of the women’s team, discussed how difficult it can be facing teams like the Gaels and the strategy that goes along with these big games to ensure the team keeps on moving forward.
“We’ve been focusing on setting goals going into games. Not necessarily score focused goals, but systems goals,” said Mcleod.
“We’ve been focusing on setting goals going into games. Not necessarily score focused goals, but systems goals,”
Katie Mcleod, Captain of women's rugby team
She noted her team seemed to know this game would result in a defeat, showing the importance of goal setting to continue measuring progress regardless of the outcome.
“Going into our Queen’s game, we kind of knew it would be a loss,” explained Mcleod.
The game ended going in the way of the Gaels, as was apparently anticipated. Mcleod was the lone scorer for the Marauders.
But why do these scores keep occurring? How do these substantial margins continue to happen game after game and for every team, not just McMaster?
“It comes down to the legacy that teams have developed. Some teams have full time head coaches, which provides for better recruitment,” said Mcleod.
This message seems to ring true, seeing the recent scores throughout the league. It also makes sense that stronger players recruited to only certain schools would lend itself to the creation of uneven scores. Though it looks like McMaster is trying to compete with these top ranked teams with the addition of head coach Chris Jones and his coaching staff.
“Now that we’ve gotten a new coaching staff, I know that recruitment has become something more on the radar. Hopefully in a few years we can be at a higher level,” explained Mcleod.
Looking to finish the season strong, the Marauders women's rugby team will face York and Brock to wrap up the season. It will become very important for the team to keep their focus on the season ahead, despite the prospect of a promising future they may already be looking forward to.
C/O Jessica Yang
Not quite the average basketball game as tensions flare following a win, but what does this say about our athletics department?
The McMaster men’s basketball team has made quite the journey this season, winning 11 of their Ontario University Athletics league games, which ultimately qualified them for the OUA Championship. Over the course of the season, they played against some top-flight teams, such as Western Mustangs, Guelph Gryphons and most recently, the Laurier Golden Hawks.
At their recent game against the Golden Hawks, the Marauders had a very unlikely ending that surprised many on stands and in the wider community. Nearer to the end of the game, when the Marauders were leading 75-70, a verbal conflict occurred between the two teams. The groups were shouting at each other just as the game was about to end, with the crowd spectating a very rare occurrence from the stands. It was a stressful experience with an unclear cause. Hopefully, with time, more details surrounding the event will emerge, although this will be difficult given that the conflict was censored over live streams.
Although the OUA censored the visual conflict between the teams on their stream, shouting could still be heard from both sides, proving that there was genuine outrage after the last whistle on the court on behalf of the players. As the conflict died down, the Marauders claimed their eleventh win in the last game of the 2021-2022 regular season. However, this did not erase the serious conflict that had occurred.
This incident raises the issue of censorship within varsity sport as a whole. The censorship of the event by OUA highlights their motivation to maintain a positive public image. While McMaster was not responsible for the OUA stream censoring the fight, when the Sil attempted to contact the basketball team for comment regarding the conflict, the team refused to speak until further notice.
We have seen examples of similar practices in the past at McMaster, for example the allegations of racism within Marauders athletics. Many will remember the 60-page review released by McMaster University regarding racism faced by Black student-athletes. The review also showed that, throughout recent years, many athletes of colour have been ignored when asked for help. Indeed, many concerns regarding racism faced by students were disregarded, which only exacerbated the issue. This raises the concern that issues worthy of attention and discussion are too often tucked away in varsity athletics.
There are other examples of similar behaviour within the athletics department at McMaster. Earlier this year, the Sil documented the unequal allocation of resources and attention towards less popular sports amongst student-athletes within the school. Many at McMaster believe that students on less popular sports teams should not be forced to pay to represent the school. However, McMaster has not addressed this issue or indicated that they will be altering athletics budgeting and allocation of resources to sports teams.
The aforementioned issues in varsity athletics, including the censorship of the fight that occurred in the game against the Golden Hawks, deserve attention not only from the McMaster student community, but also from the athletics department itself. By ignoring issues worthy of attention, we risk contributing to pre-existing problems rather than finding solutions together.
Both the men's volleyball team and women's basketball team took the weekend by storm with two victories each, while the men's basketball and women's volleyball teams won one out of their two games. Here are the stars of the weekend.
The second-year is no stranger to the Pita Pit Athlete of the Week award, most recently winning the weekend honour on Nov. 15, 2018, when she scored a career-high of 24 points. This weekend, she poured in 19 points for the Marauders in both of the team’s wins. Gates who was called to the 2018 Ontario University Athletics All-Rookie team, shot 50 per cent from the field and 40 per cent from the three, as well as collecting four rebounds in the win over Wilfrid Laurier University. Against the University of Guelph, she hit three of eight shots from three, and gave the team four steals and four rebounds.
Right side @MattColeP from @MACMVB and @macwbball guard Sarah Gates are the @PitaPitCanada Athletes of the Week. @mcmasteru #GoMacGo
READ ⬇️https://t.co/u7nAO5cvSh
— McMaster Marauders (@McMasterSports) January 14, 2019
After sitting out due to injury, Passalent hit the court for the first time of the regular season and did not miss a beat, being recognized as the Pita Pit Athlete of the Week for his efforts. Facing two U Sports top-10 opponents this weekend, the Marauders took home two victories and Passalent was a big part of both. The fourth-year had 10 kills, two aces and a block assist for 12.5 points Saturday against University of Windsor, and 15 kills and 18.5 points against Western University, which bumped them up to #4 in the national rankings.
There are 4️⃣ @mcmasteru teams ranked in this week's @usportsca Top 10s, with @MACMVB and men's wrestling both moving up two spots!
♂️🏐⬆️4️⃣
♀️🏀↔️4️⃣
🤼♂️⬆️6️⃣
🤼♀️↔️9️⃣#GoMacGo pic.twitter.com/qqPgOWV8jK— McMaster Marauders (@McMasterSports) January 15, 2019
In the Marauders’ second victory of the New Year, coming against the Guelph Gryphons, McCulloch contributed 23 points shooting 64 per cent from the field. The 97-80 road win seemed like just the fire the Marauders needed to bring it home and win again. Unfortunately, the Laurier Golden Hawks had other plans. Despite the fifth-year guard being the second highest leading scorer of the game with 15 points, the Golden Hawks came for revenge and defeated the Marauders 87-73 at home.
Narin led the Marauders offensively in both games against Windsor and Western this weekend. With 17 kills and 23 points, including five aces and a solo block, she helped Mac defeat Western on Saturday night in the fifth set. Narin, a right side, also led offensively the night before in the loss to Windsor, with 14 kills, three aces and a block assist for a team- and match-high 17.5 points.
This weekend McMaster basketball will face the Lakehead University Timberwolves in back-to-back home games this weekend, with the women playing at 6:00 p.m. and the men at 8:00 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Both volleyball teams will then take over Burridge on Sunday, as the women and men host the Brock University Badgers this Sunday at 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. respectively.
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By Lucas Uggenti
A regular season that saw many highs and lows for the McMaster men’s soccer team is nearing an end, concluding yet another mediocre year in which the talented group finished third in their conference. This has grown to become a bit of a disappointment as the group has set expectations much higher than where they finished.
For a second-straight year, McMaster has finished third, a few points out of the top spot, which was somewhere the team believed they deserved to be. Ultimately, the team’s goal is an Ontario University Athletics championship, which would give them a berth into the national U Sports tournament.
This goal is still not out of the question, but McMaster will need to find a way to beat the inconsistent bug that has plagued the team for much of the season. Inconsistency has been the team’s Achilles’ heel early on in the season, but the Marauders have found ways to survive in games, squeaking out big points when necessary. This has come much to the chagrin of head coach Dino Perri.
“It was a pretty inconsistent season,” said Perri. “Because we had a young team, we were able to compete with the best in the league, while also dropping points to teams at the bottom of the table. That’s inconsistency.”
McMaster started the season off hot, winning their first three games, outscoring their opponents 8-2 during that stretch. Unfortunately, the Marauders hit a bump in the road only managing to muster five points out of possible 18 in their next six matches; they went 1-3-2 in that stretch.
“Our biggest strength is that we are a team,” Perri said. “There are many individuals on this roster that are capable of stepping up into the spotlight and playing well. Although we have good depth, consistency is something we lack, which hurts us.”
Hoping to play to their strengths as a team and build off of some bad performances, something sparked the Marauders as they found new life late in the season.
Following an inspired 1-1 draw against the defending champions, the York University Lions, McMaster then went on a tear, winning five of their next six games, including a 2-2 tie with the Wilfred Laurier University Golden Hawks.
This could not have come at a better time for McMaster, as the OUA playoffs are right around the corner. The Marauders’ expectations remain as high as they once were, accepting nothing less than a championship.
“Hopefully, we learned from our mistakes throughout the course of the season and build off this little hot run we’ve had late,” Perri said. "Anything can happen in the playoffs.”
In their annual season-ending games against the Algoma University Thunderbirds, the Marauders ended their season on a high note with back-to-back wins to finish with a 9-3-4 record. Powered by a Dusan Kovacevic hat-trick, the Marauders won their first game in Sault Ste. Marie in a 5-3 comeback. They followed that performance with a clean sheet, beating the Thunderbirds 6-0 on the back of freshman defender Miles Green’s four goals.
Men's Soccer -- FINAL: Dusan Kovacevic completed a hat trick late, as the Marauders scored three goals in the final five minutes to snatch all three points in Sault Ste. Marie. #GoMacGo pic.twitter.com/Kj0dywrs2a
— McMaster Athletics (@McMasterSports) 20 October 2018
McMaster finished the season in third place in the OUA West division, earning a first-round playoff match up against the University of Waterloo Warriors. This marks the first game of the playoffs for the Marauders, as they hope to forget about their inconsistent season and focus on what their future holds.
McMaster has the talent, the coaching and the right mentality to compete for a championship, and can only really defeat themselves by remaining inconsistent.
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While many of us were “studying” (it’s fine if you didn’t study, no judgement here) this past reading week, many McMaster athletes were busy competing in their last few regular season games. Here are four key things you may have missed during the reading week.
1. The Mac women’s rugby team started their reading week off on fire, defeating the Wilfred Laurier University Golden Hawks 109-0 in their Ontario University Athletics quarter-final playoff game on Oct. 5. Unfortunately for them, their championship dreams came to an end less than a week later, when they played the Queen’s University Gaels. Scoring their first try in the seventh minute, the Gaels pulled away with a 29-24 victory. But the season is not over yet for Mac. They will host the Brock University Badgers for one last game to determine who will win the OUA bronze medal, this Friday night at Ron Joyce Stadium. [spacer height="20px"]
2. The Marauders football team started off their reading week on a good note, finding themselves back in the U Sports top 10 rankings at No. 9, following a three-game winning streak. With the return of running back Justice Allin, the Marauders just managed to pull away with a win against the Gaels on Oct. 5. Their hopes of extending their streak to four weeks came to an end after the University of Waterloo Warriors outlasted them in a 34-16 loss. Up next, their last game of the season will be against the University of Windsor Lancers this Saturday at 1:00 pm.
#OUA FBALL
2nd and long? No problem for @McMasterSports, as Andreas Dueck connects with Tommy Nield for the first down and more to put the visitors up 11-9 over the @WlooWarriors!#WeAreONE | #MACvsWAT pic.twitter.com/uKnzlItpSf
— OUA (@OUAsport) 13 October 2018
3. The McMaster men’s cross-country team entered the national rankings at number two during the break, while the women secured the ninth-place spot. The Marauders hosted the Bayfront Open for the second time during the weekend, and saw success once again. Leading the pack, the men’s team won the team title by a 29-point margin, while the women took home bronze.[spacer height="20px"]
4. Both the men and women’s soccer teams remained dominant during the break. The men beat the Badgers 1-0 on Oct. 6, while the women beat them 2-1. By the end of the game, women’s forward Stephanie Roberts became the province’s fourth-leading scorer, with a total of nine goals, just two behind the OUA-leader, Gaels’ Jenny Wolever. The following weekend, the women were able to tie their match against the Waterloo Warriors 1-1, while the men dominated the Warriors in a 3-1 victory.
Men's Soccer -- The Marauders put three past the Warriors on Alumni Day Saturday, keeping hold of third in the @OUAsport West. #GoMacGo https://t.co/BlAirhYopI
— McMaster Athletics (@McMasterSports) 14 October 2018
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