William Lou
The Silhouette
The generica viagra McMaster Men’s Soccer Team qualified for the OUA playoffs after securing the second seed in the OUA West division with a win and a draw over the Brock Badgers and the Laurier Golden Hawks.
The Marauders took on the Badgers last Saturday under rather miserable weather conditions. In addition to light rain and gusting winds, temperatures dipped below 10 degrees, resulting in rather sloppy play at times. The Badgers, having already been eliminated from the playoffs, looked to retain a modicum of dignity against the vastly favored Marauders who looked to clinch the second seed with a win.
However it was simply not to be for the Brock Badgers. In an effort to secure the win, coach Dino Perri trotted out his best starting eleven, and his team dominated both the possession and the score. Co-Captain Paterson Farrell opened the scoring in the 11th minute and Gersi Xhuti scored his team-leading 7th goal of the season in the 37th minute.
The Marauders got off to a tumultuous start in the second half. McMaster went down to 10 men, thus conceding some possession to Brock, but the Badgers failed to capitalize. McMaster tacked on two more goals on a corner kick by Ryan Garnett and a great run by Nate Morris in the 65th and 87th minute. The match ended 4-0 in favor of the Marauders. The win clinched the second seed for McMaster and earned them a bye in the first round of the playoffs.
However, the match did come with a cost. Xhuti received a straight red card at the start of the second half for kicking Brock’s Erik Van Wissen. As Xhuti went to retrieve a ball that had gone out of bounds, Van Wissen slid in for a late challenge and struck Xhuti in the leg. Xhuti took exception to the challenged and retaliated with a swift kick in the calf, which earned him a straight red card and a one-game suspension.
After the game, coach Dino Perri commented on Xhuti’s reaction, saying that “[Gersi] was probably a little frustrated that he got kicked and he reacted incorrectly” and that the two would “have a chat” about the incident.
Perri also said that he’s “happy with the way that they played and with the way they handled themselves after going down to 10 men for the half.”
He also spoke about securing the second seed.
“First place is nice, but first or second is the same thing because you’re playing at home unless there’s a team that is vastly better on one side, which I don’t think there is.”
The following day, the Marauders traveled to Waterloo to take on the Laurier Golden Hawks. Having secured the second seed, and with no prospect of improving their conditions, coach Perri decided to rest his starting lineup and give his substitutes some run. The Golden Hawks were desperate to earn the win to secure home field advantage for the first game of the playoffs but despite issuing nine shots on goal to McMaster’s three, the match ended 0-0.
The Marauders ended the regular season with three straight shutouts en route to an overall record of 11 wins, two losses and three draws, finishing second in the OUA West and third overall in the OUA conference to Ryerson and York. They will have a first-round bye and they will host an OUA division semifinal match on Sunday, Oct. 27, at Ron Joyce Stadium. That opponent is to be determined after the quarterfinals.
John Bauer
The Silhouette
After a strong start and a disappointing middle to their season, it appears that the McMaster men's lacrosse team is heating up just at the right time. After holding off a furious Laurier compare cialis levitra viagra rally in the dying minutes of their second-to-last game of the season to take the 10-9 win, McMaster officially punched their ticket to the playoffs on Friday night.
After news that Toronto had lost their game filtered through a couple hours later, it was determined that Mac would be the fourth seed. Even though the Maroon dropped their season finale 14-8 to Guelph, the squad is poised to do some damage in the wild card round. Though the cancellation of two of the final regular season games due to rain has muddled the schedule, and the Marauders will not know who their opponent will be until a future date, the men can use the momentum of taking two of their last three games against whichever opponent they face.
Friday's game against Laurier kept McMaster lacrosse fans thoroughly entertained, despite giving them quite the scare. The teams got to a quick start, each picking up a trio of goals in the first quarter. Once again, Mark Phillips was the catalyst for the Marauder’s offense, picking up two of those goals. The teams would swap a pair of goals each in the second, with Phillips notching his third of the game.
McMaster looked to put the game out of reach in the third, as Justin Beatty, Tristan Schram, Ryan Adams and Phillips each potted a goal for the 9-6 lead. But Laurier would not go quietly, as Drew Barfoot scored halfway through the fourth to move the Golden Hawks within two scores. Phillips scored his fifth of the game before Laurier scored two late goals to make things very interesting for Mac's liking. Goaltender Max Yavitt stood tall against the final Laurier barrage to secure the win and the playoff berth. After Phillips, Mitchell Iszkula was Mac's next leading scorer on the day with a goal and three assists.
Although the men would have liked to close out the regular season on a winning note, the Gryphons made sure this did not happen, winning the game with a score of 14-8. The Maroon and Grey played a strong game against the Guelph team, however, but in the end their run wasn’t enough, and the Gryphons prevailed. Phillips once again put up the five-spot, finishing the season with 31 goals on the year, slotting him fifth in the league goal-scoring race. Izskula took his familiar position just behind Phillips on the scoresheet for the day, picking up three points, which was good for thirty on the year.
Once the make up games are played, the Marauders will learn whether they face Western or Guelph in the wild card round this week. The Baggataway Cup final six then gets under way the following week, as Canada's top university teams battle it out from Nov. 1 - Nov. 3.
It was a very successful weekend for McMaster Marauders rugby as both squads were able to pull off important wins.
The men’s rugby team defeated the Laurier Golden Hawks on the Back 10 field on Oct. 11 with a crushing 24-8 victory.
A commending effort by fourth-year Cam Stones who put up four tries against Laurier was a big part of the Marauder win.
McMaster hit the field hard in the opening minutes with fourth year Stones crossing the goal line twice within the first 10 minutes of the match. Captain Andrew Ferguson would then kick a successful convert on the second to extend the Marauders lead to 12-0.
Laurier would not be far behind showing some life in the first half as they successfully kicked a penalty goal to bring the score to 12-3.
Stones would strike once again for the third time in the match putting McMaster ahead 17-3 as the first half came to a close.
Offensively, the second half was a quiet one, as the Marauders would hold their ground and eliminate any opportunity for a Laurier point.
Stones continued to shine scoring his fourth and final try of the game with James Leveridge following that up with a successful convert helping the Maroon and Grey to grasp their third season win with a 24-8 victory at home.
Looking ahead to Waterloo, it will be important for the team to play a hard 80-minute game. Giving their all for the full 80 minutes will be the key.
“This is our last game before playoffs; a win with a bonus point is a must,” said Whitby, Ont. native Cam Stones.
“The main focus for this week’s game is coming out strong and maintaining intensity for the full 80 minutes.”
“We need to win this game decisively and it’s an important step to gelling before playoffs.”
McMaster will conclude it’s regular season in one week’s time as they welcome the Waterloo Warriors to the Back 10 field. The game is set for Oct. 19 and kick off is scheduled for 2 p.m.
J.J Bardoel
The Silhouette Intern
McMaster was able to secure a fourth place finish in the Canadian University Field Lacrosse Association following a victory over Toronto Varsity Blues on Oct. 11, coming through with a 13-7 win.
McMaster was in control for the majority of the first quarter with continuous goals, contributed by Kyle Lindsay and Mitch Iszkula, with assists by Carter Williams. Although Toronto was able to gain some traction, the Marauders followed up with three goals of their own, two of which were from Mark Phillips and another from Iszkula.
McMaster was in the lead by three going into the second quarter, which led to Phillips going on a five-goal streak which carried into the third quarter, only broken by Michael Buwalda of Toronto, who eventually put in four goals that night.
Toronto was able to secure another goal via power play by Justin Crofts. However, McMaster bounced back by capitalizing on power plays of their own with respective goals by Lucas Lepore and Iszkula. Max Yavitt kept the team grounded with solid defence, stopping 27 shots throughout the game.
The Marauders now hold a 4-6 record, and gain solid momentum going into their match with the Laurier Golden Hawks on Oct. 18 on Alumni Field at 7p.m.
The McMaster women’s rugby team proved why they are a contender for an OUA title this season by dishing out back-to-back wins on their York Lion opponents.
The second victory came on the evening of Oct. 11, when the Marauders faced the Lions for the second time in a row. The score was 37-0.
With home field advantage, the Marauders managed to grasp an early lead with an penalty goal from Stephanie Black followed by a try from Heidi Henderson to bring the score to 10-0 Marauders. The Marauders would continue to pressure to the weaker York Lions as tries from Cindy Nelles and Jenn Lemon would bring the Marauders to a 20-0 lead.
Heading into the second half, the Marauders stepped it up even further as three of Mac’s players would all cross the touchline. Black played well for the Maroon and Grey, bringing in a total of 12 points to make her the top scorer of the night.
Currently ranked tenth within the CIS top-ten the Marauders will now advance to play the Guelph Gryphons in the OUA semifinals, which will take place on Oct. 19 on the Gryphons’ home turf.
The Guelph Gryphons are ranked second overall in the country and finished regular season play as an undefeated team. McMaster gave the Gryphons their hardest battle this season, keeping the score close for most of the match. Unfortunately the Gryphons were able to pounce on a few of the Marauders errors handing them a 44-27 deficit.
With much to be proud of the Marauders are able to maintain confidence heading into the crucial match up against Guelph this weekend on the road.
William Lou
The Silhouette
On Oct. 12, the McMaster Swimming Teams travelled across the border to Buffalo, New York to partake in a friendly meet hosted by the University of Buffalo.
The Marauders opened their season on Sept. 29, against the five-time defending conference champions Western Mustangs at the Ivor Wynne Centre. The Mustangs, claiming 16 podium finishes en route to a hotly contested 347-329 point loss, narrowly edged the women’s team. The men’s team claimed 17 medals at the meet.
So when coming into the meet in Buffalo, coach Andrew Cole and his athletes were unsure of what to expect. The University of Buffalo swim teams compete in NCAA Division I, meaning the Marauders were in for a tough challenge, especially given that the Marauders’ season was in its infancy. To further complicate matters, Buffalo’s pools are 25 yards in length, as opposed to 25 meters, so the Canadian swimmers had to make some adjustments for the shorter pool.
Despite the difficulties, however, both the men’s and the women’s teams managed to capture several podium finishes against their tough American counterparts.
There were several notable finishes on the Women’s team. Olivvya Chow claimed the gold in the 200-yard individual medley, Kieran Liew took the gold in the 100-yard backstroke and Virginia Hetherington finished first in the 200-yard backstroke.
The Men’s team also claimed several podium finishes. The quartet of Cameron Bailey, Konrad Bald, Mohamed Eldah and Matthew Vogelzang won gold in the 4x50- yard relay. Bailey claimed gold in the 200-yard individual medley and Eric Anderson, a transfer student from Denver, Colorado, came within 6/10th of a second of beating the pool record in the 100-yard backstroke en route to winning gold and qualifying for the CIS competitions. Several other Marauders also medalled on the day.
After the meet, coach Andrew Cole complimented both the Men’s and the Women’s teams on their performances early on in the season. “I can easily say, for this early in the season, that it’s the best we’ve looked,” said Cole. He also noted that several American coaches who were thoroughly impressed with the Marauders’ showing approached him. A few in particular asked in disbelief, “how good are you guys in Canada?”
Coach Cole said that the meet was very productive. It gave him a chance to “see any weak links...with regard with individuals and what we need to do to get better, and to focus on in training over the next month.” He also said that the “athletes feel a little more confident” following their impressive performance against their Division I opponents.
Their next meet, hosted by the University of Guelph will take place on Oct. 19. Look for newcomers like Eric Anderson, Eldah and Chow to retake the podium, and for veterans like Virginia Hetherington, Kieran Liew, Bailey and Bald to continue to impress.
When asked about the ability of his team this season, Head Coach Tim Louks does not just give the typical cliché responses. Rather, he gives a run-through of what they were like last season, and what improvements have been made that have gotten them to where they are, and what they are now - a CIS medal contending team.
The Marauders swept the competition in a field of highly competitive teams at the Preseason Gee-Gees Classic in Ottawa this past weekend- which is a tournament that hosts some of the most dominant teams in the OUA and AUS, but these powerhouse teams were no match for the Maroon and Grey, who won all of their matches in the tournament.
“It’s just a building block, for sure it’s a building block, it’s part of a larger plan” said Louks.
“We had a vision of what we wanted to try and accomplish through the course of the tournament, and, as I say, the girls all the time would play to win, all the time.”
And this was no overstatement. The Marauders made it to the semi-final by toppling over the Brock Badgers, the Sherbrooke Vert-et Or, and the St. Mary’s Huskies - a powerful team that was runner-up last year in the AUS finals.
Louks was proud of the team’s win, and thinks they will only get better and more skilled, as the members prioritize to improve in their game.
“I believe the players have lots of opportunity to address some of their, sort of, individual agendas, which is sort of going to keep making us deeper in terms of skill and stuff like that, so, it was a great win.”
The team made the trek to Winnipeg two weeks before, where they managed to come home with a bronze medal while up against some fierce Canada West competition. In the eyes of coach Louks, they have already made some big steps in improving from the tournament, just one week later.
One of these big steps has included the team-building that has taken place from spending time with one another, both on and off of the court
“As a group, as a team…they’re still looking, still building an identity for this year what the team is kind of going to anchor itself on; they’re getting to appreciate each other a little bit, and those are the things… just bumping shoulders, and connecting, and going on bus trips, and plane rides… It’s a necessary thing to occur,” said Louks.
In terms of supporting one another, and creating positive energy for the team, Louks thinks that he is working alongside some great personas and student athletes that all seem to be getting along well as a team unit
“It’s probably the most collected group I’ve seen in a long, long time,” added Louks.
Other than the bonding of the team, the biggest difference of this year’s team for Coach Loukts are the players that have graduated, and the players that have come in, that have made the team younger, and deeper overall.
Out of these young players, Louks has named five to the roster that have all contributed on the court in the preseason tournaments
“Carly Heath was on the floor as a libero - first year out of Calgary in the fifth set against St.Mary’s…Sophie Bukovec played, Maciee Sorrensen played, Joanna Jedrzejewska played, the only player that didn’t get minutes but played in the semi-final was Caitlin Genovy, and that’s predominantly because we have three setters, and two of them are fifth years so she’s going to have to be patient in that,” said Louks on the depth of the rookies.
Although Coach Louks is the head coach of a dominant team, he understands the stresses and challenges that they will face down the road that may interfere with the season - but he does not want these challenges to get in the way of the primary goal: which is and always has been, to win a provincial and national championship.
“Few, if any will be pro, few if any will go national level, but all will compete at the university level if they choose to and graduate out of here and life will trump the game, and we get it, that’s the priority” said Louks.
The team will prepare to do well, and win key matches with the help of some standout performers that were recognized in the Gee-Gee tournament as MVP’s
“Certainly the recognition needs to go to all of them because they all had played. If you look match to match situations, everybody got opportunities,” said the former Canadian men’s national volleyball player.
The team will now look forward to an exhibition game on Thursday at the Thanksgiving Classic at the Burridge Gym, before they tackle the rest of their season that kicks off Oct, against the familiar Ryerson Rams - the same team that knocked the Marauders out of the quarterfinals last season.
But this season will be different from last. Coach Louks knows that there will be no disappointment, as there may have been in previous seasons. He is confident in the abilities and progress of his team, and believes that the idea of an OUA and CIS medal is not far out of reach.
The Marauders exciting season gets underway on Oct. 19. in the Burridge Gym.
With major playoff implications on the line for McMaster, the Maroon and Grey stepped up and crushed the Waterloo Warriors, 66-3.
The stakes were high, with a loss almost guaranteeing a tough quarterfinal playoff game on the road against a CIS-ranked opponent. Mac responded with the most points and largest margin of victory of the Stefan Ptaszek era.
McMaster was given the opportunity to showcase what they are made of and prove why they have one of the best defensive backfields in the country.
McMaster has led the OUA in interceptions for the past three seasons and the Homecoming picked up on that trend. Keldyn Ahlsted led the way with interceptions, snagging three and grabbing the OUA Defensive Player of the Week honours.
More notably was the emergence of a Marauder ground game. Coming into the Waterloo game, McMaster ranked second-last for rushing yards per game. Kasean Davis-Reynolds cured the five-game touchdown dry spell.
“I had a big feeling of relief,” said Davis-Reynolds. “It was due time that we put up a great performance as team.”
Looking ahead to the Oct. 12 matchup against the Laurier Golden Hawks, McMaster will need to continue their dominance. In Laurier’s past two games, they have held a 10-0 on the No. 1 ranked Western Mustangs before losing 45-24 and suffered a narrow overtime loss at Queen’s Homecoming. Their latest loss puts them at 1-6 and confirms that they will miss OUA playoffs for the first time since 2002. However, McMaster is not taking the Golden Hawks lightly.
“Laurier has a great program with a lot of guys that can make plays so to know that we have just as many guys ready to make plays at any point of the game definitely boosts the confidence of myself as a player and for us as a team,” said Davis-Reynolds.
Mac will be heeding the Ptaszek adage: “The only game that really matters is the next one.” Now that the team looks to have ironed out the kinks, the squad can look to climb up the OUA standings. Currently, they sit at 3-3 – good for sixth in the OUA.
The Maroon and Grey will be battling for playoff position against the Windsor Lancers and Ottawa Gee-Gees, both of whom are 4-3.
John Bauer
The Silhouette
A season that started with much promise has quickly turned into a nightmare for McMaster's men's lacrosse team after dropping another pair of games. While the losses did come at the hands of the conference leading Brock, the Maroon have not won a game since Sept. 15. An anemic offense continues to plague the team, after they only scored five goals between the two games.
The first game did not start out too badly for McMaster, as the Badgers took a 2-0 lead midway through the first quarter, before Mac's leading scorer Mark Phillips, cut the lead to one. Undisciplined play by the Marauders in the second led to two power play goals against them with an even-strength tally in between to put the Maroon and Grey down 5-1.
While McMaster's defense was strong enough to hold the potent Brock offense to three goals in the second half, their offense was nowhere to be found, despite several power plays in the fourth quarter. The lone goal in the first quarter was all of Mac's offense for the day, and led to an 8-1 loss. Overall, Mac only took eight shots at Badgers goalie Ian Duffy.
The Marauders had three days and a trip to Brock to rethink their strategy. While the style of the teams' second encounter of the week was markedly different, the result was much the same for McMaster
The Marauders entered the game with a decidedly more offensive approach than the first. Brock was more than willing to engage in the run and gun offense however, and quickly built a 5-0 lead in the first quarter. Mac would trade tallies with Brock in the second quarter to work the score to 8-3. Scoring for McMaster was Phillips with his twelfth of the season, who had help from his usual setup men Mitchell Iskzkula and Derrick Hastings.
Similar to the first game, the second half of the contest was all Brock. The balanced Badger attack pumped seven more goals behind the McMaster defense before Phillips scored late for a 15-4 final. McMaster almost matched Brock in shots, but the Brock defense severely limited the quality of McMaster's scoring opportunities.
McMaster looks to right the ship this coming week with a single game against the Toronto Varsity Blues on Oct. 11 at Alumni Field. A win for McMaster would move them even with Toronto in the standings at 6 points, though Mac has a game in hand.
It was a big weekend for women’s rugby as the team defeated their quarterfinal opponents the York Lions with a crushing 64-7 score.
As this was the team’s final OUA regular season game, the win was crucial to the future of the squad’s season. The win now sets up a conference quarterfinal game against that very same squad on Oct. 11.
The Marauders showcased seven talents in the match against York with Stephanie Black, Rina Charalampis and Madolyn Vande Pol each scoring a pair of tries.
Lauren Crampton, Emily Ricketts, Emily Cameron and captain Cindy Nelles each adding individual tries in the game.
Black led all the Marauders scorers with 24 points, adding seven converts to her pair of tries.
McMaster was the first to draw blood in the match and amassed an early and unanswered 24-point lead. York would soon put an end to the Marauder run with their only try of the afternoon followed by a successful convert from Alexis Boltsis which brought the Lions within 17 going into the second half.
That is the only life the Lions would show all game, as the Marauders would pounce on every opportunity to bring the score further out of York’s reach.
The Marauders would fire another 40 points in the direction of the York Lions to put an end to a successful afternoon.
Stephanie Black added 20 points in the second half alone after breaking through for both of her tries and notching a total of five converts helping the Marauders to secure an easy victory.
Mac will anxiously welcome back the York Lions on Friday afternoon on the Back 10 Field.
The conference quarterfinal matchup is set to kick off at 1:00 p.m.
