For the second time in McMaster history, the U Sports MVP award will return to Hamilton
The awards continue coming for McMaster University’s women’s basketball team. Sarah Gates, who was named the provincial most valuable player award winner just one week ago, has now been named the U Sports Most Valuable Player as the best women’s player in the country.
Gates had an absolute breakout year where she finished with a stat line of 27.1 points per game on a 47.9 field goal percentage while averaging seven point six rebounds. She would also set the McMaster women’s basketball all time scoring record, and the single game scoring record over the course of the season.
Along with this honour, Gates was named to the first team All-Canadian. She was the driving force for the team on route to their 17 win and six loss record.
Despite the outstanding play from Gates, the team was only able to make it to the semi-final round of the provincial playoffs, where they were eliminated by the eventually championed Carlton Ravens. Gates put up 22 points in what would become the final game of her McMaster career, as she will be graduating at the end of the year alongside teammates Mia Spadafora, Arianne Soriano, Pietra Kamstra and Clare Sharkey.
After having led Canada in scoring, Sarah Gates has officially brought the MVP award back to McMaster
Marauders superstar Sarah Gates has just been named the Ontario University Athletics league women’s basketball MVP for the 2022-2023 season. Gates led the nation in scoring, finishing with a staggering 27.3 points per game, nearly five full points over the next leading scorer, while maintaining an efficient 48.4 field goal percentage.
Gates led the nation in scoring, finishing with a staggering 27.3 points per game, nearly five full points over the next leading scorer.
Gates becomes the first MVP winner for McMaster since Danielle Boiago in the 2016-2017 season. Boiago, now an assistant coach for the team, led the Marauders all-time in scoring until her record was broken earlier this season by Gates. Gates also set the single game scoring record this season with 47 in a game.
Arianne Soriano, a point guard for the team, also came away with some hardware after having won the Joy Bellinger Award for outstanding career contributions to OUA basketball.
The announcement comes a mere two hours prior to game time for the Marauders, who will be taking on the Carlton Ravens at 6:00 PM on Mar. 1 in Ottawa. Should Gates and the team win their game tonight, they will secure their spot in the provincial championship this weekend.
C/O Jessica Yang/Production Assistant
Although they finished 6th at the OUA, the McMaster badminton team is full of talent
Every sport at McMaster University is unique in its own way. Each sport has a backstory to it and every team member is talented in their own way. Badminton is just another one of those unique sports that McMaster has to offer. With over 20 competitors on the squad, it has so much to offer in terms of talent and individualism. However, there is one player who has impressed last weekend during the Ontario University Athletics Championships in Waterloo.
Talia Ng is a third-year student currently studying life sciences and is expected to graduate this year. Nonetheless, she has been extremely impressive during this season’s badminton campaign, racking up a handful of awards during the weekend. Her first award came through at the end of the OUA Championships, where she was awarded the OUA MVP and was given all-star recognition. Although extremely impressive, her success did not end there. Just a day later Ng was named as the Marauder of the week along with Alex Drover, a runner on the men’s track team, which concluded a very eventful week for the badminton team.
“Last week was overall a mixed experience for me. I think that as a team we have done our best, but I can't say that I am extremely happy with the outcome. We came sixth out of eight teams, so it simply isn't that great. As for the team, I feel that we are much closer altogether compared to the previous years. They are a great set of people and many of us are very supportive of each other, which is something I feel is really important for us,” said Ng.
Ng is the first female Marauder to receive an OUA Championships Most Valuable Player Award since 2003.
“I am really honored to have received all these awards. They certainly do bring me confidence, even though I didn't really expect it. To be honest, I think that it is unfair in a way because my team has done so much as well last week. We worked as a group together and I think that our team overall deserves the same accolades as I do,” explained Ng.
Transitioning from a university into the world of professional sports can be a challenge, but Ng is ready to take it on. She hopes to continue her athletics journey and pursue further heights in badminton beyond her time at McMaster.
“I am most definitely looking into starting a badminton career after school. My goal is to reach the Olympics someday, but I know that it will take a lot of hard work to get there,” said Ng.
“I am most definitely looking into starting a badminton career after school. My goal is to reach the Olympics someday, but I know that it will take a lot of hard work to get there."
Talia Ng, 2022 OUA Badminton MVP
While the Marauders didn't do exceptionally well last weekend, the enthusiasm and closeness within the team has shown that there is a bright future ahead for the team. Its members can look forward to taking on a new set of challenges in the upcoming year and working diligently to reach their goal.
C/O Pixabay
After a year and a half without sports, Nikolas Motruck and the rest of the guys have returned and they’re hungry for a championship
Last year’s university sports season getting cancelled due to COVID-19 was a tough blow for athletes around the world. Pro sports leagues temporarily shut down, most university sports operated in little or no capacity and athletes were suffering greatly.
McMaster University hasn’t seen its athletes compete since sports were cancelled in early 2020, and athletes feared they would not see competition in 2021 either, until the Ontario University Athletics officially announced that there would be a season this fall.
The McMaster Marauders baseball team has been especially eager to make their return to the field after a somewhat disappointing conclusion to last year’s season. With Most Valuable Player winner Nikolas Motruck and the Cy Young award, awarded to the league’s best pitcher, winner Julian Tymochko, the team managed to fight their way to the semifinals before losing to the Laurier Golden Hawks, who would end up finishing as league champions.
Despite falling short of their championship aspirations in 2019, the season had numerous high points for the team, with Motruck’s MVP award among them. Despite finishing the season with an incredible .581 batting average and a .930 slugging percentage, Motruck was caught off guard after learning he had won the league’s most prestigious individual award.
“I was kind of speechless, I wasn’t really expecting that,” said Motruck. “I had a long road to get there from first year, but we had put in a lot of work . . . I was really enjoying my time, and it was really just icing on the cake when they announced that I had won the MVP. It was something I had never thought was possible.”
Following such a strong season, Motruck was eager to return to play in 2020, but never got that chance. For 2021, he remained hopeful that there would be a season in his fifth and final year. He never stopped working to continue getting better. Knowing that there would be one final opportunity to get on the field before graduating was extremely meaningful.
“I was kind of up in the air about possibly having played my last season and not knowing it. That was tough news to take. . . Just being able to do it one more time before having to graduate is such a great feeling,” explained Motruck.
"I was kind of up in the air about possibly having played my last season and not knowing it. That was tough news to take. . . Just being able to do it one more time before having to graduate is such a great feeling."
Nikolas Motruck, 2019-2020 Baseball MVP award recipient
When asked about his goals going into his last season, Motruck made his aspirations very clear: winning. He stressed how much time and effort the team has put in to prepare for this season, and believes that this could be a very special year for McMaster baseball.
“We’ve all been working so hard for this since we’ve been here, so the goal is absolutely to win the championship. To say that I want to win [the title] is an understatement,” said Motruck.
"We've all been working so hard for this since we've been here, so the goal is absolutely to win the championship. To say that I want to win [the title] is an understatement."
Nikolas Motruck
After having finished the last year’s regular season with nine wins and three losses, the team has their sights set on bigger things this year. Should Motruck have a season anything like that which earned him the MVP award, the team should have an opportunity to do some real damage. For a team who came ever so close to the finals just prior to the pandemic, they will finally get their long-awaited opportunity for redemption.
