Marauders sweep the Lancers to become back-to-back OUA champions in front of a sold-out crowd in Burridge
The McMaster Marauders are back on top of Ontario! Following a three-set sweep of the Windsor Lancers on Mar. 11, McMaster has officially won 11 titles in the last 15 seasons. They managed to do this in front of a rare sold-out crowd on home turf in Burridge.
The match came as highly anticipated, as the Marauders and Lancers were the first and second placed teams in the Ontario University Athletics standings. The Marauders dominated throughout, winning the first two sets by considerable margins of 11 and nine, while the third and final set was more competitive with just a four point difference.
Several players stepped up for the Marauders through the course of the game, but it was outside hitter Thomas Williams who put the final nail in the coffin. Williams would secure the gold on a spike from the right side.
“It feels great – I mean, why wouldn’t it feel great? We’ve worked really hard for this. We always knew we had the potential, and we’re always grateful to be here. . . We put in the work and we just earned it in the end with the way we played,” said Williams.
Williams was one of many to step up when the team needed them, but it was Brendan Mills whose performance took the cake. Mills, a 2022-2023 breakout player, would be named the player of the game shortly after the win became official. Mills stood out as a true two way player, impacting the game on both sides by leading the team in kills and blocks.
“Awesome it got to be me tonight, but every night it’s going to be a different guy. . . The job that our middles did keeping their middle blockers out of the way for me, and left side is obviously Sam [Cooper], Mateusz [Wlodarski], Max [Gratton], everyone had a great game tonight. I put it away when it came to me, but those guys made my life super easy. It’s not about me, it’s about the team,” explained Mills.
As big a deal as a provincial title is, the mindset of the team has already shifted to the national championship tournament less than one week away. Though McMaster already secured a spot as the tournament host for the year, the provincial championship only solidified the fact that they deserve to be there.
“It’s a great win, but we’ve got to completely shift our focus. Just because we won [provincials] doesn’t mean we’re going to win nationals easily. We’ve got to focus on each game at a time and really gotta dial in, especially against the [western] teams that are usually stronger. We’ve got to change our mindset now. Celebrate while we can, but we’ve got to keep moving forward and put that work in like we did for the OUA championships,” said Williams.
"We’ve got to change our mindset now. Celebrate while we can, but we’ve got to keep moving forward and put that work in like we did for the OUA championships."
Thomas Williams, Men's Volleyball Team
Winning the OUA championship is certainly an effective way to gain momentum heading into nationals. The third ranked team nationally will still have to tread carefully however, as injury issues remain a concern.
Offensive superstars Sam Cooper and Maxime Gratton still appear to be feeling the lingering affects of their injuries, both lower body. While he is still playing well, Cooper has yet to return to the level of stardom he maintained early in the season, and Gratton is seeing extremely low usage and is still walking with a clear limp. Cooper appears healthy, but rusty, while Gratton is clearly playing through injury. Either player could be the x-factor next week.
Until then, the team has plenty to celebrate. The Forsyth Cup will remain in Hamilton another year.
In a tense faceoff against Toronto Metropolitan University, McMaster won by one goal to be crowned champions
The final game of the Ontario University Athletics season saw the McMaster men’s soccer team take on Toronto Metropolitan University. In Saturday night's game at Downsview Park, the team looked to win it all.
Toronto Metropolitan looked to be a menacing side. Their team contained four OUA All Stars, with two players earning first team honors, and two winning second team honors. The team finished in identical place with McMaster, finishing the regular season in second place in OUA East Division.
McMaster had four of their own players named OUA All Stars. One player was named to the OUA first team, and three players were named to OUA’s second team. With both teams almost equally matched, the game would come down to a very small margin.
The match began with a slow tempo, without either side creating many opportunities. Within just the first half of play, TMU received a red card. The player given a red card was OUA First Team All Star, Luca Di Marco.
Despite the Marauders being up a player, they struggled to capitalize. It was not until the 79th minute of play that McMaster was able to score. A goal by Amir Shirazi gave the game to the Marauders.
McMaster held onto this lead firmly for the remainder of the match. It paved way for their first OUA Championship win since 2012.
Impressively, rookie head coach Chris Markou would take his first ever title while coaching the team. It is quite an accomplishment under any circumstances, never mind in a coaches first season.
This win puts the Marauders into fourth seed in the U Sport National Championship, hosted in Kamloops, B.C. The team will look to challenge for this years National title, with their first game against the host, Thompson Rivers University.
In their final game of the season, McMaster football loses by just three points to the University of Toronto, wiping away their playoff hopes
The last game of the Marauder football season came down to a harsh ultimatum. They would either beat the University of Toronto and land a spot in the playoffs or they would lose and have the season come to an immediate halt. With home field advantage on their side, the Marauders suited up to take on the Varsity Blues on an unusually warm day of October.
With both teams facing a similar ultimatum, the stakes were high. A Toronto win meant the Varsity Blues make the playoffs while McMaster would be eliminated. Meanwhile a McMaster win would lead to a tie in the standings for the final playoff spot between Toronto and McMaster.
The Marauders made good on their first drive of the game as Andreas Dueck threw a 15 yard pass which Nicholas Adair converted to a touchdown.
The Varsity Blues went on to convert three field goals, bringing their point total to nine just before the half. A field goal for McMaster’s kicker Micheal Horvat would bring the half time score to nine to 10, in the way of McMaster. Going into the second half with just the one-point lead, the Marauders needed to produce something more to bring them to the postseason.
They ended up doing just the opposite. The second half of play saw McMaster produce zero points, while the Varsity Blues converted two safeties to bring the final score to 13-10. Just like that, with no points coming from touchdowns, the Toronto side secured a postseason berth.
It a difficult pill for the team to swallow not only because of the lost playoff hopes, but also because the Marauders would snap a 26 year winning streak. This became the first time since Sep. 21, 1996 that McMaster lost to the Varsity Blues.
It's difficult to pin the McMaster loss on any single factor but taking a look at their season as a whole, it has been very lackluster. Their two wins came against teams sitting at the bottom of the barrel, those being Guelph and Waterloo. Their only other win came against the York Lions, after which an ineligible player stripped the win away from the team, forcing them to forfeit their 39-one victory.
The forfeited game had major implications to the Marauder season. This additional win would have put them in better standing and would have added a majorly needed win to the teams tally. Ultimately, their final game against Toronto highlighted some of the issues the team faced all season.
Their lack of offensive efficiency costed them gravely. The Marauders failed to advance up the field this game discernibly. In some cases, the offensive line broke down rather quickly. In others, McMaster’s quarterback failed to connect with his receivers. It seems that offensively McMaster struggles to find consistency.
Defensively, the Marauders seem quite sound. With no touchdowns coming from the Varsity Blues, they seem to be in fine form. The Marauders look as though they must put in lots of work in the offseason to bring themselves back to the level they once were at. This is the team’s first time since 1997 missing playoffs in an eight-game season (excluding the shortened 2021 season).
If they hope to become the team they once were, they may need to take a closer look at their offense. With Dueck leaving McMaster after this season, the team will need to replace his quarterback position.
More wins come with more points, which is exactly what the Marauders will be hoping for in their season ahead as they hunt for a return to the playoffs for the first time since winning the provincial championship in the 2019-2020 season.
