Alumni Stories
Are you a former varsity athlete? Please submit your story for our book project!
Molson Weekend Summary Nov. 1, 2009
Cross Country Running
The Memorial men’s and women’s cross country running
teams finished their season at Point Pleasant Park in Halifax this
weekend as they competed in the Subway AUS Cross Country
Championship.
The women ran a 5k race. Saint Mary’s Ashley Ryer won the
race with a fast time of 17:54. The first Memorial runner across
the line was Melanie Benson who finished 15th in a time of 20:14.
She was quickly joined by several of her teammates as three more
Sea~Hawks finished in the top twenty; Jessica Coffey (16th), Katie
Little (17th) and Allison Grant (18th). Tracy Hussey just missed a
top twenty finish; placing 21st. Head coach Art Meaney was pleased
with the team’s performance. “A top three finish in the
AUS championship is very good. The team ran very hard. They
represented Memorial and the province well.”
On the men’s side the 10k race of Point Pleasant Park was won
by Dalhousie’s Russell Christie who finished in a time of
32:17. The top Sea~Hawk finisher was Sean Hulburt, who just
finished out of the top ten, in 11th place, with a time of 35:00.
Jared Walsh (18th) and Andrew Casey (19th) finished in the top
twenty while teammate Jon Slaney was 21st. The Sea~Hawks finished
third in the team standings.
Women’s Soccer
The women’s soccer team looked to close out their regular
season this weekend in winning form on the brand new field turf
facility at Smallwood Drive Recreation Complex.
Saturday Memorial 1 St. FX 1
On Saturday early in the game St. FX and Memorial traded scoring
opportunities. In the 39th minute Memorial’s Laura Breen gave
the home side a 1-0 advantage. The X-Women carried the pace of play
late in the first half but Memorial keeper Keira Eavis came up with
several stops.
Early in the second half X continued the pressure and tied the game
on a goal by Elissa Riel. The wind picked up considerably in the
second half but the players fought through it to give an
entertaining late game surge. Neither team would score, and the
game would end in a 1-1 draw.
Breen took a hard knock midway through the second half and would
leave the game.
HITS FM players of the game were Riel for St. FX and Laura Tilley
for Memorial.
Sunday St. FX 2 Memorial 1
On a warm but very windy Sunday morning the Sea~Hawks aimed to
finish their regular season with a win. However, St. FX would ruin
their plans, jumping out to a 2-0 lead. Laura Breen’s second
half goal would not be enough at Memorial dropped the game, 2-1.
Laura Thompson was HITS FM player of the game for St. FX.
The Sea~Hawks finish the season in seventh place with a record of
4-8-1.
The team will host the 2009 Subway AUS Women’s Soccer
Championship November 6-8 at the new field turf facility at
Smallwood Drive Recreation Complex Middle in Mount Pearl. The
Sea~Hawks first game will be the quarterfinal at 6:15 p.m. on
Friday evening under the lights against Cape Breton University, the
2008 CIS champions. The other quarterfinal will be held at 4 p.m.
between St. FX and Moncton. Dalhousie clinched the top seed in the
tournament with an undefeated season of 10-0-3. The Tigers and the
UPEI Panthers both earn a first round bye into Saturday’s
semi-finals. The championship game will take place Sunday at noon
in Mount Pearl. A full championship preview will be available on
Tuesday.
Men’s Soccer
In what has been a disappointing season for
Memorial, and it appeared that on Saturday the disappointment would
continue as St. FX jumped out to a large 4-0 lead over the
Sea~Hawks into the second half. However, the St. FX chatter on the
field gave the ‘Hawks an extra bit of adrenaline and they
responded aggressively. After the 77th minute it was all Sea~Hawks
as they poured in four goals to draw even with the X-Men over an
electrifying eleven minute stretch. Memorial got a huge lift from
the speedy Zach Hynes who was all over the field. Hynes scored
three of the Memorial goals in 77th, 79th, and the equalizer in the
88th minute. Rookie Steven DeLong scored the other goal for
Memorial in the 87th minute. The Sea~Hawks showed character by
making the late comeback, in what was easily their best moment of
the season.
Michael Marouser scored two goals for X. HITS FM players of the
game were Hynes for Memorial and Jamar Dixon for St. FX.
On Sunday St. FX once again jumped out to an early advantage with
two goals in the first half. This time the Sea~Hawks could not
muster up a comeback and the final was 3-0. Keeper Andrew MacDonald
got the shutout for St. FX.
Fifth year Sea~Hawk Collin Power was the HITS FM player of the game
in his final varsity game.
The Sea~Hawks finish the season with a disappointing record of
1-8-4. Hynes finished with a team-high 4 goals.
Men’s Volleyball
The men’s volleyball kicked off their AUS regular season this
weekend with a home series against Dalhousie, the top team in the
AUS.
On Saturday night the Sea~Hawks played competitively throughout the
match but could not get over the hump, losing in straight sets 3-0.
Set scores were 25-17, 25-22, 25-18.Brad Pitcher and Brad Jolliffee
had good games for Memorial. Pitcher has 22 assists from the setter
position. Jolliffe kept a number of hot shots alive with 17 digs.
Big rookie Nathan Tilley led the ‘Hawks with 7 kills. AUS MVP
Sander Ratsep was a force for Dalhousie, as was Gander native Max
Burt.
On Sunday, Dalhousie once again proved too big for Memorial,
winning convincingly in three sets. Memorial was competitive early
with Alex Barrett providing key points. Dalhousie closed out the
first set and did not look back. Players of the game on Sunday were
Barrett for Memorial and Burt for Dalhousie.
Women’s Volleyball
The Sea~Hawks women’s volleyball team travelled to Moncton
this weekend for the Interlock tournament to take on the national
calibre teams in the Quebec conference. Head coach Terry Mosher
knew it would be a challenging weekend to open the season as the
team has a number of new players. Team leader Sasha Wilkins also
injured her thumb last week, putting her performance this weekend
in jeopardy.
Over the weekend the Sea~Hawks had solid moments, nearly winning
several sets against very good teams, but it was not enough and
they would leave Moncton with four losses, all in straight sets.
Games were against Montreal, Sherbrooke, Laval, and McGill.
Against the second ranked team in the CIS in Montreal on Friday the
Sea~Hawks gave a solid effort. Wilkins played through her thumb
injury to put up a team-high 10 kills. The team also got a solid
effort from Erin Bursey and Sarah Strickland over the weekend.
The interlock tournament will be a good tuneup for regular AUS
play, in which Memorial should have better matchups.