Weekly Preview

2009 Subway AUS Women’s Soccer Championship this weekend

This weekend, for the first time in Memorial’s history, the Sea~Hawks will play host to the Subway AUS Women’s Soccer Championship. The Sea~Hawks will play on Friday evening at 6:15 p.m. at the Smallwood Drive Recreation Complex in Mount Pearl against the Cape Breton Capers.

The Memorial basketball teams will also open their 2009-10 season this weekend at the Field House against Acadia at 6 and 8 p.m. on Saturday and 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Sunday. The men’s volleyball will be on the road for a weekend series against UNB in Fredericton.

Men’s Volleyball

After a tough opening weekend against the Dalhousie Tigers, the Sea~Hawks are ready for round two as they travel to the University of New Brunswick to take on the Varsity Reds in weekend competition. Looking for their first win of the season, Memorial will need last year’s AUS Rookie of the year Scott Hickman, and sophomore Drew Stephens to bounce back from a disappointing weekend step up their game on the road in New Brunswick. The Sea~Hawks will also need another big game from rookies Nathan Tilley and Brad Jolliffe if they hope to take down a Reds lineup led by AUS All-Star Tyler Veenhuis. With many new faces in the Reds lineup there will be a familiar one setting as former Sea~Hawk Andrew Costa makes his debut in for UNB. The Sea~Hawks will take the court on Saturday at 2PM and Sunday at 10:30AM in Fredericton.

Women’s Basketball

The Sea~Hawks women’s basketball is ready to take flight as they kick off their AUS season at home on Saturday night against the Acadia University Axewomen. Both teams have had great starts to the season with exhibition tournament success, but this weekend is when things really start to matter. With the addition of rookies such as Jennifer Parsons, and Lauren Hawkins to an already strong sophomore core of Grace Fishbein, Ericka Gratton, and Ally Forsey the Sea~Hawks are sure to be competitive for another AUS title this season. In 2008-09 the Axewomen finished 6th in the AUS, but with the addition of talented rookie guard Lindsay Harris, and the welcoming back of former AUS All-Star Alise Brown back into their lineup, Acadia has something to prove. With game times Saturday at 6PM and Sunday at 11AM at the Field House, this weekend will give the ‘Hawks a sense of where they stand in the AUS this season.

Vicki Thistle will be in the lineup for the ‘Hawks while it looks like rookie Anna Snow will be out with an illness.

Men’s Basketball

Memorial’s men’s basketball team will open their AUS season on Saturday night at the Field House when they play host to the Acadia University Axemen in a two game weekend series. The Sea~Hawks will debut a much improved lineup this season featuring preseason leading scorer Mike Helsby on the wing, and big Ante Samodol at centre. Sophomores Steve Earles and Robbie Habib both have played well in preseason exhibition and will look to carry a heavier offensive load this season. Memorial will need to play well defensively in order to shut down 2008-09 AUS Rookie of the Year Casey Fox, and AUS Second Team All-Star Alex Traikov. Last year the two teams traded big wins, each beating their opponent by double digits and breaking the 100 point mark, so be prepared for anything when these two teams kick things off Saturday at 8PM, followed by a re-match on Sunday at 1PM.
Former Sea~Hawk Andre Grant will suit up for Acadia.

2009 Subway AUS Women's Soccer Championship

After two months of regular season play, the top six women’s soccer teams from the AUS will get only one chance at bringing home the AUS Championship banner this weekend at the Smallwood Dr. Soccer Complex in Mount Pearl.

The competition gets started on Friday afternoon with quarterfinal action featuring the No. 4 St. Francis Xavier X-Women versus the No. 5 Université de Moncton Aigles Bleues at 4PM. Following this game, with an enthusiastic hometown crowd acting as the twelfth player on the field, the No. 6 seed Sea~Hawks will aim to take down the No. 3 Cape Breton Capers.

With winners from Friday night moving on, the lowest remaining seed will get their chance to take down the No. 1 Dalhousie Tigers on Saturday at 1 p.m. The second lowest remaining seed with have their season on the line for the second time when they face the No. 2 UPEI Panthers in the second semi-final of Saturday.

On Sunday it will come down to winner take all when the winners of Saturday’s semi-finals face-off in one game to decide who is crowned as the 2009 AUS Champions. Both teams in Sunday’s final will qualify for the CIS Championship to be held at the University of Toronto next weekend.


The championship schedule is as follows:

Friday, November 6th
Quarter-final #1: StFX (4th) vs. Moncton (5th), 4:00pm
Quarter-final #2: Cape Breton (3rd) vs. Memorial (6th - Host), 6:15pm

Saturday, November 7th
Semi-final #1: Dalhousie (1st) vs. Lowest Remaining Seed, 1:00pm
Semi-final #2: UPEI (2nd) vs. Highest Remaining Seed, 3:15pm

Sunday, November 8th
Championship Game: Semi-final Winners, 12:00pm
The Atlantic University Sport champion and runner-up will advance to the 2009 CIS Women's Soccer Championship, November 12-15, 2009, hosted by the University of Toronto.