Senior Girls Soccer
The SMUS Senior Girls Soccer team had another busy and important week, capped off by a gold-medal performance in the Independent Schools Athletic Association (ISAA) Tournament.
On Tuesday, the Blue Jags finished up league play against Stelly’s – their only AA competition in Lower Island Tier 1 – with a 3-0 decision over the visiting Stingers. Determined to record the win, SMUS dominated from the opening whistle. Keeper Monika Jurkovcova recorded another shutout for the Blue Jags, while Joss Olcen scored twice and Maddy Albert once.
The Blue Jags then switched gears to host the annual ISAA Tournament on Friday and Saturday. They opened the tournament on Friday morning with a 3-2 win over what Coach Jackie Cunningham described as a very spicy West Point Grey team.
SMUS got two goals from Albert and a single from Kate Fraser in that victory. The afternoon game was a more relaxed affair, a 7-1 win against a weaker Mulgrave side. Olcen tallied a hattrick, Fraser scored twice and Sahiba Khurana and Avery Geddes each notched their first goals of the season.
In a must-win game on Saturday morning against Shawnigan Lake to secure a berth in the ISAA tournament final, Jurkovcova made several key saves to keep the Jags in the game and timely goals from Kiyomi Nishima and Sophia Eiley nudged SMUS to a 2-1 victory.
That set up a championship matchup with the York House Tigers on Saturday afternoon. The Tigers pounced first, setting up what was a great second half in which SMUS was forced to dig deep. The backline of the Jags, led by captain Wynn Brown, forced several key turnovers in the mid-third which finally allowed Olcen and Albert to notch the tying and game-winning goals in a 2-1 victory.
The Blue Jags now prepare to host Spectrum in the quarter-final round of the Ryan Cup this Thursday at 3:45 pm.
“The team would love to beat their record of 12 fans,” Cunningham said. “Please come out and support!”
Junior Girls Soccer
The SMUS Junior Girls also enjoyed a successful week on the soccer pitch, beating Oak Bay in a Lower Island quarter-final playoff game on Thursday and then capturing the ISAA Tier 2 title Saturday on their home field.
On Thursday, the Blue Jags and Oak Bay played to a 1-1 regulation tie before SMUS emerged victorious on penalty kicks. SMUS advanced to the semifinal playoff round against Reynolds on Monday in a 3 pm. kickoff at Braefoot.
In the ISAA tournament, The SMUS Juniors won four straight games to claim the Tier 2 title and give the host school a sweep of the championships. The Junior Jags beat Brentwood ‘B’ 6-1 to open the tournament and followed it up with a 1-0 decision over St. Margaret’s. On Saturday, SMUS wrapped up the ISAA Tournament with two wins, beating Crofton House 2-1 and then downing Shawnigan Lake 3-1 in the final.
Badminton
The SMUS Badminton team edged Oak Bay 6-5 in a road match last Tuesday.
“Kudos to Girls Doubles Chelsea Wong and Catelyn Lee for securing the win,” said Coach Lawrence Wong.
The Blue Jags are undefeated so far in the Lower Island season. SMUS will play its final two league matches at Claremont on Tuesday and against visiting Mount Douglas on Thursday. Both matches start at 3:45 pm.
Track and Field
The SMUS Track and Field team participated in two competition days this past week, turning in a solid showing with some outstanding performances on both Monday and Wednesday.
In Junior Boys competition, Parker Sheehan clocked a 55.12-second time in the 400 metres to sit second in the Lower Island league standings and Tommy Hong placed in the top five with a good run in the 100 metres. Finlay Hlannon recorded a personal best of 11.08 metres to rank second in the triple jump while teammate Harry Lynch is close behind him with a jump of 10.99 metres to rank third.
In Senior Boys competition, Leupold Wang improved on his previous high jump performance, clearing 1.85 metres. He made good attempts at 1.90 but was unsuccessful at that height.
In Senior Girls competition, Amelie Fleck achieved her goal of running in every single track event when she competed in both the 400 metres and 2,000-metre steeplechase and medley relay. Abby McLeish-Shaw ran a good race in the 100 metres, improving on her season-opener in the event.
Overall, the Junior Girls had a good showing with lots of new personal-best performances and athletes trying out events that they haven’t competed in previously.
Senior Boys Rugby
The Senior Boys Rugby team never stopped working but found itself up against a formidable side on Tuesday falling 41-3 to the Oak Bay Barbarians in the annual Boot Game at UVic’s Wallace Field.
Sam Bruninx scored the Blue Jags’ lone points on a long-distance penalty kick as SMUS struggled against the size and speed of the Oak Bay lineup.
The SMUS Seniors will play host to Alberni District Secondary in a AA matchup on Tuesday at 4:15 pm. before preparing for the annual Alumni Weekend contest on Saturday vs. Vancouver’s Sir Charles Tupper, beginning at 3:15 pm.
Junior Boys Rugby
The SMUS Junior Boys recorded a pair of decisive wins this past week, including a 29-5 victory over rival Oak Bay that served as an undercard to the Senior Boot Game on Tuesday at Wallace Field.
Jordan Martin, Dani Pelyhe, Desmond Grant, Quinn McMeekin and Parker Sheehan scored tries against Oak Bay while Liam Whiteside added two conversions.
“Rory Davidson and Pablo Ostos Arena were MVPs of the match,” said Coach Oliver Nott. “Notable players were Quinn McMeekin, Desmond Grant and Declan Longridge.”
The Junior Jags followed that up with a 36-5 win at Royal Bay on Friday. Martin scored three tries in that one, while Nicholas Lee and Rodrigo De Leon Junco added singles. McMeekin contributed three conversions for SMUS. Nott said the MVP of the game for the Jags was Grade 9 Alfie Smith.
The Junior Boys also face Alberni at home on Tuesday in a match that begins at 3 pm. As part of Alumni Weekend, they will host Oak Bay at 12:30 pm on Saturday.
Senior Girls Rugby
The SMUS Senior Girls Rugby team recorded a pair of victories in Lower Island league play on Friday afternoon.
The host Blue Jags opened the doubleheader with a 34-17 decision over Esquimalt. Harper May was a standout with an early intercept try and a second soon to follow, kicking her own conversions and leading the team on defence with consistently positive tackles. Ivanna Wu was also outstanding for SMUS, with quick thinking at the breakdown and heads-up running to break the Esquimalt line. Alex Motherwell and Chioma Duru had a try each, running with tremendous strength, producing their opportunities through counter-rucking and heads up play. Moe Ohara was a standout at scrum half with a try in the second half, featuring artful footwork, tackling and brave counter-rucking. Ohara also set up Ruki Madzimure with a great offload to put her over the line for the team's final try of the game.
Royal Bay defaulted on the second game due to a shortage of players. To ensure a complete team, SMUS lent some players who then competed against SMUS. Taylor MacDonald scored a hattrick for SMUS in the game with Sasha Cruz, Wu and Motherwell making notable tackles and Lucia Schmidt adding some fine footwork. Motherwell and Duru also displayed notable strength with their running.
Junior Girls Rugby
The SMUS Junior Girls hosted a jamboree last Monday with games against Stelly’s and Esquimalt. SMUS fell 25-0 to Stelly’s and lost 25-5 to Esquimalt.
“Despite the lopsided scorelines, we celebrated two things,” said SMUS Coach Ian Farish. “Firstly, among the Junior sides, SMUS has almost double the number of players as other teams, with 22 on the roster, and 19 in attendance at these games – the majority being in Grade 9. The result is rather less playing time for each girl [with equal playing time, each of the girls played at least a half, or a minimum of seven minutes].
“On the flip side, we have very healthy numbers to ensure the program’s future. The second ‘win’ for the day was the Junior Girls’ first try of the year versus Esquimalt. Congratulations to Savannah Ferguson for that! The team is developing a wonderful team spirit.”
Golf
Six members of the SMUS Golf team participated in the Victoria City Police Tournament on Wednesday and Thursday at Olympic View. Twenty-three schools and 133 golfers from the Lower Mainland and across Vancouver Island participated in the tournament.
“It was a wet couple days out on the course but a great start to the season,” said Coach Melanie Bendfeld.
The next action for the SMUS team will be the ISAA Tournament May 6 and 7 in Squamish.
Rowing
SMUS Rowing athletes captured eight medals on the weekend, including five silver, in the annual Brentwood School Regatta held on Saturday and Sunday.
Silvers for SMUS came in both the Novice Men’s and Women’s 4X+. The men’s crew included Joey Gao, Lucas Zhou, Liam Haberl and Sam Kriegler, with cox Jaclyn Chow. The women’s crew featured Elise Gomori, Liz Hardcastle, Jane Lee and Lucy Turnbull, with cox Bianca Batoni.
Also finishing second in their event were the Women’s U19 JV 4X (Rowan Denis, Marlene Dietrich, Pippa Hlannon and Claire Lawler); the Women’s U19 63-kg 2X (Denis and Lawler); and the Women’s U19 63-kg 4+ (Chow, Denis, Hlannon and Lawler, with cox Caroline Tam).
Earning third-place finishes were the Novice Men’s 8+ (Leo Denis, Gao, Jiahan Lai, Tristan Salter, William Zeng, Zhou, Haberl, Kriegler, with cox Chow); the U17 Women’s 4X+ (Juliet Crowe, Clara Curry, Hardcastle, Braelyn Rowan, with cox Emily McMillan); and the Men’s U19 72-kg 4+ (Brady Hsu, Cameron Jones, Kriegler, Oliver Pressello with cox Jaieme Aubertin).
