Senior Girls Soccer
The Senior Girls Soccer team turned in an inspirational performance at the B.C. AA Provincial Championship tournament in Burnaby last week and were unlucky not to come home with a medal. The Blue Jags finished fourth in the 16-team event, but proved they could have just have easily been a contender for the top of the podium. Both of their playoff games went to extra time and resulting losses coming with the slimmest of margins.
The defending B.C. champion Blue Jags didn’t surrender a goal in the preliminary round of the tournament. They opened with a 3-0 win over Kamloops Westsyde on Wednesday. From the opening whistle, SMUS dominated possession and had territorial advantage while encamped in the Whundas’ end. Maddy Albert got the Blue Jags on the board quickly with a strong finish off a corner kick from Wynn Brown. Joss Olcen followed up with a pair of goals to seal the game. Monika Jurkovcova recorded the shut-out – one of three clean sheets for her in pool play.
The Blue Jags turned in another dominant performance in their second game against Duchess Park of Prince George, winning 2-0.
Olcen again scored twice for SMUS off great feeds from MacKenna Brown and Albert. In their third and final pool game, the Blue Jags played to a scoreless draw against Port Coquitlam’s Archbishop Carney. A strong Carney defensive line and excellent goalkeeping prevented the Jags from scoring despite numerous opportunities, including hitting several crossbars and two show-stopping saves by the opposing keeper.
That put the Blue Jags into Thursday afternoon’s semifinal, which ended in unusual and heartbreaking fashion for SMUS. Powered by an early goal from Kate Fraser, SMUS led Crofton House for most of the game. At the death of the whistle, Crofton House knotted the score with five minutes left in regulation on a penalty, and regulation time soon ended in a 1-1 draw.
At the direction of officials, the teams then proceeded straight to penalty kicks, where Jurkovcova allowed just two goals on five shots to give the jubilant Blue Jags what seemed to be a victory and a spot in Friday’s provincial final game.
After some time had passed, SMUS learned Crofton House coaches protested the result, pointing out that officials went straight to penalty kicks instead of having the teams first play overtime first. The protest was upheld and, long after the contest had apparently ended, the teams were sent back onto the field to play the two seven-and-a-half-minute halves of overtime. That period went scoreless and the game, once again, was sent to penalty kicks which, this time, were won by Crofton House.
The Blue Jags were forced to regroup mentally for Friday’s third-place game, which resulted in a 2-1 decision in favour of York House, also in extra time.
“We were trying to overcome some very big emotions from the previous day,” said SMUS Coach Jackie Cunningham following the loss.
The Blue Jags fell behind early to York House and, despite several scoring chances, trailed 1-0 after the first half. With time running out, Albert once again stepped up for SMUS and connected off a beautiful cross to tie the score and send it to overtime. In overtime, York House opened the scoring by capitalizing off a corner kick. Again, the Jags pushed forward with everything they had left. Avery Geddes almost notched the tying goal with a box-to-box run. Unfortunately, a great save by the York House keeper kept SMUS off the board.
Despite the team's finish, outstanding performances were still acknowledged. Goalkeeper Jurkovcova was awarded the Commissioner’s 16 Award for her backstopping efforts between the pipes.
“Not having ever stepped in goal prior to the season, she showed incredible determination to learn the position,” Cunningham said. “Her bravery and willingness to learn was rewarded.”
Rowing
The SMUS Rowing team brought home an impressive haul of five medals, highlighted by a gold in the Novice Men’s 72.5-kg. coxed four, from the Canadian Secondary Schools Rowing Association (CSSRA) national regatta this past week in St. Catharines, Ont.
The SMUS crew of Sam Kriegler, Tristan Salter, Leo Denis, William Zeng and cox Elise Gomori earned their national title with a time of 6:54.792 over the two-kilometre Royal Canadian Henley Regatta Course. The golden crew had a 22-second advantage over the next best crew, E.L. Crossley of Fonthill, Ont., followed by St. George’s of Vancouver. in third.
SMUS rowers also captured a national silver medal in the Junior Men’s 66-kg coxed four which featured Jihan Lai teaming up with Salter, Denis, Zeng and Gomori in that event.
In addition, three SMUS crews got on the podium with bronze , including the Junior Women’s 4+ (Mira Work, Braelyn Rowan, Clara Curry, Juliet Crowe and cox Emily McMillan); the Mixed 2X (Tiger Zhang and Marlene Dietrich), and the Senior Men’s 72.5-kg. 4+ (Oliver Pressello, Sam Kriegler, Danny Kotze, Brady Hsu and cox Jaieme Aubertin).
Finishing very close to the podium with fourth-place efforts were the SMUS Senior Mixed Quad with Pressello, Zhang, Dietrich, and Pippa Hlannon, and the Junior Women’s 4X+, with Liz Hardcastle, Rowan, Curry, Crowe and coxswain McMillan.
The SMUS Senior Women’s 63-kg. 2X of Rowan Denis and Claire Lawler finished fifth in their final.
Senior Girls Rugby
The SMUS Senior Girls rugby team won five of their six matches at the B.C. Sevens Rugby Championship tournament this past week in Abbotsford, earning the Blue Jags fifth-place honours.
Ranked No. 1 in B.C. entering the 16-team tournament, SMUS went undefeated in Thursday’s preliminary pool play of three games. The Blue Jags beat Kamloops Westsyde (32-0), JL Jackson of Salmon Arm (53-0) and Port Moody’s Heritage Woods (25-10.)
The opening results moved SMUS into a Friday quarter-final against local rival Reynolds. Flyhalf Taylor MacDonald scored early off a high kickoff from Reynolds and the teams were tied 10-10 at the half. Reynolds scored next to take the lead mid-way through the second half and, with no time left, Chioma Duru crossed the line to tie the game for SMUS. In extra time, both teams had chances and SMUS looked close to scoring, with possession in the opposing 22. However, a turnover and end-to-end run ended the match with a winning try for Reynolds in sudden-death play, giving the Roadrunners a 20-15 decision.
“It was a heartbreaking moment after a valiant effort by the SMUS girls,” said Blue Jags’ Assistant Coach Ian Farish.
The loss meant that the best SMUS could finish was fifth. The Blue Jags accomplished that by winning their final two games. SMUS beat Salmon Arm, 20-10, before downing Belmont, 29-0.
“The girls put in solid performances with two wins to secure the best result possible,” added Farish.
The entire Blue Jags roster played throughout the two days. Captain Sam Robinson was named SMUS’ tournament all-star/Commissioner’s Award winner.
“With the exception of the provincial championship, it was a season of firsts for the SMUS girls – first rugby tour (to France and Italy); first time playing 15s. The girls placed first in the Island championship, though at a cost of losing Captain Harper May to an ACL injury. In any case, SMUS girls should be proud of their season, which was filled with fine rugby and success on the pitch,” Farish said.
“With over 40 girls registered to play rugby this year, and 25 girls in Grades 9 to 11 returning, the future is secure to continue to grow the program in the coming years.”
Senior Boys Rugby
The Senior Boys Rugby team entered last week’s B.C. AA Tier 1 Rugby Championship tournament in Abbotsford as the sixth seed and came home with fifth-place honours from the provincial event.
SMUS faced off against third-ranked Earl Marriott of Surrey in the first round – a matchup that was always going to prove both difficult and decisive. SMUS started strong, retaining the ball for many phases and breaching the Earl Marriott 22 multiple times. Unfortunately, the Blue Jags were unable to capitalize on their possession sufficiently and entered the half-time break with a stalemate score of 7-7.
In the second half, Earl Marriott took control of play and utilized its big forwards well to power through the defensive line, forcing SMUS to defend for long periods of time and play on the back foot. In the end, Earl Marriott progressed to the semifinals of the tournament with a 17-7 win.
“It was a valiant effort by the team in blue, but this result meant that the highest they could now finish was fifth-place,” said SMUS Coach Wonjin Kim.
In the second game, SMUS faced Rockridge Secondary of West Vancouver. Perhaps smarting from the untimely first-round defeat, SMUS wasted no time in getting ahead, playing clinical and attractive rugby that was epitomized by Jack Driscoll’s perfectly weighted cross-field kick to set up Zaki Pelyhe for the first of many team tries on the day. The Blue Jags displayed excellent ball support and security all afternoon in posting a 43-8 victory.
“In the forwards, Savo Mrdjenovich led by example with his tireless work rate and punishing tackling while, in the backline, the halfback combination of Marcus Lam and Jack Driscoll calmly controlled the play and set the tempo,” Kim said.
On the final day of the tournament, SMUS faced Vancouver’s Sir Charles Tupper in the fifth-place match, a team that SMUS had dispatched in its Alumni Weekend game a few weeks earlier. However, Tupper had welcomed their dangerous inside centre back into their starting lineup and the Blue Jags knew that they would be a much more threatening side with all units healthy and firing. An uncharacteristically lethargic start gave the SMUS crowd reason to worry, but Grade 12s Sam Gramada, Finley Rolfe and Nick Gordon decided to grab the game by the scruff of the neck to orchestrate multiple brilliant team tries and rush out to a 28-10 lead at half-time. The second half provided more entertaining rugby from both sides, but SMUS edged Tupper in overall quality and captured fifth-place with a final scoreline of 40-15.
Mrdjenovich earned the SMUS selection for the tournament Commissioners’ XV.
“While the team was disappointed to miss out on a medal at the provincial tournament, there is plenty of reason for them to give themselves a pat on the back,” Kim said. “Having lost several key members from last year's squad, the current group began their training early and gelled as a unit impressively throughout the course of the season. A special thank you to this year's rugby graduates – Aidan MacKay, Finley Rolfe, Savo Mrdjenovich, Rohan Lee, Sam Gramada, Sebastien Bixby, Samuel Bruninx and Captain Nick Gordon for their tremendous service to the school’s rugby program and their willingness to lead by example day in and day out.”
Junior Boys Rugby
The SMUS Junior Boys also took fifth-place honours at the B.C. Rugby Championship last week in Abbotsford, beating the Kelowna Owls 10-7 in their final game on Friday.
The Junior Jags dropped a 19-0 decision to South Delta in their opener on Wednesday before bouncing back with a 19-5 win over Island rival Shawnigan Lake School.
SMUS Grade 9 Liam Pope-Lau was named to the Commissioner’s 15.
Badminton
The SMUS Badminton team finished 14th at the BC Championship tournament held last week in Langley.
The Blue Jags went 1-2 in preliminary matches on Thursday, dropping a 9-2 decision to Moscrop in their opener with Memi Sonsophon winning her singles match as well as mixed doubles with partner Jerry Dang. SMUS dropped its second match 10-1 to Richmond Christian before defeating Walnut Grove of Langley 8-3.
On Friday, SMUS again went 1-2, losing to both Richmond and Johnson Heights by 8-3 scores before beating Lake City 10-1 in the bracket semifinal. Ninth-Grader Mine Naothaworn won her first mixed doubles game as part of Friday’s action.
In Saturday’s 13th-place match, SMUS lost 9-2 to RE Mountain of Langley after some close games. The 14th-place finish replicated last year’s showing at provincials for the SMUS Badminton team.
Catelyn Lee earned the Blue Jags’ Super 16 MVP award for her leadership and dedication.
Sailing
The SMUS Sailing team enjoyed its second-last practice on Saturday at Cadboro Bay before the final Championship Regatta this coming Saturday.
“Only Anna and Rome capsized on Saturday in breezy conditions,” said Coach David Kerr. “We wish the sailors all the best as they look to retain the Lower Vancouver Island Cup on Saturday.”
Track and Field
Thirteen members of the SMUS Track and Field team will compete this week in the B.C. Championship meet, beginning Thursday in Nanaimo. The full schedule is posted online via BC School sports.
