CAIS Soccer
The SMUS Blue Jags captured the championship in their division as the Canadian Accredited Independent Schools (CAIS) soccer tournament wrapped up on Saturday at Toronto’s Upper Canada College.
The Grade 6-7 SMUS squad went undefeated to claim the Division 2 title in the highly competitive 16-team tournament. The CAIS event enjoys a rich history and SMUS has been sending teams to the tournament since 1976. Mike Danskin, one of the current team’s coaches and a Midde School teacher at SMUS, represented the school in the tournament as a student-athlete in 1991 and 1992.
In Saturday’s championship game, SMUS blanked Selwyn House of Montreal 2-0.
“They were a much bigger, more physical side than us,” said Coach Jackie Cunningham, who along with Danskin coached and travelled with the SMUS team to Toronto. “The boys managed the game beautifully, playing the ball on the ground with some slick passing. Two first-half goals proved the difference.”
The Blue Jags reached the final with a 4-1 victory over St. John’s-Ravenscourt of Winnipeg in a semifinal earlier Saturday.
In addition to the soccer, the trip included plenty of other highlights such as visiting the CN Tower, St. Lawrence Market, the Hockey Hall of Fame, the former Maple Leaf Gardens and the Eaton Centre.
In opening-day play, the Blue Jags rallied from an early 1-0 deficit to beat Selwyn House 3-2 before downing Halifax Grammar School 7-0. In its final pool game, SMUS defeated Sterling Hall School of Toronto 7-1.
The Blue Jags advanced to Saturday’s semifinal with a 3-0 victory over Royal St. George’s College of Toronto in a quarterfinal.
The tournament victory capped a lengthy building process for the SMUS team, which held tryouts in June. Several of the Grade 7s on the team competed in last year’s CAIS tournament in Halifax and they were bolstered by a strong group of Grade 6s.
Senior Boys Soccer
The SMUS Senior Boys emerged victorious out of a Lower Island Soccer league offensive explosion on Thursday in which a total of 13 goals were scored.
Camil Nacif Valle calmly notched the winner with less than two minutes remaining to lift the Blue Jags to a wild 7-6 decision over the visiting Stelly’s Stingers, who had themselves clawed back from a late two-goal deficit.
Parker Sheehan scored three times in the victory and also set up Nacif Valle’s winner. SMUS teammate Davis Hardy added a single goal and was also instrumental in two own-goals surrendered by Stelly’s.
The Blue Jags will face Lambrick Park on Tuesday at Tyndall Field (3:15 pm) in their final league game of the year. The result will determine which of the teams is South Island 1 for the Island tournament to be hosted by SMUS November 4 and 5.
Junior Boys Soccer
The SMUS Junior Boys bounced back from a 2-1 defeat at Belmont the previous week to beat a strong Claremont side 1-0 at home this past Wednesday.
The Junior Jags scored early in the first half and had opportunities to extend their lead, but Claremont defended well. In the second half, the game was back and forth. A strong SMUS defensive stand secured the victory, keeping alive the team’s aspirations to make the Island tournament.
SMUS plays its final league game at Royal Bay on Monday at 3:30 pm with an Island berth on the line. The Island tournament will be played October 28 and 29 at Oak Bay.
Cross Country
Last Thursday, the SMUS Cross Country team ran its final race of the Lower Island league season. In an absolute downpour, the team travelled out to the Westshore, which was a new race venue for all the participants.
In the Senior Boys event, Luc Denux of SMUS had a strong finish to his race and came in fourth overall.
In the 4K Junior Girls race, Miho Oishi navigated the hilly course well to finish in 17th place overall.
In the Junior Boys race, rising star Isaac Ren was the top runner for SMUS with an 11th-place finish.
In the 6K Senior Girls race, Grade 10 Yashita Kaku ran up in the Senior division and finished with a sizzling seventh-place result.
The SMUS team is off to the Island Championships this week, which are being held in Powell River. The team will leave Tuesday evening, with the big races all happening mid-day on Wednesday.
Senior Girls Volleyball
The SMUS Senior Girls played their “best volleyball of the season” on Saturday, en route to a fifth-place finish as the Western Canadian Independent Schools Volleyball Championships concluded at Crofton House in Vancouver.
SMUS went 2-5 in its pool matches, placing the Blue Jags sixth overall in preliminary play and moving them into the quarterfinals against the third-place team, Rundle College of Calgary. SMUS lost that tight playoff contest 23-25, 25-27 but the Blue Jags acquitted themselves well in the match.
“It was the best volleyball the team has played all season, with an extremely tight outcome,” said SMUS Coach Melanie Bendfeld. “We got outstanding defence from Charlie Anderson and a strong offensive connection between Yanyu Zhang and Nicola Bevington on the left side and Kate Fraser on the right side scored big for the squad. Sienna Shanks, our Grade 11 libero, also made key defensive contributions in the backcourt.”
After the disappointing loss to Rundle, the Blue Jags matched up with Winnipeg’s St. John’s-Ravenscourt in the fifth/sixth game and came out strong early to control the match with a 25-20, 25-15 sweep.
Anderson was named most valuable defensive player and a second-team all-star for the tournament. Teammate Isabelle LeRoy was selected as the SMUS team MVP and also received honourable mention for the most valuable server award.
Eight teams from across the western provinces competed in the 51st annual tournament. Strathcona-Tweedsmuir of Calgary will play host to the 2025 version of the tournament while SMUS will host the event in 2026.
The Blue Jags will play in the city finals Veteran's Cup on Tuesday with host Lambrick Park, Spectrum, Vic High, Mount Douglas and Belmont.
The SMUS Senior Girls will also compete in a Belmont tournament this Friday and Saturday.
The Lower Island AA playoffs will begin the following week.
Junior Girls Volleyball
The Junior Girls A Volleyball team hosted league play last Wednesday, beating Pacific Christian in both sets and losing both sets to Belmont and Stelly’s.
The Junior Jags will take part in the final week of league play this Monday at Stelly’s with games against the host school, Esquimalt and Reynolds Red.
Junior Girls Development Volleyball
The Junior Girls Development Volleyball team had a successful weekend, playing in a challenging high-level tournament at Belmont.
After losing several games, the girls continued to improve and work as a team and defeated Belmont in their final game of the tournament.
“Highlights included Yina Ding serving a whopping 15 in a row in a single game, Siena Michel’s amazing defending, Isla Kerr controlling the court with her amazing setting, Shiny Kong’s quick reactions, Nadia Sadowska’s blocks, Linn Kuepper’s spikes, Amelia Evans’s serves, Mehak’s explosive cheers, Aria Mavrikos’s setting, Nola Taylor’s excellent passing, Valerie Tam’s incredible defence, and Ava Crawford with some crafty setter dumps,” said Coach Samantha Butler. “Special thanks to Emily McMillan, whose support with the team has been so helpful!”
The Development team will hit the court again Monday at Mount Douglas for Lower Island league action.
Senior Boys Volleyball
The SMUS Senior Boys Volleyball team is currently tied for first place among Lower Island AA teams with Lambrick Park and Vic High. The Blue Jags will host both teams, as well as Stelly’s, in league action this Wednesday.
“There should be some great volleyball, starting at 6 pm in the SMUS Double Gym,” said Head Coach Brady Doland.
The Blue Jags played at Pacific Christian last week, splitting sets with the host Pacers and beating Stelly’s 25-9, 25-15.
The team travels to Courtenay to play in the 16-team Vanier Cup this weekend – the last tournament of the season before the Lower Island playoffs.
Junior Boys Volleyball
The Junior Boys Volleyball team played in its first tournament at Spectrum over the weekend, with the Blue Jags showcasing their development this season and their improvement – even from Thursday night’s league games – in tournament rematches against Oak Bay and Esquimalt.
After splitting a match with Esquimalt on Thursday, the Junior Jags swept the same team on Friday morning. They also extended Oak Bay to three sets in a 2-1 loss on Friday after being swept by the same team the previous night.
In other tournament matches, the Blue Jags lost 2-0 to Mark Isfeld, Cedar and Spectrum.
“Thanks to the leadership of Liam Whiteside as captain, who really came into his own on defence this weekend and put up some great digs, the boys came together and worked well as a team on and off the court,” said Coach Neta Herage.
“Oscar He, William Low and Leighton Foster’s blocking from middle managed to shut down Esquimalt’s top hitter and we were able to sweep them on Friday morning after splitting on Thursday night. Manav Kang set lights-out all weekend, and the boys were able to put up some big swings. Benji Lei and Kevin Li had some great runs and comebacks from the serving line, and West Dingle and Kevin Jiang really stepped up as libs to cover the floor like they owned it. All in all, it was a great weekend of play before we head into our final week of league play.”
Field Hockey
It was a relatively quiet week for the SMUS Senior Girls Competitive Field Hockey team after the excitement of the Bridgman Cup over the Thanksgiving long weekend.
The Blue Jags played a league game on Wednesday against a determined Glenlyon Norfolk School team, defeating GNS 1-0 on a goal from Mackenna Brown and strong team play throughout, including a couple of excellent saves from Lina Cratzius in goal.
This win guarantees the Blue Jags the No. 1 South Island berth for this coming weekend’s Island AA tournament at UVic. The team also plays one more league game this Wednesday against Lambrick Park at UVic, beginning at 4:30 pm.
SMUS Athletes of the Month
A pair of standout Grade 11s were honoured recently as SMUS Athletes of the Month for September.
Senior Girls Field Hockey midfielder Mackenna Brown and Senior Girls Volleyball middle blocker and outside hitter Nicola Bevington were the first recipients of these awards for the 2024-25 school year.
Bevington is in her second season with the Senior team at SMUS and also took part in this year’s Team BC High Performance Camp. Calm and confident, she is a go-to offensive key for the Blue Jags. Her blocking has been a valuable piece of the SMUS defensive system and her jump float serve has given opponents trouble.
Brown is an explosive midfielder with an amazing scoring touch for the Senior Field Hockey team. In September’s Ferreira Cup tournament win, she scored every one of the team’s goals. Brown played for Canada U18 during last spring’s tour to Wales and she was a reserve for the national U21 Pan-Am Games squad.
