Field Hockey
The SMUS Senior Girls Competitive Field Hockey team continued its impressive start to the league season with a 7-0 drubbing of Oak Bay last Wednesday. Kendyll Adams and Caitlyn Mullen each scored twice in the win with one goal apiece from Mackenna Brown, Carlotta D’Amico and Amelie Fleck. Lina Cratzius recorded the shutout in goal.
Over the weekend, the Blue Jags took part in the competitive Independent Schools Athletic Association (ISAA) tournament at Shawnigan Lake School, finishing fourth.
SMUS placed first in its round-robin pool of the tournament after a 6-1 win against Shawnigan Lake’s second team, a 4-0 victory over Brentwood College and a tight 1-1 tie against York House, all coming on Friday.
Unfortunately, the Blue Jags came up a little short in Saturday morning’s semifinal against Crofton House, losing 2-1 on a late penalty goal. Manon Denux, with a nice opportunistic goal, accounted for the SMUS scoring in the loss. The team was fatigues with players pulling big minutes on the Friday, with four Grade 10 students away on out trips.
In the third-fourth-place game, the Blue Jags lost 1-0 to York House, again on a late penalty corner goal.
“In both [playoff] games, although having the majority of the clearcut scoring chances – including a significant number of penalty corners – the finishing was not quite there,” said SMUS Head Coach David Kerr.
The losses were the first of the season for the Blue Jags, who will host the BC AA tournament, November 6-8, at UVic.
“Both Crofton House and York House, along with ISAA tournament champion Collingwood will be the key opponents for SMUS at the BC tournament, so it was good to see how our team faired,” Kerr said.
The team put up a 5-0 league win over Mount Douglas at UVic on Wednesday, and prioritized resting bodies heading into the prestigious Bridgman Cup at UVic over the long weekend. The team starts the tournament off with pool-play games against Handsworth and Heritage Woods and head into the cross-over games on Saturday and Sunday.
Cross Country
The SMUS Cross Country team competed in the second Lower Island league race of the season last Wednesday under sunny skies at UVic. Due to the Grade 10 out-trips, the Blue Jags team was somewhat depleted. Nevertheless, SMUS managed some stellar results, led by Beatrice Sharpe’s fourth-place overall finish in the Senior Girls race.
Isaac Ren of SMUS finished 12th in the Junior Boys event while teammate Miho Oishi was 17th in Junior Girls.
The next race takes place this Thursday afternoon at Beaver Lake.
“SMUS is looking to regain its strong standing in the league results by fielding a full squad in all divisions,” said Head Coach Jeff Hunt.
Senior Boys Volleyball
The SMUS Senior Boys split their four matches in an Oak Bay/SMUS volleyball tournament held over the past weekend.
The highlight of the weekend came in the Blue Jags’ opener on Friday, when they clawed back after dropping the first two sets to the BC AAA 10th-ranked New Westminster Hyacks to win three straight sets and take the match 3-2.
SMUS couldn’t sustain that momentum, however, as it fell 3-1 to St. George’s of Vancouver in its second match Friday. On Saturday, the Blue Jags opened with a 3-0 victory over Vancouver Magee and then dropped a 3-0 decision to Dr. Charles Best of Coquitlam. It was the Blue Jags’ fourth straight weekend of tournament competition.
SMUS also competed in league action last Wednesday. Playing without four starters due mainly to illness, the team fell to Royal Bay (25-18, 25-22), beat Edward Milne (25-9, 25-6) and lost to Esquimalt (25-22, 25-20).
“It was a great week of volleyball where everyone saw lots of court time,” said Head Coach Brady Doland. “Noah Melo was fantastic last Wednesday as backup setter and also crushed a few balls as right side this past weekend.”
Senior Girls Volleyball
The Blue Jags won two of their five matches at the Vancouver Island University tournament held over the weekend in Nanaimo.
In Friday pool play, SMUS opened with a 12-25, 19-25 loss to a tough Yale squad. The Blue Jags started that match off in strong fashion and were pushing Yale hard until an unfortunate ankle injury shook things up for the SMUS squad.
The Blue Jags went on to face Courtenay Vanier, losing 24-26 and 16-25. During that match, they received effective middle attack and key blocking from both Kate Fraser and Indigo Edgington.
SMUS wrapped up Day 1 with a 25-11, 25-16 decision over Ladysmith. During that match, the Blue Jags got strong setting from Grade 11 Crystal Cai and valuable contributions from outside hitters Kate Marriette and Jada Aylesworth.
On Saturday, SMUS fell 19-25, 20-25 to Seycove in its crossover match. The Blue Jags capped the tournament with 25-20, 25-20 wins in a rematch with Ladysmith.
“It was an outstanding effort from team captain and dynamic outside hitter Charlie Anderson, who used all sorts of offensive shots from the left and back row,” said Head Coach Melanie Bendfeld. “Grade 11 libero Sienna Shanks, showed great defensive potential throughout the entire tournament while Yanyu Zhang's jump serve was very effective in helping the team gain multiple point runs.”
In Lower Island League play on Tuesday, SMUS won five of six sets. The Blue Jags beat Parkland 25-10, 25-10, split with Pacific Christian 25-23, 17-25 and defeated Vic High 25-13, 25-19.
Junior Girls Volleyball
The Junior Girls Development team enjoyed a great official start to its season on Thursday, splitting with both Vic High and Stelly’s and gaining its first two wins of the year.
Against Stelly’s, the Blue Jags were down 18-4 before both Linn Kuepper and Amelia Evans went on serving streaks to tie and ultimately win the contest.
“The team had to play without their Grade 10s, but they dug deep and played some well-executed volleyball,” said Coach Samantha Butler.
Senior Boys Soccer
The SMUS Senior Boys Soccer team dropped a 4-0 decision to visiting AAA Reynolds on Monday. All of the Roadrunners’ goals came in the first half and the Blue Jags did well to hold a potent Reynolds attack scoreless after the break.
Rhys Tuohy stepped up as goalkeeper after starter Rayan Shariaty was injured in the first half, making some impressive saves to keep a second-half clean sheet. The SMUS defensive line also did well in preventing scoring opportunities for the pressing Reynolds strikers in the final period. Meanwhile, pressuring hustle from midfielder Luke Lee, and communicative chemistry on the wings between Mikolaj Grzechowiak, Davis Hardy and Camil Nacif Valle created significant opportunities for SMUS in the second half.
The Senior Boys’ next league game is Thursday at home against Royal Bay, beginning at 3:45 pm.
Rowing
The SMUS Rowing Crew competed in the 2024 October Sprints Regatta this past weekend on Elk Lake.
In Saturday’s racing, one SMUS boat topped the entire event, two won their categories, one finished second in its category, two placed third in their categories and seven finished in the top six of their categories.
On Sunday, one SMUS boat won the entire event, four SMUS boats topped their award categories, two finished second, four made the top final, and all nine SMUS crews made the top five of their categories.
SMUS athletes will compete again October 19 and 20 in the City Championships Regatta at Elk Lake.
October Sprints Regatta Results
Saturday October 5
Open 2X
- SMUS 2: 2nd in Final 2; 3rd in Category E (Braelyn R and Clara C)
- SMUS 1: 1st in Final 1; 7th in Category F (Rowan D and Oliver P)
Open 8
- SMUS 1: 3rd in Final 1; 1st in Category E (Ewan, Mateo, David, Leo, Tristan, William Z, Liam H, Sam K, Bianca (cox))
Open Mostly Novice 4X-
- SMUS 1: 1st in Final 2; 2nd in Category E (Joey, Henry, Matt N, Matthew D)
- SMUS 2: 4th in Final 2; 1st in Category A (Liz H, Mia N, Addie, Anna R)
- SMUS 3: 4th in Final 4; 4th in Category B (Mira, Sarah H, Sarah L, Mei)
- SMUS 4: 3rd in Final 6; 3rd in Category A (Lucy T, Erin, Rachel, Ellie)
- SMUS 5: 2nd in Final 4; 5th in Category C (Jiahan, Lincoln, Liam K, Pearce)
- SMUS 6: 3rd in Final 7; 10th in Category C (Lucas Z, Ethan, Paul, Mangkorn)
- SMUS 7: 2nd in Final 7; 9th in Category C (Rowan D, Jane, Adrian, Alicia)
Sunday October 6
Open 1X
- SMUS 1: 4th in Final 1; 2nd in Category F (Oliver P)
- SMUS 2: 2nd in Final 2; 3rd in Category E (Rowan D)
Open 4X
- SMUS 1: 4th in Final 1; 4th in Category F (Brady, Liam H, Joey, Sam)
- SMUS 2: 5th in Final 1; 1st in Award Category E-Leo (Leo, Jiahan, Tristan, William)
- SMUS 3: 6th in Final 4; 2nd in Award Category D-Curry (Clara, Anna R, Liz, Braelyn)
- SMUS 4: 3rd in Final 5; 1st in Category C-Mira (Lucy, Jane, Sarah H, Mira)
Open Mostly Novice 8+
- SMUS 1: 1st in Final 1; 1st in Category C (Bianca, Adrian, Matt N, Mateo, David, Lucas Z, Ewan, Henry, Matthew D)
- SMUS 2: 3rd in Final 3; 1st in Category A (Elise (cox), Ellie, Mia, Addie, Rachel, Mei, Sarah L, Erin, Alicia)
- SMUS 3: 3rd in Final 2; 5th in Category C (Pearce (cox), Kyson, Lincoln, George, Mangkorn, Liam K, Paul, Charlie, Ethan)
