With the school year now back into full swing, extracurricular sports are also off to a fast start. Fall seasons for girls field hockey, boys soccer, girls and boys volleyball, rowing, cross-country and Grade 9 rugby, are either underway or about to be.
Here’s a look at what happened for the SMUS teams in action this past week:
Senior Girls Field Hockey
Both the Senior Girls competitive and development teams played in the Friendship Cup this past weekend at Shawnigan Lake School and the Cowichan Sportsplex in Duncan.
The tournament is designed to bring several teams together at the start of the season to iron out rosters, introduce new players, and to match up with local rivals in a competitive, but friendly manner.
The SMUS competitive team played in the top tier, the Premier Division, and recorded two wins and three losses. All the games were close except the last one against a very strong and talented Collingwood outfit.
Given many of the SMUS Grade 11s were away on outtrips and the team was without two of its best players due to ineligibility and injury, this was a very credible set of performances. Victories over Brentwood by 2-1, with goals from Anika Delichte and Caitlyn Mullen, and 1-0 over Shawnigan Lake—with a great finish from Avery Geddes—were sandwiched between tight 1-0 losses to Cowichan, Crofton House, and then a final tough defeat to Collingwood (although Kendyll Adams did get on the scoresheet in this final game).
The all-around play of returning players from last year—Annabel Howard, Caitlyn Mullen, Mia Muller, Geddes, and Adams—was excellent, particularly, as they had to help support many new and quite inexperienced players around them. Mention should also go to Amelie Fleck, who was rock-solid in goal.
The SMUS development team played in the Development Division and recorded two ties and two losses, and also had limited numbers on Saturday due to almost half its roster away on out-trips. The girls all had fun, in spite of the heat and lack of subs on Saturday, and felt particularly good by the time the tournament ended, with some positive steps taken forward over the previous two days. This bodes well for their season.
Both teams start league action this coming week as the season commences properly. The competitive team plays Oak Bay on Wednesday, while the development team plays Mount Douglas on Monday, and Reynolds on Wednesday.
Junior Boys Soccer
The Junior Boys Soccer team got its season off on the right foot by capturing the Independent Schools Association (ISA) title at Brentwood College last weekend.
The Blue Jags won two of their three pool games, beating Mulgrave 5-2 and St. George’s 4-0—those victories sandwiched between a 5-0 loss to host Brentwood.
That left SMUS second in pool play. But the Jags exacted some revenge in the playoffs, beating Brentwood in penalty kicks in the final.
Against Mulgrave, SMUS conceded early to go down 1-0, but played well the rest of the way and came back to win 5-2. Will Zielinski and Parker Sheehan both turned in standout performances.
In pool play against Brentwood, SMUS conceded another early goal and found themselves down 2-0 at the half. Despite playing well in the second half, the Jags couldn't finish on a number of chances. Manu Achuthan played well for SMUS in midfield.
SMUS turned in a strong team performance on Saturday against Saints, dominating throughout with Zielinski scoring three times.
The championship game was another slow start for SMUS but a much better finish. The Jags trailed 2-0 early, before Zielinski scored to make it 2-1. SMUS conceded another sloppy goal right at the end of the half to go down 3-1.
With less than 10 minutes remaining, however, Sheehan scored to draw the Jags within one again. And with less than a minute left, Zielinski scored another goal, assisted from a fantastic cross by Eliot Tait, to force 15 minutes of extra time. Extra time was scoreless, with multiple chances missed by both sides.
A flawless shootout saw SMUS make all five PKs to Brentwood’s three. Penalty takers were Zielinski, Sheehan, Achuthan, Mikolaj Grezchowiach, and Alex Zabenah.
The whole squad contributed significantly throughout the weekend. Standout players were the Grade 10 front three of Tait (left wing), Zielinski (striker), and Sheehan (right wing), who were supported well by Achuthan in central midfield. Eugene Leung and Rayan Shariaty split time in goal for SMUS on the weekend.
Senior Boys Volleyball
The Blue Jags were a little shorthanded on the volleyball court, missing all their Grade 11s who were away on outtrips. But Head Coach Brady Doland was encouraged to see plenty of potential as his squad finished 12th out of 16 teams in the annual Camosun tournament.
Doland said returning setter Connor Kipling was “fantastic all weekend” for the Jags, and also praised the play of four junior-team players who were called up to fill out the roster for SMUS at the tournament.
