By McGill Reporter Staff
The Martlets track and field team set the tone for a very successful weekend for McGill varsity teams by finishing first at the Sherbrooke Invitational meet on Saturday. Freshman Caroline Tanguay of St. Hubert, Que., won a pair of gold medals and senior Sarah McCuaig of Waterloo, Ont., claimed gold and silver. The team racked up 101 points, edging out the second-place Vert & Or by the slimmest of margins at 0.5 points.
Tanguay won the high jump with a leap of 1.65 metres and finished atop the podium in the pole vault with a distance of 3.35m.
McCuaig, who received a prestigious Rhodes scholarship last month, won the 1500m in four minutes, 48.99 seconds. She placed second in the 1000m, clocking in at 3:00.46.
McGill also won the women’s 4x200m relay, with Australian Clare Williams in the leadoff spot, followed by Sarah Glen of Lunenburg, N.S., Ellen Parker of Halifax, N.S., and Helena Reinfels of Puslinch, Ont., combining to complete the race in 1:49.23.
On the men’s side, freshman Javier Montalvo, a native of Closter, N.J., collected gold and silver medals as the Redmen finished second with 89 points, behind host Sherbrooke (109).
Montalvo took the 300m dash in 35.98 seconds and was second in the 600m with a time of 1:24.42.
Indoor soccer
Stephanie Avery scored the game-winner and Aidan Mahoney earned a shutout as the McGill women’s opened the 2013 indoor season with a 3-0 victory at Concordia, Sunday.
Hannah Rivken, who earned player-of-the-game honours for McGill, added an insurance marker and Rebecca Green rounded out the scoring.
Volleyball
Ashley Norfleet, a freshman from Brossard, Que., amassed 16 kills, a pair of stuff blocks and a team-leading 2.40 passing ratio as the visiting McGill women’s volleyball team surprised No.7-ranked Laval 3-2 in a thriller at Centre PEPS, Saturday. In a lengthy two hours and seven minutes, the Martlets prevailed by set scores of 16-25, 27-25, 25-18, 15-25 and 16-14.
It marked the 12th lifetime regular-season victory ever against Laval for the Martlets and only the fifth in Quebec City. McGill also upset Laval in the rubber match of the RSEQ best-of-three semifinals last season.
Basketball
McGill’s varsity men’s and women’s basketball teams left their Laval Rouge et Or counterparts feeling black and blue with a sweep at Love Competition Hall on Saturday afternoon.
In the women’s game, rookie Mariam Sylla registered an impressive “double-double” as McGill rallied from a 15-point deficit to defeat Laval 71-62. The 6-foot-1 forward from Guinea registered game-highs in both points (29) and rebounds (11). She connected on 9-of-19 field-goal attempts, made 11 of 13 free-throws and was credited with a pair of blocked shots.
McGill improved to 4-2 and sits third in the RSEQ conference, two points behind division-leading Concordia (5-2) and UQAM (5-2).
On the men’s side, four McGill players reached double figures in scoring as the No.8-ranked Redmen came back from a nine-point deficit to defeat Laval 72-64.
Combined with the Martlets 71-62 win in the women’s game earlier, it marked the second doubleheader sweep this season over Laval, an institution which had owned McGill for much of the last decade.
Laval led from the opening tip-off until McGill took a 42-41 edge with 3:08 remaining in the third quarter. From then on, it was all McGill, with the Redmen never losing the lead. Montrealer Adrian Hynes-Guery, a 6-foot-3, 185-pound point-guard, paced the Redmen attack with 17 points, while teammates Simon Bibeau (14) of St. Bruno, Que., Rodrigo Imperador (13) of Brazil and Aleksandar Mitrovic (12) of Serbia, added offensive support.
McGill, which improved to 12-4 against CIS opponents and 4-2 in the RSEQ standings, now sits tied with Concordia (4-3) for second place.
Hockey
Defenceman Ryan McKiernan of White Plains, N.Y., tallied twice and rookie forward David Rose of Longueuil, Que., snapped a 2-2 tie with the game-winner at 8:53 of the third period to give the McGill ] men’s hockey team a hard-earned 3-2 upset over the No.8-ranked Carleton Ravens before a standing-room only crowd of 473 at the CU Ice House Arena, Friday.
The third-place Redmen are now back in the race for first-place with a 12-6-1 record. They trail division-leading Carleton (13-5-2) by only three points with a game in hand.
On the women’s side, Leslie Oles of Beaconsfield, Que., struck twice and added an assist to spark a three-goal explosion in the third-period as No.1-ranked McGill skated to a 4-1 triumph over the visiting University of Connecticut Huskies in exhibition women’s hockey at McConnell Arena, Saturday.
Teammate Melodie Daoust, who just rejoined the Martlets after a two-week stint with the Canadian national under-22 team, scored once and added a pair of helpers.
McGill, which sits atop the Quebec conference with an 11-0 record, has nine games remaining before playoffs and will resume league play on Jan. 18 when they host the Montreal Carabins (11-2).
With files from Zukerman