Gold hopes dashed
Western avenges losses in league play by beating Brock for gold medal in men’s field lacrosse
Brock’s dream of ending the year undefeated in men’s field lacrosse and taking its first national title since 2009 was dashed Sunday in Kingston.
Defending champion Western scored three unanswered goals in overtime for a 16-14 victory and the right to leave the turf at Richard Stadium at Queen’s University with the Baggataway Cup.
Brock came into the championship final with a 14-0 record, including two victories over Western, 12-11, 12-8; in league play, but the Mustangs jumped out to a 3-0 lead and were up 11-8 heading into the final quarter.
But the Badgers’ hopes for the 19th goal medal in men’s field lacrosse in the university’s history were still alive.
Brock opened the fourth quarter with a three-goal run and, with 31 seconds remaining in regulation, Josh Harris scored an unassisted goal to force overtime.
Conditions were less-than-ideal for the national final. Heavy rain and 40-km/h winds blowing north hampered visibility for goalkeepers as well as defenders keeping track of the ball.
Western only scored once in regulation shooting into the wind.
Brock advanced to the gold medal game by beating Guelph 13-11 in the semifinal round Saturday. Western punched its ticket to the final by topping McGill 14-11.
Connor Ham, Ty Rehanek, with three apiece, Nick Rybka, Brandon
ATHLETES OF THE WEEK
In the classroom fourth-year media and communications Johneil Simpson knows all about what goes into making headlines. On the basketball court for the Brock Badgers, he makes headlines. Period. The Toronto native earned athlete of the week honours by averaging 29 points and four rebounds in road wins over York and Queen’s. Simpson, among the reasons the team is 4-0, needs only 12 points to move into 10th all-time in Brock career scoring. Wrestler Emily Schaefer and hockey player Jensen Murphy share top female athlete honours for the week ending Sunday.
Schaefer, a fourth-year education major from Sarnia, pinned down the gold medal in the 57-kg weight class at the Commonwealth Games trials in Burnaby, B.C.
Murphy, a Kingston native in her third year majoring in medical sciences, recorded 71 saves in a shootout loss to Ryerson and shutout victory over Toronto.
Slade, two each, Connor Brown, Jordan Gillis and Alex Pace also scored for Brock in the final.
Goal-getters for the Badgers in the semifinal versus Guelph were Cree Blakely, Kurtis Woodland, Brown, Ham, Rybka, Slade, each with two, and Pace.
Wrestlers pin down berths
Five Brock wrestlers qualified to compete at the Commonwealth Games with strong showings at trials hosted by Westling Canada at Simon Fraser University.
Brock women won gold in four of six weight classes: Jessica MacDonald, 50 kg, Diana Weicker, 53 kg, Emily Schaefer, 57 kg, and Olympian Michelle Fazzari, 62 kg.
Brock’s Jevon Balfour was victories in the 74-kg class in the men’s division.
“This is the most that our club has qualified and signifies that the athletes’ hard work and commitment is paying dividends,” Brock head coach Marty Calder said.
Hannah Taylor, silver, 57 kg; Jade Parsons, bronze, 53 kg; Jessica Brouilette, bronze, 62 kg; and Olivia DiBacco, bronze, 68 kg; also won medals for Brock at the competition in Burnaby, B.C.
“We competed very well today, especially considering it was the first tournament of the season,” Calder said. “We look forward to our journey this year and seeing where it will lead us.”
Top-five finishes
Brock men’s and women’s crews placed fourth and fifth, respectively, at the Canadian University Rowing Championships in Burnaby, B.C.
Matthew Finley’s time of 7:20.530 was fast enough for silver in the men’s single.
His second medal of the day, a bronze, came in the men’s eight along with Nicholas Heffernan, Ian Pierce, Zachary Koroll, Ryan Malcowski, Alex Roger, Taylor Ashwood, Jacob Martens and Mackenzie Boyes.
Also returning home with a bronze was the men’s lightweight coxed quad of Also taking home bronze was the men’s lightweight 4x of Owen Voelkner, Ashwood, Martens, Zach Whiteley and coxswain Aurora Gordon.
Voelkner and Ashwood placed fourth in a time 6:33.012 in the men’s lightweight pair.
The Brock women had three fifth-place finishes: in the eight, Erin Corkery, Amanda Martin, Anna Maloney, Brianna Spanics, Isabella Mazzarolo, Kayla Krasnor, Jenna Osborne, Andrea Jansen and coxswain Laura Court; lightweight quad, Corkery, Jansen, Alicia Piazza, Katie Ayres and Court, as well as in the women’s pair, Maloney and Martin.
Off to 4-0 start
Johneil Simpson scored a career-high 33 points, Dani Elgadi and Cassidy Ryan each recorded a double-double, and visiting Brock defeated Queen’s 91-86 to open the men’s university basketball season 4-0.
Elgadi, 20 points, 11 rebounds, and Ryan, 17 points, 10 rebounds, were among four starters scoring in double digits as the Badgers won for the second time in as many days. Tyler Brown contributed 10 points.
Simpson, 25 points, Ryan, 24, Brown, 15, and Elgadi, 11, topped Brock in scoring in a 101-72 victory over York Friday night in Toronto.
Daniel Cayer, who netted eight points for the Badgers, led all players with 11 rebounds.
Brock takes on Ryerson, 2-1, at Mattamy Athletic, on the site for the former Maple Leaf Gardens, tonight in Toronto.
Women fall to 2-2
No Brock starter scored more than six points in an 80-38 loss on the road to Queen’s that dropped the Badgers record in women’s basketball to 2-2.
Kristin Gallant netted 23 points from the bench with the Gaels limiting production from Brock’s starting five to six points from Stephanie Findlay, four from Courtney McPherson and two each from Baelie Campbell and Brooke-Lyn Murdoch.
The Badgers only shot 21.3 per cent from the floor, compared to 38 per cent for their Kingston hosts, and finished Saturday’s game 0-for-6 in attempting threepointers.
Campbell scored 20 points and McPherson grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds in a 55-46 setback to York Friday night in Toronto.
Brock is back in Toronto for a 6 p.m. tipoff today against Ryerson, 1-2.
0-2 on northern trip
Brock hosts Ryerson in men’s university hockey tonight hoping to return to the win column in men’s university hockey.
Back-to-back losses to Lakehead in Thunder Bay on the weekend snapped a two-game win streak and dropped the Badgers’ record in Ontario University Athletics’ West Division to 2-4-2.
Brandon Quinn scored a shorthanded goal and Mack Lemmon forced overtime with an evenstrength market with 2:21 remaining in regulation in a 3-2 overtime loss Friday.
The Thunderwolves blanked Brock 3-0 the following night.
Puck drop for the game versus Ryerson at Seymour-Hannah Sports and Entertainment Centre is 7:15 p.m.
Strong start to season
Jensen Murphy made 39 saves, including 18 in the third period, backstopping visiting Brock to a 1-0 victory over Toronto in university women’s hockey.
Carley Blomberg scored for the Badgers, which moved into a tie for second place with 12 points and a 3-1-1-1 record.
Brock, off to its best start since 2010-11 season, was rebounding from a 2-1 loss the night before to Toronto, also on the road.
Elexa Pakozdy scored in regulation for the Badgers. Maggie Spratt-Mallick found the back of the net in the shootout, won by Toronto 3-1.
Murphy stopped 32 shots in the loss.
The Brock women are back on the ice for home games this Saturday, against 2-0-2-1 Nipissing, 2:15 p.m.; and the same the next day versus Laurentian.
V-Ball underway
Brock women started the university volleyball season 1-1 while the men lost both their home games at Bob Davis Gymnasium.
The Brock women’s team rebounded from a four-set loss to Waterloo — 25-20. 25-17, 21-25, 2513 — by beating Guelph the following night, also in four sets — 25-23, 17-25, 25-18, 25-23.
Laura Condotta, 12 kills, 19 digs, Hannah Davenhill, five kills, 15 digs, and Julia Balatbat, 15 digs, were standouts for the Badgers in the win. Condotta, Renee Helmer and Grace Pyatt had nine, eight and seven, kills, respectively versus Waterloo.
The men lost 3-1 to Guelph — 2519, 23-25, 25-21, 25-19 — and by the same margin to Waterloo — 24-26, 25-19, 25-21, 25-15.
Tim Spisar had 11 kills and Logan House 10 against Waterloo, with House, 14 kills, and Peter Schnabel, 13, pacing the offence versus Guelph.
Brock is at Western Saturday and in Windsor Sunday for doubleheaders.