Acadia in action
Wins for hockey, volleyball, while Acadia swimmers bring home medals from AUS
The hockey Axemen built on their winning streak with two weekend wins to finish the regular season on a high note.
The 8-5 win Feb. 11 against St. FX and the 2-1 win over Dalhousie means Acadia secured a bye in the first round of the playoffs and will move directly to the semifinals, where they will face the winner of the St. Fx-moncton series.
The Feb. 11 game was fifthyear Axemen Brett Thompson’s final regular-season game, which he ended with a third-period goal that ended up being the game winner. Thompson’s goal meant he moved up to the ninth spot in the Acadia all-time points list, with 151 regular season points. Including playoff points, Thompson has 67 (60 regular season) goals and 104 (91 regular season) assists while suited up for the Axemen.
Brendan Childerley and Kyle Farrell each added two goals to the winning effort, while Boston Leier picked up a power play goal. Other Acadia goals came from Michael Clarke and Taylor Makin.
Makin pointed out the importance of the win for the Axemen.
“It’s big for us. It was nice getting a win before heading into the playoffs,” Makin told Acadia Athletics after the game.
“We’ll probably face them in the second round if things go the way they should. Nice to get some confidence against them.”
Acadia goalie Robert Steeves turned aside 28 of 33 shots, while X-men goalie, Brandon Hope, stopped 28 of 34 shots on the night.
The previous night, Acadia picked up a 2-1 win against Dalhousie, thanks to a power play goal by Geoff Schemitsch and a short-handed goal from Childerley.
Basketball loss
Both the men’s and women’s basketball teams were bested by Saint Mary’s Feb. 11 in nailbiters, with the women dropping a close 59-58 decision and the men losing 93-90.
For the women, Paloma Anderson paced all scorers with 20 points in the loss for Acadia, which dropped to 7-9 and control the sixth and final play-off spot with 18 points.
A trio of Axewomen – Alexandra Berry, Chanel Smith and Port Williams native Haley Mcdonald – each added eight points.
On the men’s side, it all came down to one goal – a three-point buzzer-beater by Saint Mary’s that was enough to break a tie and win the game.
Ben Miller led scoring for Acadia with 21 points and seven assists. All five of Acadia’s starters scored in double-digits, with Trevon Grant adding a doubledouble with 10 rebounds to go along with his 11 points.
The men’s team now sits in sixth in the standings, with eight wins and eight losses to their credit.
Both the men’s and women’s teams are next in action Feb. 17, when Acadia hosts St. FX.
Volleyball victory
It’s been a tough season for Acadia’s women’s volleyball team, but the Axewomen pulled off a win against Saint Mary’s Feb. 10, going 3-1 to snap a ninegame losing streak.
The Axewomen, who were eliminated from the post season several weeks ago, improve to 4-15 with a hard fought match against the Huskies, who came into the Feb. 10 game with a 10-7 record.
Axewomen Peyton Dewolfe and Lauryn Renzella led Acadia with seven kills each. Hannah Helm added four timely kills and two service aces. Dewolfe had a team high five service aces in the opening set. Dewolfe, Micaela Sabean and Kailey Evans shared the defensive digs with 20, 16 and 23 respectively.
“We emphasized defense this week in practice, especially with hard driven balls and adapting our positioning to some of SMU’S specific hitters,” commented senior middle Fiona Mcguinty told Acadia Athletics after the match. “At the net, we trained really hard this week on blocking as well which I think paid off during the game.”
The losing streak, Mcguinty said, has been difficult for the team.
“It has been a tough few weeks - but our effort levels have noticeably increased in practice,” she said.
“We’re working on lots of pressure situations as well. I’m really happy with our results tonight because it demonstrates that we’re ready to keep improving and fighting no matter what.”
Acadia swimming
Three Acadia swimmers - Adam Deutsch (200m breaststroke), Brett Liem (50m freestyle) and Alison Maceachern (200m butterfly) - each captured gold in their respective events, leading Acadia to 10 medals at the 2017 AUS Swimming Championships.
In total, Acadia swimmers brought home three gold, four silver and three bronze medals from the championships, held at UPEI last weekend.
“I’m over the moon,” said Acadia head coach Gary Macdonald told Acadia Athletics. “Our kids took a while to get the wins, but we had three straight tonight. For a developing team, we’re pretty pumped.”
Liem also claimed silver in the 50m Butterfly, while teammate Patrick Henger took second place in the 200m Butterfly and his brother Ben Henger was awarded a silver medal in the 100m Backstroke.
On the women’s side, Nicole Windsor captured her second medal of the championship with a bronze in the 50m Butterfly. Hannah Dorion finished second in the 200m Breaststroke.
The 800m Freestyle Relay reaped additional medals, with the Axewomen capturing bronze and the Axemen took home silver.
“Day 2 was a continuance of Day 1, where the Axemen came to compete and rattled off probably their best night of finals in two years,” said Macdonald. “After a few close calls and several silver and bronze medals they finally arrived at gold with three victories”