The Martlet

Rowing

After an eight-year drought, the UVic men’s rowing team captured its fifth national championship on Nov. 1 at Montreal’s Olympic Basin. The Vikes captured the eight-man title, gaining valuable points in the standings. The crew of Mike Mason, Josh Morris, Mark Vodden, Erik Johnson, Richard Herlinveaux, Eric Bevan, Peter Brooks, Brent Dallimore and cox Jane Gumley drew high praise from their coach.

“The guys put the nail in the coffin with the win in the eight, overcoming all the obstacles the weekend threw at them. We have a young group of guys, with some real veteran leaders who got the job done,” said coach Howard Campbell.

The women’s eight came through with a silver-medal finish on the same day to pull the team to a fourth place overall finish in the national finals. The Vikes finished three points behind UBC, barely missing the podium.

Coming off a men’s and women’s sweep of the second Western Canadian Championships in early October, the Vikes rowing program has more than established itself as one of Canada’s top teams.

Women’s cross-country

The Vikes women’s cross-country team finished a strong season on Nov. 14 in an even stronger fashion, winning the Canada West crown and finishing in fourth place in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) race.

CanWest does not host a conference championship, so results from the 5 km CIS championship race in Kingston, Ont. determined conference results.

With first-year Calgary native Deidre Moran heading the charge with a third-place CanWest finish, UVic came in with the low 54 points. Alberta (63 points) and Manitoba (65 points) rounded out the conference’s top three teams.

“It was a great year for the team, and great way to end the season,” said coach Brent Fougner after the Vikes’ 18th CanWest title, their first since 2005.

Moran was joined by teammates Claire Jean and Julia Tschanz on the CanWest All-Star team.

Men’s cross-country

The Vikes men’s cross-country team missed both the CanWest and CIS podiums, finishing fourth and 11th respectively. The week in Kingston produced some very solid individual results, however. Second-year Matt Pieterson finished sixth and fifth-year Daniel Mallie came in ninth in the 10 km CIS championship race, earning CIS All-star status.

Women’s field hockey

Despite failing to defend their national championship, the Vikes won the third place consolation game 2-1 over top-seeded Guelph on Nov. 8. It was UVic’s 25th medal in 27 CIS championship appearances.

It was the sixth bronze medal in team history, lead by goals from Whitney Siegmann and Angela Buttress. Buttress’ goal in the 58th minute ended up being the game winner, as the Vikes held off the Gryphons, who had entered the tournament undefeated.

After a crushing 2-1 loss at the hands of the Alberta Pandas the previous day eliminated UVic from title contention, the Vikes came out strong against Guelph, taking an early lead on Siegmann’s goal, 15 minutes in.

“[The team] could have folded up their tents and not even showed up to the game today,” said head coach Lynne Beecroft. “But as you can see, they all battled and especially the fifth year kids, they really rose to the challenge.”

It was Vikes captain Katie Collison’s final game, as she will graduate along with teammates Sumeet Aujla, Kate Tittler and Natalie Wise. “It was an overall team effort ,which was good to see in the final game, and we finished strong,” said Collison.

Men’s soccer

The Vikes salvaged a fifth-place national finish after being upset in the opening round by University of Toronto. After a 2-1 loss to U of T, the UVic rebounded with a 6-2 win over UPEI and a 3-2 over Cape Breton on Nov. 13 to finish with wins in seven of their final eight games.

“In all honesty, we played well in all three games, but we had a bad first half against Toronto and we paid for it,” said head coach Bruce Wilson.

The season remains a success as the Vikes won the CanWest title with a 3-2 win in penalties over Alberta the previous week.

Women’s soccer

Without CanWest MVP Kendra Flock, owner of the single-season Vikes scoring record, UVic finished their season Nov. 7 with a 3-1 loss to Alberta in the bronze medal game at the CIS championships in Langley. Flock was absent while away at a training camp for the Canadian senior national team.

Despite outshooting Alberta 11-5, the Vikes only mustered one goal against the Pandas, a 51st minute goal from fourth-year defender Nellanna Kurylo on a pass from CanWest All-Star rear guard Jackie Snell. The Pandas responded with three second-half goals to send the Vikes home for the off-season without medals around their necks.

The Vikes clearly missed Flock, who finished the season tied with Alberta’s Heather Lund for the conference lead in scoring, as they struggled mightily on offence throughout the tournament. In a semifinal match with UBC, T-Birds goalie and first team CanWest All-Star Jaclyn Dunnett pitched a shut out, her ninth of the season. The Vikes only mustered seven shots for the game, just over half of which were on goal.