The fall season has reached the business end, with Blue Jags teams battling in Island finals, qualifying for provincial championships and opening playoff runs. Highlights included Senior Girls Field Hockey earning a BC AAA berth, Senior Girls Cross Country qualifying for the provincial team event, and a strong finish to the SMUS Rowing fall season on Elk Lake.
Senior Girls Field Hockey
The SMUS Senior Girls Field Hockey team will head into the BC AAA Championship tournament as Vancouver Island’s second seed after a 2-1 loss to Quw’utsun in Duncan in last Thursday afternoon’s Island final.
In a hard-fought Island AAA championship game, the Blue Jags just missed tying it up when their penalty corner with no time left in regulation hit the crossbar. Farah Sinclair scored the lone SMUS goal, which came off a beautiful passing play across the field and down the side, with Olive Winters picking up the assist.
Quw’utsun will be the Island’s top seed and host for the BC AAA Championship tournament, Nov. 11-13 in Duncan.
The Blue Jags also played their final home game last Monday when they met Glenlyon Norfolk School in the annual May Tully Shield contest. The game pits the Lower Island’s top AAA team (SMUS) against the best AA squad (GNS).
That game was also a close one, with GNS prevailing 2-1. Anna Beaudry scored the Blue Jags’ goal off a penalty corner.
Beaudry was one of five Grade 12 players honoured as part of their final home game, along with Mia Wong, Iris Wu, Elspeth Rodger and Talia Klenz.
Cross Country
The SMUS Senior Girls finished fourth among AA teams at last Wednesday’s Vancouver Island Cross Country Championships. The result qualified them for the team event at the BC Championship meet this Saturday in Abbotsford.
Leading the way for SMUS at Islands were a pair of Grade 10s, Natalie DiFelice-Oinonen and Reese Trumpy. DiFelice-Oinonen placed 15th overall out of 161 Senior Girls runners at Arbutus Meadows, finishing in 20:58, while Trumpy was 16th in 21:00. That placed them sixth and seventh, respectively, among Island AA competitors.
Other members of the SMUS Senior Girls team include Lauren Arndt (23:41), Addy Newman-Ting (24:17), Rachel Oliver (24:21), Ella Buckley (26:21) and Sophie Buckley (29:10).
The SMUS Boys did not have enough runners to qualify for the team event. Liam Coley was the top SMUS Senior Boys finisher, placing 27th out of 45 AA runners (20:34), while Michael Carpiano was 30th (20:52).
Saturday’s BC Championship races will be run at Clearbrook Park in Abbotsford.
Rowing
SMUS Rowing finished its fall season in style, with all 59 athletes racing multiple times over the weekend at the Lower Vancouver Island Secondary Schools Athletic Association City Championship Regatta on Elk Lake.
“Congratulations to all athletes, and a huge thank you to the coaching staff,” said SMUS Head of Rowing Susanne Walker Curry.
Here are the SMUS results:
Saturday
Open 8+ (14 entries)
- SMUS 1: 2nd in Award Category E, 2nd in Final 1
- SMUS 2: 3rd in Award Category D, 4th in Final 2
- SMUS 3: 4th in Award Category E, 2nd in Final 2
Open Mostly Novice 4X- (38 entries)
- SMUS 1: 3rd in Award Category C, 2nd in Final 2
- SMUS 2: 15th in Award Category A, 1st in Final 10
- SMUS 3: 12th in Award Category A, 1st in Final 9
- SMUS 4: 8th in Award Category A, 2nd in Final 7
- SMUS 5: 13th in Award Category A, 2nd in Final 9
Sunday
Open 4X (40 entries)
- SMUS 1: 1st in Award Category D, 1st in Final 2
- SMUS 2: 2nd in Award Category D, 3rd in Final 2
- SMUS 3: 3rd in Award Category E, 4th in Final 1
- SMUS 4: 9th in Award Category E, 3rd in Final 3
Open Mostly Novice 8+ (18 entries)
- SMUS 1: 1st in Award Category C, 3rd in Final 1
- SMUS 2: 1st in Award Category A, 3rd in Final 2
- SMUS 3: 3rd in Award Category A, 3rd in Final 4
- SMUS 4: 2nd in Award Category D, 2nd in Final 3
Open 1X (17 entries)
- SMUS 1 (Nacey): 3rd in Award Category E, 4th in Final 1
- SMUS 2 (Nadra): 2nd in Award Category D, 6th in Final 2, top female
Senior Boys Soccer
The SMUS Senior Boys put forth an excellent effort but came out on the wrong end of a 2-0 decision to visiting Royal Bay in a Colonist Cup quarterfinal last Tuesday.
The Blue Jags had plenty of offensive chances, but a pair of second-half goals lifted Royal Bay to the win.
SMUS, nursing injuries to a number of key players, is now getting some much-needed time to heal and prepare for the Island AA Championships, which it will host Nov. 9 and 10 at UVic. The Blue Jags will enter the tournament as the Lower Island’s top seed. View the Senior Boys AA Island Soccer Championships schedule.
Junior Boys Soccer
The Junior Boys Soccer team suffered its first loss of the season in last Monday’s Lower Island Championship game, falling 3-0 to the Thunder at Spectrum.
Injuries also plagued the Junior Jags in this contest. “The team has a longer list of injuries than players able to get on the field,” said SMUS Coach Kevin Mennie. Meanwhile, Spectrum “had at least 10 subs, and the home turf/crowd.”
Nevertheless, the final was back and forth, with both teams getting their chances. Late in the first half, Spectrum was awarded a corner and scored on a high cross into the net to take a 1-0 lead into the break.
SMUS had a few great opportunities of its own thanks to Jerome Chan and Declan Ross. The Spectrum goalie made two fingertip diving saves to deny Ross on his free kicks. Spectrum scored again halfway through the second half on a breakaway, and later on a penalty shot from a counter-attack.
The Junior Jags spent much of last week getting healthy for the Island Championship tournament, which began Monday in Courtenay.
SMUS is the No. 2 Lower Island seed and opened pool play Monday against Brooks of Powell River and Oak Bay. The Junior Jags face North Island top seed Carihi this morning (Tuesday) at 9:30 am.
Senior Girls Volleyball
The Senior Girls Volleyball team finished Lower Island regular-season league play last Tuesday at Esquimalt with two exciting matches, splitting with Vic High (22-25, 25-16) and Stelly’s (17-25, 25-22).
The Blue Jags will face the Stingers again tonight (Tuesday) in the first round of the Lower Island AAA playoffs at Stelly’s. The best-of-five match begins at 6 pm. The second round of Lower Island playoffs goes Nov. 10, with the top three teams advancing to the Island AAA Championships Nov. 20 and 21 at Ballenas.
The SMUS Senior Girls will also host Gulf Islands this Friday in an exhibition match in the Single Gym, beginning at 3:30 pm.
Senior Boys Volleyball
The Senior Boys Volleyball team won four of its six sets last Wednesday in Lower Island league action at Vic High.
The Blue Jags swept both Edward Milne (25-15, 25-13) and GNS (25-6, 25-5) and lost to the host squad (21-25, 19-25).
The Senior Boys will travel to Pacific Christian for more league play this Wednesday, facing Lambrick Park and the host school. Games begin at 6 pm.
Junior Boys Volleyball
The SMUS Junior Boys Volleyball team earned a clean sweep at a league playdate it hosted last Thursday, beating both Oak Bay (25-21, 25-16) and Esquimalt (25-15, 25-15).
The Junior Jags finished fifth in their pool with an 11-7 match record in the regular season. They will wrap up their season Thursday at Edward Milne with a crossover match against the Wolverines to determine ninth place on the Lower Island. That match begins at 4 pm.
Junior Girls A Volleyball
The Junior Girls A Volleyball team played its final Lower Island Division 1 league games of the season last Thursday at Lambrick Park.
The Blue Jags beat Lambrick Park 25-11, 27-25, with Ava Allard providing great serving to help secure the win. SMUS also lost to Oak Bay (14-25, 9-25) and Spectrum (15-25, 11-25).
The Blue Jags will compete in the Division 1 consolation playoffs this Thursday at Esquimalt, beginning at 4 pm.
Junior Girls B Volleyball
The SMUS Junior Girls B team fell to Belmont (13-25, 11-25) last Monday in its final Lower Island Division 2 regular-season action.
The Blue Jags were in playoff action Monday at Spectrum.
