Thunder Athletics Weekly Recap - Week 3

It was a big Week 3 for Concordia as golf went to ACAC Championships and soccer was on the road in Fort McMurray. Take a look at how each team fared in their third week of competition.

Golf

Thunder golf had a big weekend in Alberta Springs in Red Deer, playing for an ACAC Championship in the Men’s, Women’s, and Mixed divisions.

The women's golf team continued their domination of the ACAC circuit, with Lauryn Psutka (+19), Ella Gifford (+27), Caroline Frey (+37), and Ava Stach (+38) finishing in the top four positions. This is the fourth year in a row the Thunder have led in the women’s category individually, with Gifford finishing first in 2022, 2023, and 2024. Psutka claims her first ACAC Championship win individually, capping off a stellar season where she led two of three tournaments. 

In the men’s bracket, it was Hayden Prins again leading the way for Concordia (CUE), finishing second overall at exactly even par. Evan Couch also had a strong tournament weekend, ending the event in the Top 20 at +21. 

As a team, women’s golf secured their third ACAC Women’s Team Championship in a row, this year finishing at +45. The next closest team was Medicine Hat College at +97. The Thunder Mixed team also won their third ACAC Mixed Team Championship in a row, continuing the most successful championship run in Thunder golf history. The mixed team consisted of scores from Evan Couch, Hayden Prins, Jayce Kaminski, Lauryn Psutka, and Ella Gifford. The men’s team finished fifth overall, with a score of +77.

Next up for Thunder golf is the CCAA National Tournament, where Psutka, Gifford, Frey, and Prins will represent CUE. This year’s tournament takes place in Medicine Hat between October 12th and October 17th.   

Soccer

Thunder soccer spent their weekend in Fort McMurray, playing two games each against the Keyano Huskies on September 20th and 21st.

Women’s soccer kept rolling with a 3-3 draw on Saturday and a 3-2 win on Sunday. Saturday’s game was led by captain Vanessa Pietramala, scoring two goals and adding an assist. Hadlee Wensveen potted her first goal of the year, which was also the first ACAC goal of her career. Sunday’s 3-2 win saw Abigael Burton add two goals, which now puts her tied for the team lead with 5 with Pietramala. Amy Fayant continued her resurgence after being out all last year, scoring her second of the season.

Men’s soccer had a tough second week falling to Keyano 2-0 on Saturday and 5-1 on Sunday. It was a tale of two halves in game one, as the Huskies scored two early goals to put them ahead in the first half. Concordia held strong in the second half, limiting Keyano to only 2 shots on net, but unfortunately could not capitalize on their own opportunities as well. Game two was all Keyano, who scored all five of their goals in the first half of the game. Omar Martinez was the lone goal scorer for the Thunder, scoring the first of his ACAC career.

Both teams will be back in action this coming weekend, as they travel to Lakeland on Saturday September 27th to play the Rustlers and come back home to play the Portage Voyageurs on Sunday September 28th. Looking at the ACAC North Division standings, the women are in a three way tie for first place at 4-1-1, while the men sit sixth in the division at 1-4-1.