Thunder Athletics - Fall 2024 Semester Review

The start of the 2024/2025 season has been an eventful one for the Thunder. As another Fall semester comes to an end, it’s time to take a look back at how the Thunder closed out 2024.

Badminton

The Thunder Badminton season has just begun with them playing one tournament in November. 

In the Men’s Singles event, Jonathan Ko claimed third place and the bronze medal, defeating Vishaw Patel from NAIT. In women’s singles, Emma Tran finished fourth overall. The Men's Doubles competition saw Raphael Motel and Jonathan Su win the gold medal, defeating the TKU duo of Hossein Ahmadi and Mahdi Ahmadi in a thrilling final. In the Women’s Doubles event, Ella Gifford and Emma Tran (CUE) rounded out the top four. Mixed Doubles had Raphael Motel and Samantha Richard finish with the silver medal. Overall as a team, the Thunder finished second with 137 total points, 20 points shy of the first place leader NAIT after Tournament #1. 

Thunder Badminton’s next tournament will be in the new year, as The King’s University will host Tournament #2 on Sunday January 19th.

Men’s Basketball

After making the playoffs in the 2023-24 season, Thunder Men’s Basketball entered this year looking to get this veteran group back into the dance yet again. Sitting in fourth place in the ACAC North Division with a 5-5 record through the first semester, the Thunder are again back in a playoff spot. 

Fifth year guard Yaadvir Dhaliwal sits top 5 in scoring in the ACAC averaging 17.7 points per game, while teammate O’Ryan Wallace is 9th in ACAC in points per game, with 17.1. Along with the scoring duo of Dhaliwal and Wallace, fifth year forward Kyler Dutka is Top 10 in the ACAC with 7.1 rebounds per game, and 2nd in the ACAC in blocks per game with 1.4. 

Men’s Basketball returns to play in the new year on January 10th as they head to Fort McMurray to face Keyano Huskies.

Team Leaders

• #7 Yaadvir Dhaliwal - 17.7 PPG, 4.9 RPG, 2.5 APG, 1.3 STL/G

• #8 O’Ryan Wallace - 17.1 PPG, 4.0 RPG, 31. APG, 1.2 STL/G

• #15 Kyler Dutka - 9.3 PPG, 7.1 RPG, 2.8 APG, 1.4 BPG

Women’s Basketball

After coming off a great 2023-24 season where the team made the playoffs, the Women's Basketball program looked to continue their winning ways to start the year. 

The group has hit a bit of the injury bug, with a season ending injury to all-conference guard Jenna Rinsky and game to game ailments to Chloe Sutherland and Lily Anderson have forced the team to adapt on the fly. The team currently sits at 2-8 on the season, 6th place in the North Division but only 1 win away from tying the fourth place NAIT Ooks for the final playoff spot. 

The team is led by second year guard Chloe Sutherland who leads the team in scoring with 12.0 points per game and assists per game with 3.1. She’s also 8th in the ACAC in steals per game with 3.1. Fourth year forward Georgie Bowman and third year forward Haley Cleland have stepped up considerably for the team. Bowman currently is on pace to set a personal career high in most major scoring and defensive categories, while Cleland leads the team in rebounds per game with 6.0 and is setting her own career highs in major statistical categories. 

Women’s Basketball is back in action on January 10th against the Keyano Huskies as they look to stay in the playoff hunt.

Team Leaders

Chloe Sutherland - 13.5 PPG, 4.9 RPG, 3.5 APG, 3.5 STL/G

Georgia Bowman - 10.0 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 1.4 APG, 1.6 STL/G

Haley Cleland - 6.8 PPG, 6.0 RPG, 1.7 APG, 1.2 STL/G

Cross Country

After coming off a national championship win in men’s individual 8km event in 2023, Cross Country had a new crop of athletes join the fold looking to make a similar impact. 

At the ACAC Championships at St.Mary’s University, Women’s Cross Country finished 5th overall as a team. First year Ashlee Walker led the women’s team, finishing in 6th overall with a time of 25:54. Second year runner Laurel Van der Giessen finished in the Top 20, and fourth year Jaycee May finished in the Top 35. Men’s Cross Country saw first year Jason Kwong as the top Thunder runner in the 8km event, finishing 38th overall with a time of 35:28. Elkan Ekhator finished in the Top 50, and first year runner Noah McCutcheon finished in the Top 55. 

The Thunder had one runner selected to represent Concordia at the CCAA Cross Country Championships held in Windsor, Ontario. It was Ashlee Walker, who received her ticket after an all-conference rookie season. She finished 27th individually out of 96 qualified runners at the championships with a time of 24:51.40 in the women’s 6km event. 

With the cross country season officially complete, the runners will move indoors as they prepare for the ACAC Indoor Track season. Indoor Track will begin on Saturday January 25th as Concordia will host the first Grand Prix of the season at the Kinsmen Sports Centre.

Curling

Thunder Curling’s season has recently gotten underway, as the team travelled to Camrose for their first ACAC tournament of the season in November with both our mixed team and women’s team playing all weekend. 

At the completion of the weekend, Women’s Curling finished with a 3-2 record, defeating NAIT 12-1, Augustana 11-4, and Lakeland 8-1 while falling to Red Deer 6-4 and SAIT 4-3. Mixed Curling finished the weekend with a 2-2 record, beating Red Deer 8-1 and Portage 11-2, while losing to SAIT 10-1 and Lakeland 8-6. 

As the season continues, look for both the women’s and mixed teams to improve and make another run at an ACAC Championship. Concordia will host the second curling tournament of the season, taking place January 17th-19th at the Thistle Curling Club.

Golf

Thunder Golf finished their 2024 ACAC season winning back-to-back ACAC Championships in the Women's Team and Mixed Team categories. The women's team saw Ella Gifford win the tournament individually, finishing +23 over the event. Lauryn Psutka was right behind Gifford in 2nd place at +26, shooting career best 75 in round three of the ACAC Championships. Ava Stach finished fourth overall, shooting +57 and shot her season best 88 on Day 2 of the tournament. In total, the women's team shot a combined +49, which was a 72 stroke lead over the second place NAIT Ooks, who ended at +121. For the Thunder Mixed team, their ACAC Championship win is the second in team history. The group shot a combined 688 over the three days, edging out second place NAIT by three strokes. This year's mixed team at the championship consisted of Ella Gifford, and Lauryn Psutka on the women's side, as well as Hayden Prins, Evan Couch, and Mateo Gallo on the men's side. 

On the awards front, Gifford won her third straight Female Golfer of the Year after winning the ACAC Championship individually, becoming the only golfer in ACAC history to accomplish that feat. Additionally, Gifford, Psutka, and Stach each received an all-conference honour. It's the first time in CUE Golf history that Thunder Golf was recognized with three female all-conference players. Rounding out the golf awards for the year, Thunder Head Coach Larry Petryk was named the 2024 ACAC Golf Coach of the Year. 

The trio of Gifford, Psutka, and Stach also represented Concordia at this year's CCAA Golf Championships. After the four day tournament was complete, Gifford finished 8th individually, Psutka was right behind her finishing 10th individually, and Stach finished 16th overall. 

The completion of the CCAA event marked the end of the 2024 Thunder golf season. It was another year of championships, awards, and record breaking. The team will be back in action at the start of the 2025 school year in September.

Hockey

After an ACAC Hockey Championship finals appearance in 2023-24, the Thunder Men’s Hockey program came into the year looking to get back into the playoffs for another crack at the title. 

The talent level of the men’s hockey division continues to get deeper, with parody all over and any team having a chance to win on any night. The Thunder currently sit at a 3-9 record, holding on to a playoff spot while battling injuries during the first half of the season. Rookie forward Dylan Handel currently leads the Thunder in points with 14, contributing with 6 goals and 8 assists. Third year forward Dallon Wilton is also on a point per game pace, with 12 points in 12 games. The goalies have all split playing time, with the group holding a .901 save percentage overall. 

The team comes back from the winter break and resumes their ACAC playoff hunt on January 10th and 11th when they battle Portage College in a weekend series.

Team Leaders

Dylan Handel - 6 G, 8 A, 14 P

Dallon Wilton - 4 G, 8 A, 12 P

Drew Sim - 2 W, 220 SV, .901SV%

Men’s Soccer

The men’s soccer program proved to be competitive all season, finishing with a 3-8-1 record good for 5th place in the ACAC north, missing the playoffs. 

The Thunder attack was led by Carlos Echeverria, who led the team in goals with 4 and points with 8. On the awards front, rookie fullback Duke Naylor captured an all-conference award for his stellar play this year. 

With their season complete, Men’s Soccer will be back again in September 2025 looking to improve in the offseason and make the 2025 playoffs.

Team Leaders

Carlos Echeverria - 4 G, 8 P, 12 SOG

Duke Naylor - 1 G, 2 P, 5 SOG

Isaiah Maluta - 3W, 48 SV, 1 SO, .686 SV%

Women’s Soccer

For the first time since 2010, the Concordia Women’s Soccer team are ACAC Champions after defeating the 2023 champion SAIT Trojans in the final by a score of 2-1. 

A season as successful as Women’s Soccer in 2024 came with plenty of awards. ACAC Tournament all-stars for the Thunder included goalkeeper Madison Kempster and striker Abigail Burton. Concordia's game winning goal scorer, Vanessa Pietramala, was named the tournament MVP. Head Coach Gadeer Sobh won the ACAC North Coach of the Year in her first year at the helm. Under her leadership, the Thunder were dominant on the field, scoring 46 goals and boasting a goals-against average (GAA) of 0.42, with 8 shutouts throughout the season. Sobh successfully integrated nine rookies into the squad while guiding the returning core players to an 11-0-1 record. Pietramala received the ACAC North Player of the Year award for the second season in a row. In 12 games, she has recorded an impressive 14 goals and 8 assists, totaling 36 points and leading the team's offense with a solid .560 shot percentage. Rounding out the awards were 3 ACAC All-Conference selections for the Thunder, with Pietramala, defender Mallory McDonald-Cockrall, and goalkeeper Madison Kempster each receiving the award. 

Advancing to the CCAA National Championships, the Thunder went 1-2 playing some of the most entertaining games of the tournament. It was a fantastic championship for CUE center midfielder Emma Ward, who’s incredible play saw her selected as player of the game for two of the three Concordia games, as well as being selected as a CCAA tournament all-star.

As the soccer year wraps up for the women’s team, this has been the best season of CUE Women’s Soccer in over a decade. The team will regroup and build again this offseason, eager to compete for another ACAC and CCAA championship.

Team Leaders

Vanessa Pietramala - 14 G, 8 A, 36 P, 29 SOG

Emma Ward - 3 G, 2 A, 8 P, 5 SOG

Madison Kempster - 9 W, 6 SO, 44 SV, .898 SV% 

Men’s Volleyball

After missing the playoffs last season, Men’s Volleyball brought back another young group looking to build on last season. The team is currently 0-9 through the first half of the season but have shown flashes of their future potential.

Second year Outside Hitter Brodie Wight has taken a big step up from year 1, leading the Thunder in kills and kills per set, while fourth year Middle Logan Kranod is Top 3 in the ACAC in blocks with 20 and blocks per set with 0.73. First year Setter Hasit Desai has made an impact right away, sitting Top 15 in the ACAC with 5.17 assists per set and total assists with 150. 

The Thunder will continue their season in the new year, returning to action on January 10th as they host the Keyano Huskies at Ralph King Athletic Centre.

Team Leaders

Brodie Wight - 52 K, 2.00 K/S, 6 SA, 31 DIGS

Hasit Desai - 150 A, 5.17 A/S, 4 SA, 20 DIGS

Logan Kranrod - 28 K, 6 SA, BS 20, B/S 0.73

Women’s Volleyball

Thunder Women’s Volleyball are still finding their footing in the tough and competitive ACAC North Division. The program is heading into the winter break with a 0-9 record, sitting in 7th place. 

First year Outside Hitter Stephanie Kendziora is off to a great start, now 8th in the ACAC in kills with 88 and 12th in kills per set with 2.84. First year Setter Paige Luttrell has also been finding her game early on, as she's worked her way into the Top 15 in assists per set with 5.09 and overall assists with 112. Emma Tran is returning for her second year and has also taken another step forward, now 8th in the ACAC with 2.76 digs per set and tied for the Thunder lead in total digs with 58. The veteran players are making an impact, as Sydney Horyn recently broke the record for career service aces for Thunder Women’s Volleyball, now holding the new lead with 75 aces. 

The Thunder return from the winter break on January 10th as they welcome the Keyano Huskies to Ralph King Athletic Centre to kick off the second half of the season.

Team Leaders

Stephanie Kendziora - 88 K, 2.84 K/S, 9 SA, 58 DIGS

Paige Luttrell - 112 A, 5.09 A/S, 9 SA, 24 DIGS

Sydney Horyn - 46 K, 1.53 K/S, 10 SA, 52 DIGS, 5 BS