Weekend Recap - Week 10

Week 10 of the ACAC season saw Thunder Cross Country, Hockey, Soccer, and Volleyball, all playing games throughout the week and weekend. Here’s what happened over the week for the Thunder.

Cross Country

Thunder Cross Country had one runner selected to represent Concordia at the CCAA Championships held in Windsor, Ontario. It was women’s runner 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.

Hockey

Thunder Hockey had two games over the weekend against the Briercrest Clippers.

Friday’s game saw Briercrest score first and lead after the first period 1-0. Alex Bend tied the game up for the Thunder early in the second period, but the Clippers scored three unanswered goals to take the game 4-1. 

In Saturday’s game it was Briercrest again who opened the scoring but the Thunder tied it up quickly thanks to forward Noah Wilson, making it 1-1 after the first period. Briercrest kept pushing in the second with two more goals, but rookie Dylan Handel potted his third goal of the season, finishing the second period at 3-2 Clippers. Concordia turned up the pressure scoring three goals in the third period, with another goal on the weekend for Alex Bend and two goals for Isaac Leik. Thanks to a stellar final period, the Thunder won the game 6-4. Goaltender Drew Sims was lights out between the pipes, making 68 saves on Saturday and posting a .944 save percentage.

Thunder Hockey has another two games this coming weekend, this time against the U of A Augustana Vikings. The first game of the two game series will be a home game on Friday November 15th at Clareview Recreation Centre. The second game will be a road game in Camrose on Saturday November 16th.

Volleyball

Thunder Volleyball had one game each this week against the Olds College Broncos on Friday night.
Women’s Volleyball lost in four sets with scores of 25-23 (OC), 25-12 (OC), and 25-21 (CUE), and 25-13 (OC). Rookie Left Side Alex MacDonald had a fantastic game for the Thunder, contributing 5 kills, 5 digs, 3 blocks, two assists and a service ace. She currently sits in the Top 10 in the ACAC in blocks per set with 0.55. Fourth year Middle Sydney Horyn also stepped up for the Thunder reaching 11 digs for the first time this season while adding 3 kills, 2 assists, and an ace to her stat sheet. Horyn is now 4 service aces away from tying the Thunder record for career aces.

Men’s Volleyball fell to the Broncos in straight sets with scores of 25-19 (OC), 25-21 (OC), and 25-15 (OC). First year setter Hasit Desai had a team high 12 assists. He currently sits Top 15 in the ACAC in assists per set with 3.46. Brodie Wight also made a big impact for the Thunder, earning 7 kills and 5 digs in the game. 

Thunder Volleyball will be back at home again this Friday, as they host Red Deer Polytechnic on November 15th. 

Soccer

Women’s Soccer made it to the final week of the year, the CCAA Soccer Championships. Starting on Wednesday November 6th, the Thunder faced off against the Mount Saint Vincent University Mystics in the Quarter-Final. After a tight defensive game, the match ended 0-0 forcing penalty kicks. It was the Thunder who came out on top scoring on 4 of 5 penalty kicks. In the Semi-Final on Thursday, the Thunder were up against Les Aigles d'Ahuntsic. It was again a tight defensive match, with play-by-play announcers calling it the “best game of the tournament thus far”. In the 68th minute it was Les Aigles who got on the board, scoring the game winning goal thanks to Ashley Jacques. The 1-0 loss marked the end of the Thunder’s gold medal chances, but if they won their next game against the Vancouver Island University (VIU) Mariners they could still advance to the bronze medal match. Friday’s game against VIU saw Concordia fall 4-1 to the Mariners. After a tough week with three games in three days, injuries to key players took their toll as VIU scored four unanswered goals before a goal by Madison Kempster put the game at 4-1. It was a fantastic tournament 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 season wraps up for the women’s team, this has been the best season of CUE Women’s Soccer since 2010, when they last won it all. The team will regroup and build again this offseason, eager to compete for another ACAC and CCAA championship.