Warriors weekly recap: Nov. 6 – 10

As November continues to roll on, so do the Warriors. Welcome to another weekly recap of Warriors Varsity Athletics. Let’s get into it! 

Wednesday, Nov. 6

Kicking things off, the men’s basketball team travelled to the provincial capital to take on the University of Toronto Varsity Blues. This game kept fans on the edge of their seat as the teams were neck and neck throughout, but the Warriors were able to come out on top 71-70 when the final buzzer sounded. Cristian Craciun, Rafael Llorin, and Isaiah McRae led the way with double-digit points while adding multiple rebounds and assists individually. 

The women’s team — similar to the men — travelled down the 401 to take on the University of Toronto Varsity Blues. The Warriors overcame a slim halftime deficit and posted a dominant second-half performance to come out on top 62-50. The ladies in the paint Jaimesen Newell and Nehita Oko-Oboh stole the show, combining for 28 rebounds, three blocks and four steals. Newell posted a double-double adding 11 points. Warriors move to 2-2 on the season. 

Friday, Nov. 8

Men’s hockey hit the road travelling to Windsor to take on the Lancers in a regular season matchup. The first period solved nothing as both teams were unable to find the back of the net. Fast-forward to the dying minutes of the second, the Lancers scored a major up by one going into the final frame. The Lancers rolled on in the third scoring three unanswered. Tate Popple was able to find the back of the net with 30 seconds left in the game, but that proved too little too late. The Warriors fell to the Lancers 4-1. 

Women’s hockey hosted the University of Ontario Tech Ridgebacks for some Ontario University Athletics (OUA) regular season action. The Warriors came out swinging. Kassidy McCarthy was able to tuck two away in under two minutes into regulation. Carly Orth added another and the Warriors went into the first intermission up 3-0. Nikki McDonald opened up the second frame with a major with Gracey Smith and Tatum James adding another each in the third as the Warriors came out on top 6-1. Kara Mark had a strong day between the pipes, stopping 22 of the 23 shots she faced. 

Men’s volleyball took to their home court at PAC for the first time this season. It was well worth the wait as the Warriors posted a dominant performance, sweeping the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC) Paladins 3-0, 25-13, 25-23, 25-17 respectively. Daniel Nikashov had a strong performance, accounting for nine kills and five aces. Cohen Peters was the team’s best friend as he accounted for 17 assists. 

Identical to the men’s team, the women’s volleyball team hosted the RMC Paladins for their home opener. The Warriors dominated this matchup only giving up a combined 30 points across three sets winning 25-9, 25-13, and 25-8 respectively. Avery Kelly, Rachael Meilikhan and Emma Gerger led the way with kills as Madison Seo and Adyson Kelly continued to be the team’s best friends, leading the way with assists. 

Saturday, Nov. 9

Men’s hockey was back in action as they travelled to London, Ont. to face off against the Western Mustangs. The Warriors struggled early in this one and they could not dig themselves out of the 3-0 hole they found themselves in at the end of the second period. The Warriors fell 4-0 to a strong Western team and will look to get back in the win column when they host the McGill Redbirds on November 15th.  

The women’s hockey team played host to the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees for a Saturday afternoon matchup. This was a nail biter as the Warriors rallied back from a slow start finding themselves down 2-0 halfway through the second. Carly Orth said enough was enough and found the back of the net short-handed, Madison Pritchard added another just over two minutes later to tie the game at 2-2 going into the third frame. Ottawa responded and jumped to a one-goal lead early in the third, but Tatum James responded to tie the game at 3-3. Regular time wasn’t enough. Rolling into overtime, Nikki McDonald was the OT hero as she found the back of the net and gave the Warriors the win 4-3. 

Men’s volleyball was back in action at PAC as they were taking on the RMC Paladins for the second instalment of their back-to-back matchups. Game 2 was much of the same as game 1 as the Warriors posted an impressive performance defeating the Paladins in straight sets  (25-17, 31-29, 26-24) accordingly. Liam MacArthur was all over the stat sheet as he recorded 13 kills, nine digs, four blocks, three aces and two assists. The Warriors moved to 3-3 on the season. 

Women’s volleyball continues on their dominant streak as they sweep the RMC Paladins for the second game in a row (25-14, 25-16, 25-15) accordingly. Avery Kelly, Rachel Meilikhan, and Sarah Hewer led the team with kills. Emma Greger was tough at the net posting six blocks and Adyson Kelly was the team’s best friend this time around accounting for 25 assists. The Warriors move to 7-0 on the season and will look to keep their undefeated streak alive when they travel to Kingston, Ont. to take on the Queen’s Gaels on Nov. 15. 

The men’s basketball team travelled down to St. Catharines, Ont. to take on the University of Brock Badgers. The Warriors started and finished the game strong but were outscored with a combined 48-31 in the second and third quarters, ultimately falling to a strong Badgers team 78-66. It was a strong team performance from the Warriors with eight players on the score sheet, Cristian Craciun led the way with 15, going 3-4 beyond the 3-point line. The Warriors fall to 2-3 on the season and will look to get back into the win column when they host the Queen’s Gaels at PAC on Nov. 15. 

The women’s basketball team also travelled to St. Catharines, Ont. to take on the University of Brock Badgers. The Warriors stumbled out of the gate going down by 14 in the first quarter and were unable to find their way back as they fell to the undefeated Badgers 73-59. Regardless, Nehita Oko-Oboh had a truly dominant performance dropping a double-double with 26 points and 11 assists adding two steals and one assist as well. The Warriors fall to 2-3 on the season and will look to get back into the win column when they host the Queen’s Gaels on Nov. 15. 

Sunday, Nov. 10 

Both the women’s and men’s curling teams were in action at the Guelph Invitational Tournament. To start, the men’s team opened with a strong 7-3 victory over the host team Gryphons. Unfortunately, that is where the winning stopped for the men. They went on to face the Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Bold and dropped 7-3, then took on the Trent Excalibur, falling in a tough one 8-5. Finally, they closed up the tournament with a tough loss to the Mohawk Mountaineers 7-3.

 The women’s team on the other hand had their way at this tournament. The women opened things up with a convincing 6-3 victory over the Gryphons and held on and found a way to win in a nail-biter against the Trent Excalibur 8-7. Then they rolled on and dominated the Mohawk Mountaineers 9-5 and rode that momentum to defeat the York Lions in the semi-final 10-5. All of this led up to the finals against bitter rivals Laurier Golden Hawks in which the Warriors solidified their undefeated weekend, knocking off the Hawks 6-3.