Rugby centre Frédérique Rajotte headlines award-winners as U Sports MVP
The fall season for Concordia Stingers varsity teams has come to an end, with multiple athletes being named all-stars. Rugby centre Frédérique Rajotte headlined the Stingers award-winners after being named the Most Valuable Player of the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ) and U Sports. The Concordian breaks down all the individual accolades won by Concordia’s athletes.
Women’s Rugby
Rajotte led the team with 15 tries this season. She was named to the RSEQ’s first all-star team, and U Sports’s first all-Canadian team. Joining her on the RSEQ first all-star team was second row Laetitia Royer, who was also named to the second all-Canadian team.
Five Stingers made the RSEQ’s second all-star team: prop Emilie Bélanger, centre Alex Tessier, winger Olyvia Faille, flanker Geneviève Kasa-Vubu and hooker Melissa Wood.
Despite the players’ individual accomplishments, the Stingers went 4-3 during the regular season. They then lost in the RSEQ semi-final against the Laval Rouge et Or.
Men’s Rugby
The men’s rugby team went undefeated in the regular season and playoffs before winning the RSEQ championship by a score of 35-7 against the ETS Piranhas on Nov. 12.
Centre Charles Debove finished fifth in the RSEQ in scoring with nine tries, but nonetheless earned the conference’s MVP honours. He also made the RSEQ’s first all-star team, alongside seven other Stingers.
Centre Samuel Montminy, fly-half Moritz Wittmann, winger Jean-Christophe Vinette, second row Jackson Marquardt, fly-half Jonathan Banks, and back rows Andreas Krawczyk and Lucas Hotton all made the first all-star team.
The second all-star team included five Stingers: prop Nicolas Krawczyk, back row Malcolm Baird, scrum-half Sebastian Iaricci, winger Julien Mac Kay Cantin and hooker Nicholas Smith.
Football
The league’s five coaches and the commissioner chose the RSEQ all-star football team. They unanimously voted Stingers running back Jean-Guy Rimpel onto the team. He finished the season as the league’s leading rusher, with 708 yards. (In comparison, the player with the second-most rushing yards had 348.) Rimpel also scored six touchdowns.
Cornerback Khadeem Pierre earned the title of RSEQ Defensive Rookie of the Year, and was named to the all-star team. He had 19 total tackles this season, adding three interceptions and one forced fumble.
Offensive lineman Maurice Simba and linebacker Mickaël Côté joined Rimpel and Pierre on the all-star team.
Quarterback Trenton Miller led the RSEQ in passing yards per game, with 297, despite playing only four games. He also threw the third-most touchdowns in the league, with six. Receiver Jarryd Taylor finished second in the RSEQ for receiving yards, with 574 in seven games. Both Miller and Taylor were not included on the all-star team.
The Stingers went 3-4 during the regular season before losing in the semi-final against the Université de Montréal Carabins.
Soccer
Both soccer teams missed the playoffs, with the women’s team going 3-7-4, and the men’s team going 3-8-1. One athlete from each team made it onto their respective all-star teams.
Defender Olivier Georges was named a RSEQ all-star for the fourth time in his career, and made the second all-star team for the third time. Georges, who was the team’s captain, played in all 12 games this season.
Midfielder Chama Sedki led the women’s team with four goals and three assists, and was named to the second all-star team. This was the first time the second-year computer engineering student made the all-star team.
Main photo by Alex Hutchins.
