Tag: Game Recap

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Stingers 74, Citadins 54: The Stingers avenge their loss against the Citadins with a convincing win

The Concordia Stingers women’s basketball team and Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) Citadins battled for a third straight game on Sunday afternoon at the Concordia Gym. The Stingers avenged their loss from Jan. 8 with a convincing 71-54 victory.

It was the Stingers’s annual Shoot for the Cure game. Since its first event in 2007, the campaign has raised more than $1.3 million. The Shoot for the Cure game is part of the eight Signature Series events presented by the Stingers in 2019-20.

The Citadins got a good start in the first quarter, taking an early 10-point lead. However, the Stingers gained momentum at the end of the quarter and never let the visitors control the game again. Stingers head coach Tenicha Gittens said the team just kept things simple.

“Our players listened,” Gittens said. “They just executed the game plan, and took advantage of their [Citadins] mistakes. I think we did a good job on both ends of the floor.”

The Stingers scored 27 of their 71 points in the second quarter, taking a 40-28 lead at halftime. While it was the most points that either team scored during any quarter of the game, Gittens said she didn’t think that quarter secured her team the win.

“I think that we played a very good game overall,” Gittens said. “You can win the second quarter and lose the game. You can say that it started through the first quarter. We picked it up, and were able to score and do things defensively. We put four quarters together.”

Gittens said her team was undisciplined when it lost its previous game to the Citadins. She said her players weren’t intense or showing energy.

“Those are things we can control,” Gittens said. “That’s one thing to play a great game and just lose. That last game, we didn’t play the way we’re practicing, and preparing every single day. This last Thursday and Friday at practice, it was as intense as if we were playing like today.”

Stingers’s point guard Caroline Task scored 26 points in the victory, in addition to grabbing four rebounds. Gittens said it makes other players’ jobs easier when she plays that well.

“Myriam Leclerc had to do a lot on the offensive end of the floor, in terms of executing and getting people to the right place,” Gittens said. “It makes a huge difference when Task comes in and delivers shots like that. Our players did their job [today].”

The Stingers will play McGill on Jan. 23 at the Concordia Gym. The game is scheduled for 6 p.m.

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Ottawa 5, Stingers 3: Stingers fall in Ottawa to close out 2019

OTTAWA – Down the 417, the Stingers lost their Saturday afternoon matchup to the University of Ottawa Gee Gees by a score of 5-3.

The Stingers were vastly outplayed for the majority of the game and it showed on the stat sheet, being outshot by Ottawa 52-26. It’s a good thing that game footage exists because Sebastien Lefebvre, who made his fifth start of the season, played a very solid game despite letting in 5 goals.

Defenceman Carl Neill, who scored a highlight reel goal in the third period, praised the Stingers netminder for another performance that kept them in the game.

“You wanna play well for anyone who’s in net but especially for [Sebastien Lefebvre],” said Neill. “He hasn’t played many games in this league and he’s been doing his best.”

The Stingers made some crucial mistakes that ultimately cost them the game, most of which came in the first period, said head coach Marc-André Élement.

“It’s the little details. Little mistakes really cost us,” said Élement. “You have to give [Ottawa] credit though. They played a really good game.”

Other than a couple of mistakes made in the third period that led to the Gee Gees’ fourth and fifth goals, special teams was where the game was lost for the Stingers. The Stingers went 0/5 on the power play while letting in two goals on four opportunities on the penalty kill.

“We have to work on special units. They have to be better.” Élement said. “Our power play, our penalty kill. Everyone. They won the special teams battle and won the game.”

The Christmas break couldn’t come soon enough for the Stingers as they lost six out of their eight games in the month of November to close out 2019.

Despite their 6-7-3 record, brighter days are ahead for the Stingers. 2019 was not kind to the Stingers and was a year plagued with injuries to players like Philippe Sanche and Alexander Katerinakis, two of the team’s best and most important players. The two are expected to return for their first game back after the Christmas break.

The Stingers will cross the border to play the Boston University Terriers for an exhibition matchup on Dec. 29. They get back to league play on Jan. 4 when they will play host to these same Gee Gees for their second matchup of the season.

 

Photo by Alex Hutchins

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Stingers men’s rugby team starts CUMRC with a win

All teams were in action Wednesday for the first day of the Canadian University Men’s Rugby Championship (CUMRC). The Concordia Stingers concluded the day with a 10-7 victory over the University of Guelph Gryphons.

With eight teams in the tournament, the first-ranked team played the eighth-ranked team, the second-ranked team played the seventh, and so on.

The Stingers and Gryphons, fourth and fifth respectively, knew each other well, as they met last year for the previous edition of the CUMRC. The Stingers won that game 19-5.

Both teams had good scoring opportunities, however the Stingers’s defence played an almost perfect game, and helped the team win regardless of scoring just a single try and penalty kick. The try was scored by veteran Stephen Martinez in the first half.

Head coach Craig Beemer thought the Stingers were dominant in many aspects, but said the defence was really good.

“When [the offence] doesn’t score the points you need, and the game gets tight, you can get a crazy finish like that,” Beemer said. “Hats off to Guelph, they battled for the full 60 minutes, and really put us under pressure at the end.”

The decision to opt for a three-point penalty kick with 15 minutes left in the second half came from the game being a one score contest. Beemer said the opportunity was there, as the Stingers were aligned right between the posts in Gryphons’s territory.

“You want to automatically make it [a difference] of two scores,” Beemer said. “That came back right. In the second half, if you can advance it by another score or even more, then you take it.”

Stingers centre Aidan McMullan, who scored that penalty kick, said the experience of playing the CUMRC at home is awesome.

“We had the game at 6 p.m., so everyone could come after work,” said McMullan. “It’s awesome to have family and friends coming out, cheering you on, and supporting you through this whole season. Now, it’s finally this tournament, and we’re just going to keep on going.”

Stephen Martinez poses with Concordia’s athletics director, D’Arcy Ryan, after being named player of the game for the Stingers.

The Stingers will now play the two-time CUMRC defending champions University of British Columbia Thunderbirds in the semi-final on Friday. It’s the third time in as many years the two teams meet at the championship. Beemer said he likes his team’s chances.

“I like our players’ attitude right now,” Beemer said. “I think they believe in themselves. I like our attack. If you want to win gold, you have to beat the best team.”

The game starts at 2:30 p.m. at Concordia Stadium. The winner will play for gold at 1 p.m. on Sunday.

 

Photos by Cecilia Piga

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Six things we learned from Thursday’s double header against Bishop’s

The Concordia Stingers women’s basketball team lost to the nationally ranked #8 Gaiters in a blowout.

Bishop’s really flexed their muscles and showed the Stingers and their fans in attendance at the John Dore Court why they are the 8th ranked team in the nation, beating them by a final score of 79-53.

It was a tight, fast paced game through the first 5 minutes of the opening tip-off but then it fell off the rails for the Stingers. The size mismatch proved to be too much for them as they were out-rebounded 47-33, which included 19 offensive rebounds for the Gaiters.

The Stingers also shot way below par at 35.6% from the field, and only made 2 three pointers on 20 attempts. On the other side, the Gaiters only shot 41.8% but made 12 more shots from the field, mostly coming off second chance opportunities. Their rookie guard Jael Kabunda took the game by storm and introduced herself to the RSEQ division, putting up a game high 32 points. Kabunda more than tripled her team’s next leading scorer.

Here’s what we learned from the women’s game:

  • The Stingers short bench is going to be a problem for them down the stretch of the season. It’s not that this team doesn’t have talent, they simply just don’t have the (wo)manpower on the bench to give their starters a rest, only rolling 8 players throughout the game. Down the stretch of the season, that can wear on players and fatigue will set in. Nelly Owusu is recovering from a knee injury that kept her out for all of last season and is expected to return at some point this season. After Thursday’s performance, it’s evident that they need her back sooner rather than later.
  • A major bright spot for the Stingers, on a night that was bereft of them, was Sabrina Linéus. If you looked at her statline from the game, you might not find anything all that impressive. That being said, if you watched the game, you know what I’m about to talk about. Defensively, even when the Stingers were down by as much as 32 at one point, she was still giving Bishop’s issues as her compete level never dropped. She proved that she can be an effective bench player who will always give it her all, even when the game is far out of reach. That’s the type of attitude that coaches love.
  • We’ve seen these types of games before from the Stingers. Their shot selection was not the problem Thursday night — they were taking good shots, just nothing was falling for them. This game taught us way more about the Gaiters than it did about the Stingers. Last year, we saw Myriam Leclerc come in and dominate for the Stingers, so much so that it won her the U Sports rookie of the year award. Well, one year later, Jael Kabunda looks to be poised to win that award. It’s only one game into the season for the Gaiters but she had an absolutely dominant performance, finishing with 32 points and 8 rebounds. Kabunda wasn’t even a starter for the Gaiters but after that performance I’m sure she’ll be in their starting five for the foreseeable future.

 

On the men’s side of things, the Stingers fared much better against the 7th nationally ranked Gaiters. They took down Bishop’s 79-72.

The scoreline is being a lot nicer to Bishop’s than how the actual game went as the Stingers held a double digit lead for most of the game.

The Stingers played as perfect of a first quarter as a team possibly could, going 14-16 from the field or shooting at 87.5%. Olivier Simon stole the show for the Stingers as he threw down two dunks in the opening quarter — a rarity in RSEQ basketball.

Of course there was regression to the mean for the Stingers in terms of shooting percentage, but they never looked back from that first quarter. Cedric Bryan Coriolan also had one of his best performances as a Stinger, putting up 20 points, going 7 for 12 from the field, including 4/7 from three point range.

This was one of the best full-team performances I’ve ever seen from the basketball team. Here are my takeaways:

  • The Stingers are not a one man team. A lot of people have been counting out this team with the departures of 2018-19 RSEQ MVP Ricardo Monge and Garry Merisier and now it seems like this team has a chip on their shoulder to prove that they still belong in the RSEQ Championship conversation. On Thursday night, four out of the starting five players for the Stingers put up double digit point totals. The offensive depth is something to keep an eye on for the rest of the year as they have some talented players on the bench as well. This group looks poised to make another run at the RSEQ Championship and book themselves another trip to nationals and they proved that last night by taking down the #7 ranked team in the country.
  • While it was an all around great game, it has to be said, Olivier Simon has taken his game to another level this season. It’s only two games into it, but he looks like a man on a mission out there. He didn’t get much playing time in the second quarter, but still put his stamp on the game, putting up a respectable 10 points, and going 5/7 from the field in just 17 minutes of game time. I for one, believe he is worth the price of admission alone, and if he continues this level of play, he will be at the front of the line to pick up RSEQ MVP honours for this season.
  • Lastly, Adrian Armstrong is not just a three-point shooter. In a game where he went 0/5 from three point range, he still put up 14 points going 7/11 from inside the three point line. Armstrong showed off his incredible ball handling skills all game long and did not force any tough looks. Concordia’s version of Ray Allen has added another weapon to his game. He also added six assists to his statline, creating offense from everywhere. This has been a lot of smoke blowing up the Stingers’ behinds, but after a performance like last night’s, praise has to be thrown their way.

 

Photos by Cecilia Piga

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Stingers 5, Patriotes 1: Stingers dominate the 7th ranked team in Canada

It’s pretty uncommon for coaches to throw their lines in the blender after a win, but that’s exactly what Marc-André Élement did Friday night.

Hey, whatever works.

The Stingers came out looking great in the first period, moving their feet and battling hard. They were ready for this one.

The Université de Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR) looked good as well – like the 7th ranked team in Canada. However, that didn’t last very long. Just over two minutes into the game, Colin Grannary was sprung on a breakaway by who else than Tyler Hylland, and it was quickly 1-0 for the Stingers.

Photo by Laurence B.D.

Near the end of the period, with the Stingers not spending much time in the Patriotes’ zone, Jean-Philippe Beaulieu sent a behind the back pass to Chase Harwell and it was 2-0 for the Stingers.

Defensively, they did not give UQTR any room to work with. It was all a part of the game plan, says Élement.

“We kept everything on the outside,” said Élement, “I’ll be honest with you, we played a boring game, but that’s what you need to do when you have key injuries in your line up.”

Five minutes into the second period, Loik Léveillé of the Patriotes wired a wrister past Marc-Antoine Turcotte.

2-1. Here we go, we have a game on our hands… or so we thought.

That’s all the Patriotes would get as the rest of the game was the Tyler Hylland show. The Stingers responded with two goals off the stick of Hylland. Hylland, with his three-point performance, poll vaulted himself into a five-way tie for the OUA scoring lead.

But the game didn’t end there, as William Leclerc would also get into the action and net his first goal of the season.

Leclerc was slotted on a line with Harwell and Beaulieu, who have struggled offensively this season, but that trio was one of the Stingers’ best of the night.

We haven’t been [scoring] but we’ve been playing really well,” said Harwell. “It felt really good. This game was a big statement to the league. We could play, and [everyone knows it now].”

With the Stingers’ victory, they are now only one point back of the Patriotes for second place in the OUA East division.

Tonight they face a tough test as they are on the road against the third nationally ranked Carleton Ravens

 

Photos by Laurence B.D.

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Stingers women’s hockey team wins home opener in dramatic fashion

The Concordia Stingers women’s hockey team defeated the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees 5-4 in dramatic fashion Sunday afternoon at the Ed Meagher Arena.

The Stingers had a slow start, which led to the Gee-Gees’s first two goals of the game. Stingers head coach Julie Chu said the team didn’t have a good first period.

“We’ve had a good first five minutes, and then got a little bit sloppy,” Chu said. “The second and third periods were much better. Obviously, we have to work on our puck tracking. The Gee-Gees did a good job at executing and creating space for themselves on opportunities, but ultimately we need to find a way to not give up so many opportunities.”

The Stingers found their rhythm in the second period after having some serious scoring chances on the power play. Chu said despite not scoring, she liked chances produced by her team’s power play this weekend.

“We started with McGill yesterday where we had some pretty good looks,” Chu said. “I thought today, we were moving the puck and getting some opportunities. Obviously, we need to continue finding our lanes and getting great screens, as well as putting pucks away.”

When everybody thought overtime was coming after Stingers’s forward Marie-Pascale Bernier scored her second goal of the game to tied it at 4-4, forward Audrey-Ann Rodrigue scored the game-winning goal with just 40 seconds left. Rodrigue used her speed to cut the defender and drive to the net and score. She said she will remember that goal for along time.

“I followed my intuition and shot it on net, thinking I had nothing to lose,” Rodrigue said. “It was close to the end of regulation, so all shots were big. My parents were there, so I was really happy. I come from far away, so they’re not coming often.”

First-year player Léonie Philbert scored her first career U SPORTS goal in the third period. For Chu, to have contributions from the younger players is huge.

“They’re great players. They’re playing in all situations, and I think that’s really critical for us. We have the veteran presence that has a lot of experience and is able to do a great job,” Chu said. “Yet, we’re also able to put in some of our younger players to gain some experience. I think this is a good test for our team. If people push and work hard in practice, then opportunities will come.”

The Stingers play their next game against the Carleton University Ravens on Oct. 25 at 7 p.m. at the Ice House in Ottawa.

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McGill 40, Stingers 14. Three Things We Learned from the 51st Shaughnessy Cup

The Concordia Stingers drop their second game in a row, losing to McGill in the 51st Shaughnessy Cup by a score of 40-14.

McGill was led to victory off the backs of receiver Pearce Dumay, who made six catches for 116 yards and two touchdowns, and running-back Donavan Martel who gained 135 yards and a touchdown on 14 attempts.

Adam Vance and the rest of the Stingers offence had a tough start to the game, throwing two interceptions and fumbling the ball in the first half.

“We came here with the wrong mindset,” said Vance, the Stingers’ quarterback. “We were really happy with the way we played last week [against Les Carabins] and thought McGill would just roll over.”

Starting left-tackle Damien Constantin went down in the first quarter with an injury that saw him sidelined for the rest of the game. Constantin is a big part of the Stingers offensive line and his injury was certainly felt by Vance, who was sacked five times in the game.

Here are three things we learned from the loss against McGill:

 

  •     If the Concordia Stingers want to have any type of offensive success, it starts with the offensive line giving Vance time to get the ball down field. The Stingers offence had a lot of trouble getting any sort of production on the run, or through the air, in the first half against a McGill side that came out ready and determined. If one were to just look at the box score of the game, you’d think the blame would lie on Vance, who turned over the ball four times; twice by interception and twice by fumble. However, a lot of that blame falls on the offensive line. Vance spent the majority of the game under pressure, forcing him to take a handful of sacks, which forced some poor decisions from the fifth-year quarterback. A reason why this happened was Constantin going down early in the first quarter. The offence started to see more production in the second half, when Vance had more time in the pocket to go through his reads and allow his receivers to get down field.
  •     On the other side of the ball, the defensive line has to be able to get more pressure on opposing quarterbacks. McGill’s gunslinger, Dimitrios Sinidinos, had loads of time to go through all his reads and find someone to complete passes to. McGill’s offensive line also had a very easy time creating large gaps for their running back, Donavan Martel, to tear apart the Stingers from the ground. Run stopping was a big issue of the Stingers’ last season and unless something changes, their defense will be spending a lot of time on the field again.
  •     One major bright spot for the Stingers in the game was rookie running back and kick returner, Kevin Foster. Foster hasn’t had many touches with the offence so far this season, but has made the most of his opportunities. In the third quarter, Foster had a 74-yard kick return touchdown, where he made a couple of McGill defenders miss before breaking up the sideline for the beautiful return. Foster has a lot of speed and skill, and will surely become a big part of the Stingers’ offence in the future. Right now, however, he still needs to adjust to the physicality of U Sports football.

 

Feature photo by Laurence BD

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Anthony Beauregard’s six points give Stingers a 6-2 win

Massimo Carozza scored a hat-trick against UOIT Ridgebacks

Anthony Beauregard’s six points propelled the Concordia Stingers men’s hockey team to a 6-2 win over the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) Ridgebacks on Nov. 3. Stingers rookie forward Massimo Carozza scored three goals in the win at the Ed Meagher Arena.

“They were moving their feet,” said head coach Marc-André Élement about Carozza and Beauregard. “Carozza is a fast skater, and Beauregard’s vision is so good. Those two, with [Dominic] Beauchemin, it’s a really good line, so I’m happy about their performance tonight.”

The Ridgebacks controlled the game in the first period. They failed to generate any real scoring chances, with only seven shots on Stingers goalie Marc-Antoine Turcotte, who returned between the pipes after missing the last two games with an injury.

With the Ridgebacks on a power play late in the first period, Beauregard stole the puck from a UOIT defenceman deep in their zone, and beat Ridgebacks goalie Tyson Teichmann high-glove side to give the Stingers a 1-0 lead.

The Stingers continued their undisciplined start to the season with two minor penalties in the first period. At the end of the period, Stingers forward Raphaël Lafontaine hit Ridgebacks forward Josh Maguire from behind, and received a five-minute major and a game misconduct.

“We have to be more disciplined,” Élement said. “We can’t give teams chances to get momentum on their power play.”

The Ridgebacks started the second period with a five-on-three power play after the Lafontaine and Beauchemin penalties in the first period. The Ridgebacks failed to score on the power play, including the remainder of Lafontaine’s five-minute penalty.

“Our penalty kill was good,” Élement said. “I find that’s the key of the game, when you don’t get scored on [during the penalty kill]. The guys paid the price by blocking shots.”

The Stingers pulled the game in their favour in the second period. Five minutes in, forward Brandon Kosik scored from the high slot off a pass from Beauregard, to give the Stingers a 2-0 lead. After Carozza extended the lead to three goals less than two minutes later, Ridgebacks forward Mike Robinson put his team on the board midway through the period.

With 30 seconds remaining in the second period, Beauregard scored from behind the Ridgebacks goal line by shooting the puck off Teichmann’s back and in.

“I just saw an opportunity to put [the puck] on net and go short side,” Beauregard said. “I just tried, and at the end of the day, it was a goal.” The Stingers led 4-1 after two periods.

Anthony Beauregard scored a wonderful goal from behind the goal line in the second period. Photo by Alex Hutchins.

In the third period, Carozza and Beauregard continued their dominance. Just under a minute in, Beauregard created a turnover in the Stingers zone, then flipped the puck through the neutral zone to Carozza, who went on a breakaway and scored with a backhand shot.

On a power play late in the third period, Carozza scored his third goal from a rebound. Carozza credited his hat-trick to his linemates, who “made nice plays,” and all he had to do was “put it in.”

“It’s a couple of games [Beauregard and I] are playing together now,” Carozza said. “I see him on the ice, and he sees me, so it’s working well so far.”

Beauregard said after the game that his line wouldn’t be as good without Beauchemin, whose defensive play allows Beauregard and Carozza to create scoring opportunities.

“We have a good line. Me and Massimo have good chemistry out there,” Beauregard said. “With the speed of Carozza, I try to play with that, and I try to use his speed.”

Beauregard now has seven goals and 10 assists in seven games this year. He’s the leading scorer in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA), and has the third-most points in U Sports.

The Stingers, who improved to a 5-1-1 record, play their next game on Nov. 4 at home against the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC) Paladins.

Main photo by Alex Hutchins.

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