Facing tough match-ups with newfound confidence in the playoffs, the Marauders women's basketball team has a promising future ahead of them
The McMaster University women's basketball team's journey through the playoffs was a clear display of the team’s potential to stand toe-to-toe with the country's best. The team was faced with tough match-ups, particularly in their quarterfinal match against the Carleton University Ravens, the top team in the Ontario University Athletics and U Sports, on Feb. 24.
Jenna Button, a player on the women's basketball team, highlighted their increase in confidence throughout the season, a critical factor in their ability to compete at the highest level.
"I truly believe that, even though we are such a young team. We have incredible athletes that put in the work to be able to compete with the top teams in the country. I think [the team’s confidence] will come with a little bit more experience," said Button.
I truly believe that, even though we are such a young team. We have incredible athletes that put in the work to be able to compete with the top teams in the country. I think [the team’s confidence] will come with a little bit more experience.
Jenna Button, Marauders women's basketball team
This faith was not misplaced, as the Marauders demonstrated their capabilities in the tightly contested playoff run against the Ravens.
“They’re a great team. . .So that was obviously a huge challenge for us. Going up to Ottawa as well, it’s a tough gym to play in," said Button.
Despite the odds, the Marauders approached the game with determination.
"We were the underdogs in that game; we had nothing to lose, and we did. We frickin’ gave them a run for their money. . .We stuck with them for three quarters, and then, unfortunately, things didn’t go our way in the fourth quarter," said Button.
We were the underdogs in that game; we had nothing to lose, and we did. We frickin’ gave them a run for their money. . .We stuck with them for three quarters, and then, unfortunately, things didn’t go our way in the fourth quarter.
Jenna Button, Marauders women's basketball team
The 77-94 defeat was a mix of disappointment and pride for the team. However, the season’s overall success and 16-8 record was a testament to the team's resilience and their solid foundation for the future.
Especially in their victory against Wilfrid Laurier University and the hard-fought game against Carleton, the Marauder’s playoff performance highlighted their potential and the bright future that lies ahead.
As they continue to grow and gain more experience, their faith in their ability to compete with any team in the country only strengthens, promising thrilling seasons to come for the women's basketball team.
Marauders cap off a huge weekend at provincial rowing championship in St. Catharines with five medals, including two varsity bronze medals
On Oct. 27 and 28, the McMaster University varsity rowing team competed along with 13 other participating schools in the Ontario University Athletics rowing championship at the Royal Canadian Henley Rowing Course in St. Catharines. The Marauders secured two bronze medals in the varsity women’s single and men’s lightweight pairs.
President of the rowing team, Nathalie Hilbert placed second in her women’s single heat on Oct. 27 with a time of 8:26.100 to advance to the event’s finals.
For the men’s team, Jonny Diakopoulos and Trevor Tung competed in the men’s lightweight pair and lightweight double. In the pair event, they placed second with a time of 7:25.000 in order to compete in the next-day A finals. For the doubles race, Diakopoulos and Tung finished in second in their heat to move onto the B finals.
The next day on Oct. 28, Hilbert returned to take on the A finals for the women’s single race, grabbing a spot on the podium with her bronze medal time of 8:53.270. Competing with Sarah Cushnie, Hilbert also placed fifth in the varsity women’s pair A finals.
To round out the Marauders’ wins that weekend, Diakopoulos and Tung picked up the team’s second bronze medal after finishing in third in the varsity men’s lightweight pairs. Their time of 7:37.780 just missed the silver medal spot by a few seconds, with the rowers from Western University narrowly beating out the duo by completing the race in 7:34.030.
To round out the Marauders’ wins that weekend, Diakopoulos and Tung picked up the team’s second bronze medal after finishing in third in the varsity men’s lightweight pairs.
Along with the varsity medalists, McMaster teams also secured three more medals from their junior varsity crews.
Along with the varsity medalists, McMaster teams also secured three more medals from their junior varsity crews.
The maroon and grey team dominated the junior varsity women’s doubles race, with the pair of Brooke McCoy and Olivia Richardson winning the gold medal while Sienna Munro and Hayden Taylor took the silver.
Ben Milone, Eshaan Maneyapanda, Rahul Patel, Matthew Glenn and Shuruthi Sivadas won the bronze medal for McMaster in the men’s coxed fours.
With success from both their varsity and junior varsity rowers, the Marauders finished their season in grand fashion.
McMaster's fastpitch team rakes in two all-star nominations as regular season winds down
Beginning their season on Sept. 9, the Marauder women’s fastpitch team faced their first opponent, the University of Toronto Varsity Blues, in a doubleheader match-up. Disappointing scorelines and losses in both games seemed to set the stage for the remainder of the team’s season.
As the year went on, the Marauders struggled to keep pace in their league. They finished the season with a record of two wins and 18 losses. The team’s record would leave them at the bottom of the Ontario University Softball leagues west division just below the University of Waterloo.
Their last-place finish kept the Marauders out of this year’s playoffs, where the Varsity Blues were able to clinch the gold medal. Despite the disappointing results, two Marauder athletes excelled this past season, winning themselves OUS All- Star honours.
The team’s two recipients of the award were Julie Bland and Eibhlis Hopkins. Bland and Hopkins are both in their second year on the team. Bland plays as the team’s pitcher while Hopkins also pitches and plays as an outfielder.
With at least three more years of eligibility for the two players, the Marauders fastpitch team will likely look to grow in the coming years. The team is led by head coach Manny Amaro, who has been a coach for the women’s fastpitch team since 2009.
For their season next fall, Amaro will likely look to employ Bland and Hopkin’s skills in the new year to help the team generate better results.
Marauders sweep the Lancers to become back-to-back OUA champions in front of a sold-out crowd in Burridge
The McMaster Marauders are back on top of Ontario! Following a three-set sweep of the Windsor Lancers on Mar. 11, McMaster has officially won 11 titles in the last 15 seasons. They managed to do this in front of a rare sold-out crowd on home turf in Burridge.
The match came as highly anticipated, as the Marauders and Lancers were the first and second placed teams in the Ontario University Athletics standings. The Marauders dominated throughout, winning the first two sets by considerable margins of 11 and nine, while the third and final set was more competitive with just a four point difference.
Several players stepped up for the Marauders through the course of the game, but it was outside hitter Thomas Williams who put the final nail in the coffin. Williams would secure the gold on a spike from the right side.
“It feels great – I mean, why wouldn’t it feel great? We’ve worked really hard for this. We always knew we had the potential, and we’re always grateful to be here. . . We put in the work and we just earned it in the end with the way we played,” said Williams.
Williams was one of many to step up when the team needed them, but it was Brendan Mills whose performance took the cake. Mills, a 2022-2023 breakout player, would be named the player of the game shortly after the win became official. Mills stood out as a true two way player, impacting the game on both sides by leading the team in kills and blocks.
“Awesome it got to be me tonight, but every night it’s going to be a different guy. . . The job that our middles did keeping their middle blockers out of the way for me, and left side is obviously Sam [Cooper], Mateusz [Wlodarski], Max [Gratton], everyone had a great game tonight. I put it away when it came to me, but those guys made my life super easy. It’s not about me, it’s about the team,” explained Mills.
As big a deal as a provincial title is, the mindset of the team has already shifted to the national championship tournament less than one week away. Though McMaster already secured a spot as the tournament host for the year, the provincial championship only solidified the fact that they deserve to be there.
“It’s a great win, but we’ve got to completely shift our focus. Just because we won [provincials] doesn’t mean we’re going to win nationals easily. We’ve got to focus on each game at a time and really gotta dial in, especially against the [western] teams that are usually stronger. We’ve got to change our mindset now. Celebrate while we can, but we’ve got to keep moving forward and put that work in like we did for the OUA championships,” said Williams.
"We’ve got to change our mindset now. Celebrate while we can, but we’ve got to keep moving forward and put that work in like we did for the OUA championships."
Thomas Williams, Men's Volleyball Team
Winning the OUA championship is certainly an effective way to gain momentum heading into nationals. The third ranked team nationally will still have to tread carefully however, as injury issues remain a concern.
Offensive superstars Sam Cooper and Maxime Gratton still appear to be feeling the lingering affects of their injuries, both lower body. While he is still playing well, Cooper has yet to return to the level of stardom he maintained early in the season, and Gratton is seeing extremely low usage and is still walking with a clear limp. Cooper appears healthy, but rusty, while Gratton is clearly playing through injury. Either player could be the x-factor next week.
Until then, the team has plenty to celebrate. The Forsyth Cup will remain in Hamilton another year.
For the second time in McMaster history, the U Sports MVP award will return to Hamilton
The awards continue coming for McMaster University’s women’s basketball team. Sarah Gates, who was named the provincial most valuable player award winner just one week ago, has now been named the U Sports Most Valuable Player as the best women’s player in the country.
Gates had an absolute breakout year where she finished with a stat line of 27.1 points per game on a 47.9 field goal percentage while averaging seven point six rebounds. She would also set the McMaster women’s basketball all time scoring record, and the single game scoring record over the course of the season.
Along with this honour, Gates was named to the first team All-Canadian. She was the driving force for the team on route to their 17 win and six loss record.
Despite the outstanding play from Gates, the team was only able to make it to the semi-final round of the provincial playoffs, where they were eliminated by the eventually championed Carlton Ravens. Gates put up 22 points in what would become the final game of her McMaster career, as she will be graduating at the end of the year alongside teammates Mia Spadafora, Arianne Soriano, Pietra Kamstra and Clare Sharkey.
As the OUA postseason approaches for women's volleyball team, here is who to keep an eye on in the playoff journey
Another regular season has come and gone for McMaster University’s women's volleyball team. As spring approaches, the team enters the Ontario University Athletics playoffs sitting in fourth place.
The team managed to finish the season with an impressive 14 and six record. They faced losses from Toronto Metropolitan University, Brock University, Waterloo University, Western University and University of Toronto, but showed up big in other matches such as their sweeping wins against Nipissing University and Royal Military College.
As the team heads into the OUA playoffs, there is a lot at stake for the team’s veteran players. The core of this year’s team consists of many graduating stars, including three middle blockers Ellie Hatashita, Ana Strbac and Paige Vrolyk and setter Christina Stratford.
Despite the graduating class, the team has done well in incorporating its younger players. With a long and grueling regular season behind them, this is something that helped the team to be sitting comfortably in fourth place.
“All five of them first year players have been able to contribute in many different ways and all five of them have seen the court in an OUA game, which is something super exciting which doesn’t normally happen, especially in the sport of volleyball with only six on the court. The fact that all five of them have been able to contribute in different ways, it's super important not only for them but for the team in the future,” said Stratford.
Some of the team’s notable younger performers are Sullie Sundara, who leads the team in total kills, and Chayse Victoria who has given an impressive 162 assists this season. Along with help from veteran performers and rookies with experience, the Marauders look back at the regular season with pride, and are looking to continue strongly into the postseason.
“We’ve learned how to battle and we’ve never gone into a game thinking we had it. We knew we had to work. The reality was that we’d never have an easy way out. We’d have to be resilient and find a way to win,” explained Stratford.
"We’ve learned how to battle and we’ve never gone into a game thinking we had it. We knew we had to work. The reality was that we’d never have an easy way out. We’d have to be resilient and find a way to win"
Christina Stratford, McMaster University women's volleyball team setter
The Marauders face the York University Lions in their first playoff match. The two teams are no strangers to each other, as they’ve met twice at The Burridge this season already. Both matches saw the Marauders beat the Lions in convincing fashion, winning three sets to one.
Though the teams have met during the regular season, this does not reflect the do or die nature of the playoffs. The Marauders must win to advance to the semifinals.
“Playoffs is a different game, we’re not going in like “oh it's York we’ll be fine". Our mentality is we’ve got to beat every team we see in front of us until we hold a cup. We’re treating every game as if it were a blank slate,” said Stratford.
Their fourth place finish gives the Marauders hosting rights over sixth place York in the upcoming game. The two teams will meet at The Burridge on Saturday Feb. 25 at 6:00 p.m. in a battle for the Quigley Cup.
The McMaster badminton team concludes their official season with a three-day tournament hosted by Toronto Metropolitan University
Every year the McMaster University badminton team trains for one major competition — the Ontario University Athletics badminton championships. Months of training are put to the test at the OUA championships, which mark the end of McMaster’s official season.
This year, the Marauders finished in fifth place at the 2023 OUA championships hosted by Toronto Metropolitan University from Feb. 17 to Feb. 19. The tournament featured nine Ontario universities, with powerhouse schools such as the University of Waterloo and University of Toronto.
The teams were split into two pools. McMaster was placed in Pool B with York University, University of Waterloo, Toronto Metropolitan University and Ontario Tech University. The tournament kicked off Friday morning round-robin style, meaning McMaster would play all Pool B teams to receive rankings for the final day.
In the tournament a face-off between two teams consists of ten matches — two women’s singles, two men’s singles, two women’s doubles, two men’s doubles and two mixed doubles. Each match is played to the best of three sets.
“Badminton is a pretty individual sport, because it’s either single’s or double’s [matches], but since this is more of a team tournament [and] it's whichever team reaches a certain number of wins first, I think it really grows a team and makes the team grow stronger — because not only are you rooting for yourself, but you're rooting for your teammates,” explained Davina Lee, McMaster women’s badminton player.
“Badminton is a pretty individual sport, because it’s either single’s or double’s [matches], but since this is more of a team tournament [and] it's whichever team reaches a certain number of wins first, I think it really grows a team and makes the team grow stronger — because not only are you rooting for yourself, but you're rooting for your teammates.”
Davina Lee, McMaster women's badminton
McMaster concluded the round-robin with a seven to three victory against TMU, a close four to six loss against the University of Waterloo, a strong ten to zero victory against Ontario Tech University and a tough one to nine loss against York University. Overall, McMaster’s two wins and two losses earned the team a chance to play in the OUA quarter-finals Saturday afternoon.
The quarter-final game was against the University of Toronto, the 2022 OUA champions. The Marauders fell with a narrow four to six loss against Toronto.
On Sunday, McMaster geared up for a final game against the University of Ottawa, as both teams fought for fifth place. The match-up stirred some feelings of deja vu from last year’s tournament, where McMaster and Ottawa played each other for a top five finish. Ultimately, Ottawa came out on top last year, finishing in fifth place while McMaster finished in sixth.
This year, McMaster led the contest against Ottawa five to four, though, the final outcome came down to the final set of the final match. After an exciting and nail-biting display of talent, McMaster won six to four and claimed fifth place.
“It was really nice, because only one or two games are going on at a time. So everyone on the team is watching the one or two games, and the one or two people who are playing, and we’re just cheering for our teammates. We sit beside the court and [show support] after every rally,” said Lee.
“It was really nice, because only one or two games are going on at a time. So everyone on the team is watching the one or two games, and the one or two people who are playing, and we’re just cheering for our teammates. We sit beside the court and [show support] after every rally.”
Davina Lee, McMaster women's badminton
At the end of this year’s championships, two McMaster badminton players received recognition at the school and OUA level. First year player Natalie Yee was co-winner of the OUA Women’s Rookie of the Year and was named as one of two Marauders of the Week on Feb 21. Second year player Jeslyn Chow was named OUA Women’s All-Star.
After the departure of McMaster’s former badminton all-stars, this year’s show of talent brings promise to McMaster’s badminton program. And while the season is officially over, McMaster badminton players can be found at various independently hosted tournaments, such as the Laurier Winter Open Tournament on Mar. 11.
Having won 13 of their last 14 OUA games, the team has successfully made their way into the national top 10 rankings
By: Ramiz Khan, Contributor
The McMaster University women's basketball team is making a strong case for the title of the Ontario University Athletics Central division with a commanding 14 and four record on the year. They've now won 13 out of their last 14 games regular season games, taking down several top teams along the way, including the Toronto Metropolitan University Bold, the Brock University Badgers and the Western University Mustangs.
The secret to the team success lies in the dynamic play of forward Sarah Gates, who leads the entire country with a whopping average of 26.1 points per game. The team defense has also been a force to be reckoned with, allowing just 62.1 opponent points per game.
As the regular season nears its end with only a few games remaining, the team is gearing up for a deep playoff run. They hope to match the glory of their 2019 national championship season in what will be the final year for several players who were on that 2019 roster.
With a fairly comfortable lead in the division and a roster filled with talented players, the team looks poised for another deep run come playoff season. After starting the season with three losses and only one win, they managed to completely flip the script, putting themselves in a position for success.
“I think just working together and sticking through it as a unit. We play our best basketball and we're all having fun and making the most of our connections on the team, and it really shows, and that's what we've been doing, so it's been pretty awesome,” said Cassie Joli-Couer, a forward for the team.
“I think just working together and sticking through it as a unit. We play our best basketball and we're all having fun and making the most of our connections on the team, and it really shows, and that's what we've been doing, so it's been pretty awesome.”
Cassie Joli-Couer, Women's Basketball Team
Having now won nine games in a row, tying the Carleton University Ravens for the longest active streak in the OUA, the team has been rolling. Though there were several potential turning points for the team to prove themselves as a threat, one of the biggest came against the Brock Badgers on Jan. 18.
The Badgers, a traditionally strong team who currently hold a record of 10 wins and eight losses, ended the Marauders season last year. In their first rematch on Nov. 19, the Marauders won by a final tally of 66 to 53, but their second matchup was the game to watch as McMaster blew them out by a final score of 71 to 49.
“That was a great team win. We definitely had a little bit of a grudge, I would say, from last year that we were going in for the win no matter what. I think it was just another win to add to the books, and we're going to keep working hard and move forward. . . We're just going to keep working hard,” explained Joli-Couer.
The team holds a great mix of talent to really keep the flow of play moving over the course of the season. One can look to the league stats leaders to find players like Sarah Gates leading the league in PPG, to Deanna Mataseje and Jenna Button leading in assist to turnover ratio or Mia Spadafora leading the OUA in three point percentage, shooting nearly five percent more efficiently then the next closest player. However, the team dynamic stems much further than that.
“When we work together and we're creating opportunities for one another, we're scoring more often, and it's like translating into wins and better stat lines. There's always room for improvement,” said Joli-Couer.
With just one more win, McMaster can clinch a division title. They’ll take on the University of Toronto University Varsity Blues on Feb. 10 and Feb. 18, the TMU Bold on Feb. 11 and the Waterloo University Warriors on Feb. 17. The Bold sit second in the central division, while the Warriors lead the west. The Varsity Blues haven’t had the same kind of success, with a record of four wins and 15 losses so far.
The playoffs are set to begin on Feb. 22.
C/O Magnus Hanson
Having lost key players to graduation, the team will attempt to follow up on their OUA win
The 2021-2022 baseball season was an exciting one for the team. Following more than a year without sports due to the pandemic, the team returned to play with huge expectations. While reigning Cy Young award winner (given to the best pitcher) Julian Tymochko and reigning most valuable player award winner Nikolas Motruk were returning for their final seasons, the whole team had their eye on the gold.
By the end of the year, the team had picked up a lot of hardware, yet again. Motruk won his second consecutive MVP award, several members of the team were named to the all-star team and pitcher Joshua Kalmin was named rookie of the year. As a team they fell short of their gold medal goal but they still secured a silver in the provincial championship.
By the end of the year, the team had picked up a lot of hardware, yet again. Motruk won his second consecutive MVP award, several members of the team were named to the all-star team and pitcher Joshua Kalmin was named rookie of the year. As a team they fell short of their gold medal goal but they still secured a silver in the provincial championship.
Although the team was excited to bring home a silver, they had just gotten a taste of the finals and the gold was within reach. This year, they don’t want to lose the last game of the season. The only difference is they’ll have to do so without several notable players graduating.
Outfielder Motruk and pitchers Tymochko and Ryan Clark are some of the names from what was a rather large graduating class on the baseball team. They were all major contributors on the team and although there are several young players ready to step up, the impact of their absences are not easy to replace.
“It’s true we’ve lost some staple guys that have been a part of the team for five-six years, which does have an impact but it was time for them to leave and the entire roster knows it’s time to step up. We all got a taste of what a championship might be last year and we all want to get back to that spot,” explained outfielder Magnus Hanson.
Last season the team was generally aware of the impending graduates but managed to play on without concern, citing their common goal of winning as their primary focus. This mentality is one the team will likely try to recreate this season as they regroup with some new faces in the everyday lineups.
“Of course, we knew that guys were graduating and leaving but it wasn’t something we’d discussed. We knew those guys wanted to win, we wanted to win, so we just started winning some baseball games. I don’t think it was any drive to try and get these guys a championship before they graduate, it was just they wanted to win, we wanted to win,” said Hanson.
There is still a substantial amount of talent on the team and the guys are confident they can still go a long way with or without their decorated veterans. They just need to focus on themselves and find their way back to the same collective goal as they’ve had in past years.
“The key thing is focusing on the guys we have here. We just have to get our job done . . . There’s definitely unfinished business,” said pitcher Kalmin.
"The key thing is focusing on the guys we have here. We just have to get our job done . . . There’s definitely unfinished business."
Joshua Kalmin, Pitcher
Along with some new recruits, the team will get some major reinforcements come the season's start. Upper year outfielder Mark Zanette and shortstop Nicholas Velocci will make their long-awaited returns to the field following their collision last season, which forced them to sit out much of the playoff run and several months of training thereafter.
“I think I can speak for everyone when I say we’re excited to see [Zanette] and Velocci back and full strength,” said Hanson.
Both players described the two as big additions to the team, emphasizing the impact they had last season both on the field and with the bats. With a strong mindset and a chip on their shoulders, the team could go a long way but there will be a lot for them to prove with such big shoes to fill.
C/O Cooper Gary
Often overlooked despite being Canada’s national sport, the McMaster lacrosse team deserves more attention
For those not already aware, the national sport of Canada is lacrosse. Despite that, there really isn’t much hype around the sport when it comes to varsity athletics within Canadian universities. Although the men’s lacrosse team is a member of the Ontario University Athletics, they don’t get nearly as much recognition as other sports such as football, soccer and basketball.
With very little exposure for the team, it only felt appropriate to analyze the success and the dynamics of the men’s lacrosse team and figure out how this team fits in at McMaster.
“We’ve basically got three practices a week even during the off season, with each being two hours long. During the actual season, we had one to two games a week and there was a lot going on during that time,” said Ryan Smith, a member of the men’s team.
The most notable game for the team was against Laurier, when the Marauders were trailing 1-7, but ended the game with a score of 9-8, which marked an incredible comeback. This seemed to be one of the most impressive and more memorable games of the year.
“For being a first-year goalie on the team, I am pretty satisfied with the way we played most of our games. Honestly, we had some great games throughout the season, such as the comeback against Laurier. For the team we had and the experience some players had, I think that we were pretty good all around,”
Ryan Smith
The team managed to make it to the playoffs this season, but unfortunately was eliminated in their first-round matchup against the Brock Badgers.
“While we did qualify for the playoffs, losing in the first round to Brock was very unfortunate. I think that we have to focus on coming out stronger and harder, as in some games we would get down early and would have to fight our way back into the game,” said Smith.
It’s evident that although this season was not bad for the lacrosse team, they would be eager to get back even stronger next year. They understand what they are capable of and are looking forward to the next opportunity to get back into competition.
“For the next season I think we will do a lot better as our team was pretty young and we had a lot of players who have never played lacrosse in their life prior to this. We also now know each other much better and have gained more chemistry with one another, as we know the play style each person possesses. We have done a lot of team bonding over time, such as riding on the bus together before the game, team parties or even going to a bar to celebrate a team's birthday. Our coach, Jason Tellevi, is fantastic at bringing us closer together and has helped us improve a lot over the past season,” explained Smith.
During the off season many athletes tend to practice or play scrimmages to keep in shape. The drill is no different with the lacrosse team, who continues their rigorous training methods throughout.
“During the off season, which would be from early [in the year] until August 2022, I know a lot of boys on the team also play junior lacrosse for clubs. Those clubs are on from April until July, which ensures that you are staying in shape and in form as the stick is always in your hands and always playing and moving. We also have group workout sessions running from time to time. They’re great as everyone can push each other to do more and can see the progress individuals are making which will benefit our team in the long run,” said Smith.
Although the lacrosse team is perhaps not the most recognized in university athletics, the team practices and has the same scheduling as every other varsity team at McMaster. Their hard work and determination in the off season may get them an even better season next year, for which the whole squad will be even more experienced.
