Stingers Stories

Games of the Week

SportsAndrew Maggio & Seth Galina — Published September 10, 2012

Football

The Concordia Stingers football team hung on for as long as they could, but it wasn’t enough as they fell 48-10 to the Université de Montréal Carabins on Friday night at CEPSUM Stadium.

Carabins quarterback Alexandre Nadeau-Piuze threw two touchdown passes and ran for another, pacing the UdeM offense, combined with a solid ground game thanks to strong efforts from running back Rotrand Sené and Nicolas Dubeau.

The Stingers had several opportunities throughout the contest to tie it up, and even take the lead, but a lack of cohesion among players led to too many mistakes and miscues.

The Carabins stormed out of the gates, buoyed by a wild crowd of 5,100 home fans, taking a quick 14-0 lead as the Stingers tried to find their footing.
Concordia was unable to muster anything of significance until a horse-collar penalty on a Carabins defender fired up quarterback Reid Quest and the Stinger offense. Quest heaved a deep throw to receiver Jamal Henry for a 57-yard touchdown pass, cutting the lead in half.

That’s as close as the Stingers would get, however. The offensive line had a rough night, unable to create many seams for Concordia backs Mike Donnelly and Raul Thompson, while Quest was seemingly picking himself up off the floor every couple of plays from being hit or sacked by the relentless Carabins pass rush.

Kicker Keegan Treloar had a rough outing of his own, making only one of his four field-goal attempts, with two misses and one blocked attempt.
The Stingers head to St. Francis Xavier University for their next game against the X-Men on Sept. 15.

Men’s Soccer

The Concordia Stingers men’s soccer team started their season on the wrong foot with a 5-0 loss to the Université de Montréal Carabins on Thursday night, but rebounded nicely in their home-opener on Sunday afternoon at Concordia Stadium, picking up a 2-0 win against the visiting Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières Patriotes. Andrew Bryan and Claude Diesse provided all the scoring Concordia needed in the 61st and 90th minutes respectively.

With the win, the Stingers improved to 1-1 on the year, and will play their next game Sept. 14 at home against the McGill Redmen.

Women’s Soccer

The Concordia Stingers women’s soccer team also had a rough opening game Thursday night against the Université de Montréal Carabins, but they came out strong on Sunday afternoon at Concordia Stadium to bring their record back to 1-1 with a 2-0 win over the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières Patriotes. Gabriela Padvaiskas scored the game-winner in the 53rd minute, and Shauna Zilversmit added an insurance marker in the 57th minute.

The Stingers move to 1-1 on the year and play their next game Sept. 14 at home against the McGill Martlets.

Men’s Rugby (by Seth Galina)

The Concordia Stingers men’s rugby team suffered a tough loss at the hands of the Université de Sherbrooke Vert et Or Friday night at Concordia Stadium, falling 14-13 in a game that went down to the wire.

The Stingers had the game in the bag, but with 13 minutes remaining and Concordia leading 13-7, a yellow card for punching gave Sherbrooke a man advantage, and they did not disappoint.

Only three minutes later, they forced their way to a try to pull within one point. Their kick, from a bad angle, was perfect and they led 14-13. Despite taking an 8-7 lead into halftime and scoring again on a Sherbrooke giveaway deep in their own territory, the late yellow card proved too costly for the Maroon and Gold.

The Stingers play their next game Sept. 12 against the McGill Redmen.

Women’s Rugby

The Concordia Stingers women’s rugby team were too powerful for the Sherbrooke Vert et Or in their home-opener on Friday night at Concordia Stadium, crushing Sherbrooke 80-0 for their first win of the year.

Highly touted newcomer Bianca Farella took control of the game from her center position, scoring five tries, while third-year flanker Cara Stuckey added three tries of her own to pace the Stingers’ attack.

Head coach Graeme McGravie described this season as a rebuilding year in an interview with stingers.ca, but if his team continues to put up performances like this, the Stingers could be on their way to a very successful season.

The Stingers play their next game on Sept. 12 against McGill, a notable match-up since it marks this year’s Kelly-Anne Drummond Cup game.

This year will mark the eighth iteration of the game, which is named in honour of Kelly-Anne Drummond, a former Stinger who died after her boyfriend stabbed her through the neck, severing her brain stem, in October 2004.

Baseball

The Concordia Stingers men’s baseball team pulled out a 5-4 victory in extra innings in their first game of their doubleheader against University of Ottawa Gee-Gees on Sunday, but fell 9-8 in the second game of the afternoon.

The Stingers’ bats, which finally came alive in a 7-5 win Friday against the McGill Redmen, kept producing, putting to rest the memory of the hitting issues they’d experienced in their first two games of the season, both losses to Carleton University.

Concordia managed to collect 11 hits in the game, and a strong pitching performance by last season’s Canadian Intercollegiate Baseball Association Pitcher of the Year Alex Kechayan had the Stingers sitting pretty in the seventh inning.

His relievers, however, were unable to finish off the job, as the Gee-Gees were able to tie the game with three runs, sending it to extras.
The Stingers finally put the visitors away in the ninth inning, earning their second victory of the young season.

The second half of the doubleheader did not go as well, as the team didn’t approach the game with the right mindset, according to head coach Howard Schwartz.

“I thought we came out and were a little tentative,” said Schwartz. “We made some mental mistakes and we didn’t make some of the plays that we needed to.”

The two sides exchanged the lead numerous times, but by the end of the second game the absence of some of the Stingers’ important hitters and a lack of reserves ultimately wore the team down, despite a solid effort to keep the game close.

The Stingers will get a chance to double down on their win against McGill in the team’s next game on Sept. 12, when they face the Redmen again.