A recap of Varsity Club action from the past week.

Golf
The Queen's Golf teams played in a pair of tournaments, with the women's side having tremendous success at both the Carleton and Queen's Invitational Tournaments.

Despite the constant downpour and wet course conditions on Saturday, the Gaels women's golf team dominated at the Carleton Invitational in Ottawa, which was shortened to nine holes due to the weather, picking up first and second place in the team results. Gaels Team 1, composed of Robyn Campbell, Heather Wogden, Jess Levy, and Emily Welsh, finished in first place with a team score of 132. Second place went to Gaels Team 2, composed of Sammy Gold, Jenn Kates, Alex Rawn, and Mischi Buszowaki, following closely behind with a total of 140. Gaels rookie Gold was the top individual, with a score of 42. Teammates Campbell and Wogden tied for second, just one shot behind at 43.  

The Gaels women continued this streak on Sunday, as they hosted the Queen's Invitational at Amherstview Golf Club. The Gaels finished first as a team once again, with Campbell leading the team with another second place individual finish, just one stroke back of the leader for the second time last weekend. Ottawa's Kierston Kickner-Alt finished atop the field with a score of 77.

On the men's side, the Gaels team finished in third place at the Queen's tournament, and missed the podium at Carleton's tournament, taking fifth and sixth place in Ottawa. Queen's top players Russ Bowie and Echo Chan, who finished at 72 at Amherstview, helped the Gaels to a team score of 298. Wesley Kwok from McMaster and Chris Hennigar from Carleton shared the top spot at the Queen's Invitational with scores of 68. McMaster claimed first as a team with a score of 293.

Field Hockey W
The Gaels Field Hockey team competed in their first OUA regular season games this past Saturday. Carrying a complete roster of 24 girls, the team travelled to York Stadium early Saturday morning for games against the York Lions and the University of Toronto Varsity Blues.

Despite getting off to a slow start and scoreless first half against York, the Gaels pulled through with some strategic linking passes up the field, culminating in a goal by second-year Taylor Herrington mid-way through the second half. Herrington's goal ended up as the only one in the match, as the final score was 1-0 in favour of Queen's. The win gave the Gaels confidence going into their second match against the OUA's top-ranked Varsity Blues.

The first half of the second game was a well-fought battle by Queen's; however, they found themselves on the losing end in their second game of the day. The Gaels had many scoring opportunities, but just couldn't find the back of the net against Toronto. Queen's was down 3-0 at halftime, surrendering one goal off a penalty corner and two in open play. The second half consisted of another three Varsity Blues goals, with a final score of 6-0 for Toronto. Although Toronto came out ahead on the scoreboard, the Gaels are coming out of the weekend prepared to continue working hard through this week to try and get more wins under their belt in week two of OUA action, which will include home games against York, Waterloo, and McGill.

Come and support the team this weekend on Tindall Field!
Vs York at 10:45 am Saturday, September 20
Vs Waterloo at 4pm Saturday, September 20
Vs McGill at 1:30 pm Sunday, September 21

Cycling 
The Gaels' Cycling team had their first race of the 2014 University Cup season this past weekend at Hardwood Hills near Barrie Ontario. The Queen's Gaels are coming off of four straight University Cup Championships (2011-2013) and have made a serious dent already at capturing a 5th consecutive title, with five podium finishes last weekend.

The Ontario University Cup of mountain biking is structured in a way which lets elite racers and new racers both compete at their own level. There is an advanced, A, race for men and women as well as a novice, B, race for those less skilled and not as fast on a bike.

First and second place went to the Gaels in the Men's A division, with Etienne Moreau dominating the field, winning by over three and a half minutes. The next fastest mountain biker of the day was Cameron McPhaden, who overcame mechanical issues from the day before. Jason Leblanc also put on a great show for Queen's, finishing fourth.

Only three Gaels competed in the Women's A division, all of whom got points for the team. Victoria Giangrande battled through some bad luck, in the form a broken chain, to round out the podium in third place. Andrea Burley and Haley Golding also had good performances for Queen's, placing fifth and sixth, respectively.

In Men's B, Blake Bogden took a serious stranglehold on the race by attacking from the gun and running up his lead over second place to nearly two and half minutes to take his first ever U-Cup victory. Blake will be moving up to Men's A division next weekend because of his excellent performance. Another Queen's rider, Cameron Lawrence, made a great effort on his last lap after a mechanical issue and bike change to place second. In sixth place, Patrick Farrell completed his first ever mountain bike race, and in seventh place, Michael Fader completed his goal of top 10, even while riding someone else's bike.

The Women's B field of 22 starters included just two Queen's riders, Jennifer MacMillan and Amanda Schevers, who placed fifth and sixth, respectively, in their first ever U-Cup race.

Queen's is now sitting in a comfortable position at the top of the University Cup rankings with 380 points, 60 points ahead of second place Guelph. Next weekend, Queen's will travel to the Mansfield outdoor center and participate in three races: Eliminator, Time Trial and the standard Cross-Country Race.

Men's Lacrosse
The Gaels lost a pair of road games in men's lacrosse action, falling 13-7 to McGill and 12-9 to Bishop's. Joshua Smith potted a pair of goals against McGill, and Brendan Zoehner scored a highlight-reel diving goal. Smith added four more goals in the loss to Bishop's, while Zoehner put two more in the back of the net.

Women's Lacrosse
In women's lacrosse action, the Gaels fell 13-6 to Brock on the road.

Baseball M
Saturday's baseball double-header at Western was postponed due to rain.

Queen's split a double-double on the road against Toronto on Sunday, losing 10-3 before topping the Varsity Blues 6-5. Jeremy MacDonald pitched five innings for the Gaels in the win, and Tyler Whealy pitched six innings in the loss. James Carter had an RBI in the loss, and a stolen base in the win for Queen's.