A recap of Queen's Varsity Club action from the past week.

SAILING

NY Maritime Fall Open (SUNY Maritime College)

In their second weekend of racing, members of the Queen's Sailing dinghy team found success at SUNY Maritime College. Day one challenged the sailors, Matti Muru, Iain Doran-Des Brisay, Andrew Farshou, and Max Willms, with light shifty winds. The Queen's sailors found the front of the fleet early, sitting in third overall after the first day. B-fleet team Andrew Faurshou and Max Willms started slow, but managed to consistently improve throughout the day. Rookie sailors Matti Muru and Iain Doran-Des Brisay surpassed all expectations by leading A-fleet after day one, winning three of eight races that day!

Day two brought steadier winds and a great deal of current to the race course. The B-fleet team scored consistent results throughout the day, maintaining their sixth place position in their fleet. A-fleet's Matti and Iain struggled to get off the start line and payed the price with inconstant results. Matti and Iain finished second in A-fleet, only losing to the experienced Georgetown University in the very last race.

Overall the NY Maritime Fall Open was a success for Queen's Sailing; it is clear that these rookies have lots of potential. Sailors head back to practice this week before heading to Geneva, New York next weekend for the North Fall regatta. North Fall is an important event as it is a qualifier for the WAR memorial regatta, which is a team goal to attend. Keep up to date with our performance by checking our social media pages regularly!

Shields Trophy Regatta (US Naval Academy)

This weekend, eight sailors from the Queen's Sailing Team travelled to the US Naval Academy for their first keelboat regatta of the season. The weekend started with a practice day on Friday, where the team reacquainted themselves with the Navy 44 and got to enjoy some fantastic Annapolis weather.

Racing started in light winds on Saturday and the team struggled to find their footing in the first two races in tricky wind and current. Boat speed was found to be lacking compared to the competition and after race 2 the boat was thoroughly checked to ensure the propeller was properly stowed and all the sail controls were properly set. Race 3 started off well and the team bounced back to get a second. Saturday finished with another strong second in race 4.

Sunday brought a small increase in wind and some beautiful sailing conditions. Race 5 was a hard fought battle between the top boats and Queen's fought to earn a third place after some close quarters racing. The last race of the regatta was slow to start with two false starts before it finally got away. Queen's judged their speed and distance well to the line, winning the start after 4 boats were over the line early. The team never looked back and led the whole way round the race course with a strong victory to finish the event.

The team of Will Jones, Max Vos, Denby McDonnell, Dan Sheedy, Sam Thompson, Adrienne Gaudreault, Cole Robertson, and Connor MacKenzie ended with a third place finish for the event, with only one point separating them from second place. Everyone was happy that they stayed positive through some tough early races and fixed their problems to get a podium result. The team would like the thank the US Naval Academy for running another high quality event and look forward to the next event there in October!

McMaster Invitational Regatta (McMaster University)

On Friday, September 16, Maura Condon, Kathryn Minkhorst, Morgan Gregg, and Scott Gittens drove down to Hamilton, Ontario for the McMaster Invitational Regatta.

On Saturday morning, we made our way to the Royal Hamilton Yacht Club. On the water, it was gusty as well as overcast and raining most of the day, with the wind anywhere from 8 to 20 knots. Due to some weather delays, we were only able to complete 2.5 rotations in the morning, with Queen's sitting out for the last half rotation. Despite the weather, Scott and Maura got straight bullets in all their races in B fleet, with Kathryn and Morgan sailing around the middle of the pack for most races in A fleet.

On Sunday, the weather was mostly sunny, although the wind was lighter, varying from 5-10 knots in the morning and building a bit in the afternoon. The team sailed well all day to finish off the regatta and securing our place in first overall for the weekend. Special shoutout to the rookies Morgan Gregg and Scott Gittens for a great performance at their first collegiate regatta!

GOLF
The Queen's Gaels golf teams started off the 2016-17 season in style with the men bringing home two gold medals and the women with one silver and one gold.
 
At the Carleton Invitational, hosted at The Marshes, both teams grinded and persevered in tough weather conditions. The men's team came away with a 17 stroke victory, led by third year player Ian Wilson, whose tremendous 68 (-4) topped the field for a first place individual finish. Jeremy Rose came in with a 73 (+1) to take third place. Other men's team scores were: Trevor Corner (78, +6), Chris Murray (74, +2), and Josh Travers (82, +10).
 
The women's team placed second, just one stroke behind Brock University. Due to weather conditions, the women's side was unable to finish a full round of 18, and the tournament was cut to 12 holes. However, two Gaels made it atop the podium, with Robyn Campbell finishing in second place and Jess Levy finishing third.
 
On Sunday, the Gaels hosted the Queen's Invitational at Cataraqui Golf and Country Club. The women's team came in first with a spectacular 22 stroke victory. The girls completed a podium sweep, with rookie Sierra Singh placing third (85, +11), Melissa Ramnauth second (83, +9), and Robyn Campbell first (77, +3). Team player Jess Levy finished her round with a 93 (+19).
 
The men's team also had a great outing at their home tournament, as they came out on top again with another gold medal. It was a great team effort from Trevor Corner (72, E), Ian Wilson (72, E), Jeremy Rose (73, +1), Chris Murray (76, +4), and rookie Parker Lobban, who also placed second as an individual, with a score of 69 (-3).
 
The best score of the day was from Queen's Gaels individual player Michael Reaume, who topped the field with a 68 (-4) after an exceptional finish where he went eagle, birdie, birdie to close out his round.
 
Both the men's and women's teams are looking forward to the rest of the season, and they are back in action next Monday in Toronto at the York Invitational.

FIELD HOCKEY (WOMEN'S)
Saturday Sept 18
Lost 1-0 v York

Sunday Sept 19
Lost 4-3 v Guelph
Lost 1-0 v Waterloo

Queen's had a tough line up of games in their first weekend of OUA play. First they faced 2016 OUA third place team, York Lions. The game was tied 0-0 at half; although the Gaels played a better second half they weren't able to find the back of the net. In the last seven minutes of play York finally was able to get a goal against Gael Clara Gatien, who played an amazing game saving 10 shots from the Lions - exceptional play for her first OUA match.

On Sunday the Gaels faced the second place team in the league, host, Guelph. Queen's came out strong and had a shot on net and a penalty corner in the first three minutes of play. Sophie Bombara started the scoring for the Gaels by putting one past the Guelph goalie in minute nine of the game. Guelph evened the score in the 23rd minute of play and quickly scored another. The Gaels fought back as Ciara Morrison carried the ball up through four defenders and scored on her own (31'). Guelph finished the half by scoring once again. The score at half time was 3-2 for Guelph. In the second half of the game both teams did a better job of preventing shots and goals, and both teams scored another goal. Queen's captain Taylor Herrington scored on a penalty corner. Final score was 4-3 for Guelph.

In the last game of the weekend Queen's faced the fourth place team Waterloo. The teams seemed equally matched but Queen's could not seem to continue with the scoring from the previous game. The game ended with a disappointing loss of 1-0.

Next weekend the Gaels travel to UofT and play Western and UofT.

FASTPITCH (WOMEN'S)
York games:
Game 1: 7-4 win
Game 2: 10-3 win

Laurier games:
Game 1: 14-0 loss
Game 2: 9-0 loss

Waterloo games:
Game 1: 4-2 win 
Game 2: 6-5 win