KINGSTON (August 29, 2017) – Two Gaels - women's soccer player
Laura Callender and cross country/track athlete Claire Sumner - both represented Canada at the 2017 Summer Universiade that ran from August 19-30 in Taipei City, Chinese Taipei.
Women's Soccer – Laura Callender
Callender and team Canada culminated the 2017 Summer Universiade competition with a 1-2-0 record. Canada defeated Ireland 1-0 in the opening match of the tournament – a game that saw Callender on the starting lineup for the full 90 minutes of the match.
Canada faced Mexico in the following game a couple days later, but suffered a 2-0 defeat. Callender clocked another full 90 minutes on the pitch in the midfield during the Mexico game.
A quick turnaround had Callender and Canada face a strong Brazil squad in a quarter-final matchup two days later. The Gaels midfielder saw the starting lineup for the third straight game. A Brazil goal in the 68th minute of play resulted in a 1-0 loss for the Canadian team.
Canada's next match saw a nil-nil draw consolation play against the Republic of Korea. Callender was a shooter in the contest and buried her PK in the back of the net, but it wasn't enough to edge Canada and they fell 4-3 in the shootout to the Republic of Korea.
Canada drew Mexico again for their final game of the Taipei 2017 Summer Universiade. Mexico scored the only goal of the game in the 19th minute of play to edge Canada 1-0.
Callender will return to the Queen's lineup for her fifth and final season with the Gaels this Saturday in the women's soccer home opener against Laurentian.
Cross Country/Track – Claire Sumner
Claire Sumner returned to the FISU games for her second consecutive appearance, this time to compete indoors in the women's 10,000m.
Sumner finished 8th in the 10,000m race at Taipei Stadium last Wednesday, with a time of 34:41:24. The Gaels runner was one of 51 athletes to represent Canada in the track and field category.
"I had so much fun racing in that 10k! I have never run in a stadium before, so the whole experience was new for me," said Sumner. "Coming from Canada, the hot conditions were not in my favour, but they were conditions everyone had to face. It's always an incredible experience to put on the Canadian singlet and run for my country and for Queen's. I hope I am lucky enough to have many more opportunities in the future and to keep improving in my sport at the international stage."
Last year Sumner competed in the FISU World Cross Country Championships in Italy, where she finished 35th overall with a time of 24:12 in the 6.2km race.
