Queen's Field Hockey started their 2023 OUA season with a strong home opener, while Queen's Women's Lacrosse and Queen's Fastpitch recorded series sweeps over the weekend.

Queen's Fastpitch

Sydney Pendleton hit two home runs and drove in five as Queen's Fastpitch defeated the York Lions 7-0 Saturday at York. Pendleton homered in the fourth and sixth innings.

Abby Jacklin struck out 10 batters on the day. The starting pitcher also allowed seven hits and zero runs over six innings while walking three.

The Gaels got on the board in the bottom of the first inning after Pendleton tripled and Ausha Guzzwell singled, each scoring a run.

Queen's added four more runs in the bottom of the fourth inning on four hits. Stacey Harris singled, scoring one run, and Pendleton homered to centre field, scoring three runs.

Pendleton hit a solo home run to right field in the bottom of the sixth for Queen's.

Sarah van den Heuvel drove in four runs on three hits to lead the Gaels past York 17-0 in the second game of the doubleheader on Saturday. Van den Heuvel doubled in the first, scoring two, doubled in the first, scoring one, and singled in the fourth, scoring one.

Queen's won thanks in part to 14 runs in the first inning. Guzzwell singled, scoring one run, van Heuvel doubled, scoring two runs, Katie Morrison tripled, scoring one run, Abigail Poland singled, scoring one run, Jacklin doubled, scoring one run, Pendleton singled, scoring two runs, Guzzwell singled, scoring one run, van den Heuvel doubled, scoring one run, Morrison doubled, scoring two runs, Poland hit a sacrifice fly, scoring one run, and Stacey Harris doubled, scoring one run.

Morrison earned the win for the Gaels. The starting pitcher allowed two hits and zero runs over four innings, striking out two and walking one.

Queen's Women's Lacrosse

Queen's Women's Lacrosse opened the day against the host Toronto Varsity Blues. Senior midfielder Abby Lee would open the game with two goals and get Queen's off to a quick start. Lee would score her third of the game in the second quarter and the Gaels would take an 8-4 lead into the half. Queen's would get goals from eight different scorers as they put up 12 goals in the second half to cruise to a 20-7 victory. Lee would finish the game with four goals, Tara Meikle had three goals and one assist, and Kiara McKelvey and Brooke Rutledge both had two goals and two assists.

The afternoon game was a repeat of the 2022 gold medal match, as the Gaels squared up against Trent. Queen's came out to a fast start, scoring the first four goals of the game. Lee would score another four goals and a strong defensive effort would help Queen's win by a final score of 16-4. Brooke Rutledge and Kiara McKelvey both added three goals of their own.

Queen's will be back in action Sunday September 24 as they play Trent, as well as the host team, Ontario Tech.



Queen's Field Hockey

Queen's Field Hockey had a strong home opener this Saturday. Queen's had lots of fans in the stands that helped keep the team's energy up on the field. The Guelph Gryphons are a skilled-opponent who wanted to change the result of their 2-1 loss the previous weekend in the pre-season tournament. The Gaels were fueled with excitement and a little bit of nerves and maintained a high level of intensity throughout the game. Captains Tasha Stanford and Nina Watson controlled the game well and led with confidence. The grit and determination every player displayed resulted in a 0-0 final score.

On Sunday the Gaels travelled to Waterloo, Ont. to face the Warriors. Queen's defence was held together by captain Tasha Stanford, rookie Claire Laurie, and fourth-year player Vera Bukowski. Waterloo scored early in the firstst quarter and again right before the end of the half. The Gaels showed great determination to get the score back in our favour. In the third quarter of the game Ellie Duggan, Emily Bracken, and Monica Johnston played smart hockey attacking the Waterloo net, ending in a goal from Johnston. With the energy back up, Queen's dominated the second half with the game finishing 2-1. Although the Gaels fell short in this game, the team is excited to play next Saturday at McMaster, and next Sunday at home against Western.