Photo by Algoma Thunderbirds
Photo by Algoma Thunderbirds
September 11, 2019

By the Numbers: Thunderbirds first women's soccer win highlights this week's milestone marks

2010 – This week was a big one for the Toronto Varsity Blues football team, who have jumped out to a 2-1 start on the season. Their latest victory came at the expense of the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks, who they took down after a 57-yard touchdown from Nolan Lovegrove gave the Blues the lead with under one minute to play. Not only did this win mark Toronto’s first such result over the Hawks since 2013 (Sept. 2), but it was also the team’s first victory over a nationally-ranked opponent since 2010 (Oct. 2), when they took down the No. 2 Ottawa Gee-Gees.

1000 – Over the weekend, the Ottawa Gee-Gees added another milestone to their women’s soccer story, and it came off the foot of the OUA Female Athlete of the Week – Mikayla Morton. The fourth-year forward has been clicking offensively this season to the tune of six goals, but it was the opening tally against the Toronto Varsity Blues that will go down in the team’s history books. In their 345th game, the Morton notched the Gee-Gees 1,000th goal in team history, giving them a mark of 2.90 goals per game compared to just 0.52 goals against all-time.

288 – Through three weeks, Clark Barnes has three kickoff returns for TD, with his latest bringing the three-play total to a staggering 288 yards combined. After starting his OUA career off with a 100-yard return on the opening play of the entire 2019 campaign, Barnes had a 106-yard scamper in store for an encore in Week 2, when he once again took back the game’s opening kickoff all the way back for the major. Despite not giving his team the lead right off the hop in Week 3, Barnes was not to be denied, as later in the first quarter, Barnes would take his third kick back for a touchdown on the year; this time courtesy of an 82-yard return.

55 – It was a winning weekend for the Brock Badgers on the pitch, as both their women’s and men’s rugby teams came out victorious. Not only did their women’s squad churn out 55 points in their fixture with Western – their first match as part of the Shiels division this season – but the men’s side were buoyed by Steven Commerford, who accounted for 55% of the team’s scoring on the day thanks to his two tries and three converts in his team’s 34-19 win over the ‘Stangs.

27 – The Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks got yet another top-tier outing from their veteran back, as Levondre Gordon continues to impress atop the conference’s rushing leaderboard. The fifth-year standout racked up 176 yards on the ground, bringing his OUA-leading total to 388 on the year. The workhorse lived up to that billing in more ways than one on Saturday night, as he matched his career-high of 27 carries in the game. Gordon has picked up right where he left off after his first OUA all-star campaign as he looks to wrap up his university career on the highest of notes.

12 – The Queen’s Gaels got their men’s rugby season off on the right foot, as they once again look to compete for a provincial title this season, and a large part of this success out of the gates was Dylan Young. While 11 different Gaels were able to find the score sheet, it was the fifth-year scrum half that shone the brightest. Young picked up one try for the Tricolour in their 89-5 victory, but made his biggest impact with a dozen conversions as well.

7 – Seven was certainly the lucky number for Ontario Tech’s Nicole Martindale this weekend, as the Ridgebacks’ midfield/attack led her lacrosse team to their first two-win opening weekend in program history. The fourth-year standout thrived in both her team’s outings, racking up seven goals in their 16-6 win over Guelph, which she matched with another seven tallies against Brock, who the Oshawa squad defeated 12-9 in come-from-behind fashion.

4 – A quartet of keepers have been able to shut out the opposition altogether through the opening two weeks of the women’s soccer season and will bring a spotless save percentage into their next outing. Leading the way with four clean sheets already is Western’s Megan Girardi, followed by a trio of shut outs from Trent’s Riley Gillespie-Friesen. Checking in with a pair of zeros on the board, meanwhile, are Olivia Tierney from Ontario Tech and Mykaela Volpe from Nipissing.

1 – For the first time since joining the OUA in the 2014-15 season, the Algoma Thunderbirds women’s soccer team have picked up a win, thanks to an impressive showing against Windsor this past weekend. The T’Birds dropped the first half of the team’s back-to-back, but bounced back with a four-goal output in the encore. At the forefront of the team’s first victory was rookie forward Kate Nippard, who netted the hat trick in the win, including the opening tally and the two insurance markers that allowed the Sault Ste. Marie program to taste their first ever conference triumph.