Men’s Soccer
Sunday, the Ryerson Rams men’s soccer team will be playing in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) quarterfinals. The game is scheduled for 2 p.m at Downsview Park in Toronto. On this weekend last year, the men won the quarterfinal game 3-2 in overtime, qualifying for the final four and moving on to the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) Championships. They will look to do much of the same this time around.
The team won 12 of its 16 games during the regular season. The Rams’ current leading goal scorer is forward Viktor Anastasov with seven goals in 15 games played.
Women’s Soccer
Last Sunday, the Ryerson Rams women’s soccer team played its last game of the season. It finished the year on a strong note in North Bay with one of its best offensive performances of the season, netting four goals on the Nipissing Lakers goalie. The final was 4-1.
Head coach Kevin Souter said, “It was good to end the season on a positive note. I felt that we created several goal-scoring chances and on a different day, the score could have been higher. There were spells of very good combination play and ball movement. We were able to move players into different positions and that showed well. It was unfortunate not to get a result the day prior, but to turnaround and finish the regular season with a win leaves us on a positive and optimistic frame of mind moving towards next season. To cap off the performance was a touch of serendipity. Our graduating fifth-year senior, Amy Tahmizian, scored the fourth and final goal.”
The team finished the season in seventh place, just missing a playoff spot.
“Missing playoffs by one point has us all contemplating what could have been. Certainly, on a positive note, we can celebrate in a first ever win against Queens, a win against fourth-ranked UOIT, our first OUA and CIS Female Athlete of the Week and equaling the record for most wins in a Ryerson women’s soccer season,” says Souter.
Men’s Volleyball
The Ryerson Rams men’s volleyball team just finished preseason and had its first league game against Guelph. The Rams beat the Gryphons 3-0 to give them their first win of the season. Last night, the Rams fell to the McMaster Marauders 3-0.
“McMaster is our biggest competition,” says Brandon Jordan, a senior on the team. “Our team is really deep right now, so we have a lot of lineup combinations, which makes us very versatile. Our goal is to be in the top four so we have home-court advantage when playoffs come along. Once we make playoffs, our goal will be to make the OUA final, and from there proceed to nationals in Saskatchewan. We have high expectations for this season, and so far we’ve been able to check more goals off our list,” says Jordan.
Women’s Volleyball
The Ryerson Rams women’s volleyball team beat the Guelph Gryphons on opening night in a clean sweep at the Mattamy Athletic Centre.
Head coach Dustin Reid was proud of his team’s performance.
“We played a strong match against Guelph in our home opener. We were particularly consistent with our level of play at the end of each set. It was a team effort. Rookie Theanna Vernon played well in her first OUA match. Rookie Jade Griffiths and veteran Emily Nicholishen came off the bench due to an injury on the court and both played outstanding,” says Reid.
The Rams’ next home game is Oct. 31 when they host the Queen’s Gaels at 6:00 p.m.
Men’s Basketball
The men’s basketball team, led by head coach Roy Rana, is currently undefeated, winning its first four games. Last season, the team was 15-5, ranking third in the OUA East standings and eighth overall in the CIS standings. The men’s basketball team is in St. Catharines this weekend for the Brock RBC Classic tournament. You can catch the Rams in action at Bob Davis Gymnasium Oct. 26 for the final day of tournament action. If you can’t make it there, follow the game updates on Twitter (@ryersonrams or @RyersonBBall).
Women’s Basketball
The women’s basketball team, led by head coach Carly Clarke, has won five of its last six games games. Be sure to support the women’s team as it hosts the Darcel Wright Memorial Classic Tournament at the Mattamy Athletic Centre this weekend. The next game is against McMaster at 4 p.m. today (Sunday, Oct. 26) at the MAC. Entrance is free with your OneCard.
Men’s Hockey
Graham Wise enters his ninth season behind the bench as head coach.
Last week, the Ryerson men’s hockey team beat Laurentian 10-3 in its home opener. This year, the team welcomes 13 rookies and 14 returning players. The new captain is third-year forward Michael Fine. Last year, Fine had 42 points in 48 career CIS games. Brian Birkhoff, Mitch Gallant and Lucas Froese are all wearing an ‘A’ on their jerseys this season. The team’s next game is Nov. 1 against Western.
Women’s Hockey
On April 1, 2011, Lisa Haley became the first coach in Ryerson Rams women’s hockey history. This past winter, Haley served as assistant coach for Canada’s senior women’s national hockey team, where she helped lead the team to a gold medal at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games. In both preseason and regular season hockey action this year, the Rams won six of their nine games. They play Sunday in Kingston at 2:30 p.m.
Fencing
Last year, the Ryerson Rams fencing team came in sixth out of nine schools with 119 points in the standings. Joanna Kolbe won a bronze medal in the Epee Individual discipline, making her an OUA fencing star. This year’s fencing season is underway. The head coach is Alice Lu.
Figure Skating
The Ryerson Rams’ figure skating team won its first ever team medal at the 2014 OUA Figure Skating Championships this past winter at the Mattamy Athletic Centre. The host Rams won three gold medals (Lisa Makeeva, Alysha Gjos and Karen Urguhart), four silver medals (Spencer Buchanan, Christina Pulla, Pair: Katherine Bilinsky and Lisa Makeeva, Pair: Alysha Gjos and Julia Withers) and two bronze medals (Pair: Barbara Basar and Lauren Hildebrand, Katherine Bilinsky) in the championships. Stay tuned for news on the upcoming figure skating season.
Badminton
This past summer, Ryerson badminton player Vivian Kwok participated in the 13th World University Badminton Championship in Cordoba, Spain, representing Team Canada. Kwok and her partner won their first-round match over a pair from India, and then fell to Japan in the second round of women’s doubles. The head coach of the badminton team is Rob Fullerton.
Laura graduated from the Ryerson School of Journalism in 2015.