Sophie de Goede named U Sports Rugby Player of the Year

Earlier this season, Sophie de Goede was named the OUA’s Most Valuable Player for women’s rugby—but she didn’t stop there. 

Before the women’s rugby team kicked off the competition at the U Sports National Championships in Wolfville, N.S. this weekend, de Goede was named the U Sports Player of the Year and a First Team All-Canadian.

She’s the first women’s rugby player to ever receive the honour, and it comes following her Rookie of the Year award last season. 

Joining de Goede as a First Team All-Canadian is second-year teammate Rachel Hickson, who was awarded the title after leading the Gaels in scoring this season.

Unfortunately, in their first game at Nationals, the Gaels fell to the St. Francis Xavier X-Women 42-21. They are scheduled to play a consolation semi-final match against the Calgary Dinos at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday morning.

Seven Gaels soccer players named OUA All-Stars 

The OUA released the awards and honours for men’s and women’s soccer this week, and there was no shortage of Gaels on the list. 

For the second season in a row, Jenny Wolever was awarded  OUA East MVP. Scoring two hat tricks and ranking second-best in the OUA for goals-scored this season, Wolever was also named a First Team All-Star for the East Division.

Alongside Wolever, midfielder Lidia Bradau was also awarded First Team All-Star, her third career all-star bid.

In addition to their attacking players, Queen’s defensive front was recognized by the conference—fifth-year Alicia Levy and second-year Jamie Foot were named Second Team All-Stars.

The women are scheduled to compete in the OUA Final Four this weekend, where they’ll take on the Western Mustangs in the semi-finals on Friday.

For the men’s soccer team, three athletes were named Second Team All-Stars in the OUA East. Midfielder Michael Chang, defender Zachary Toupin, and striker Junior Kwame Addai all received nods.

Men’s basketball cracks national ranking

For the first time since the 2007-08 season, the men’s basketball team (1-0) has found themselves in the U Sports top 10 rankings.

In 2007-08, the Gaels made it to the OUA semi-finals before the then-undefeated Carleton Ravens brought their season to a close. The team hasn’t seen anything better than a semi-final playoff game since their 2015-16 season.

After a win over the York Lions (0-1) in their season opener, the Gaels are ranked third in the OUA, and are nationally-ranked 10th as they hit the road to play Western and Windsor this weekend.

With a veteran lineup on their side, the Gaels will look to continue build on their early momentum.