SLC Athletics Season Preview

SLC Athletics Season Preview

SLC Athletics Season Preview
 Women’s Soccer
Our varsity women’s soccer program is among 7 other competitive teams that compete in the OCAA East Division in regular season play and is up against a total of 16 other OCAA teams overall when vying for the Ontario College’s women’s soccer championship. 
While the team had a rocky season in 2009, the girls look to come back stronger than ever in the 2010 season under the leadership of their new head coach – Richard Grazette. With Grazette’s experience and recruitment plan in conjunction with the determination and drive of the team to improve and reach playoffs, the team will be one to watch this season.
 
Men’s Varsity Soccer
Much like our women’s program, our men’s varsity soccer team is also a competitor within the OCAA East Division working towards a chance to compete against the best out of the 18 total OCAA teams at the provincial championships with hopes of going to the national championships in November.
 In 2009, our men’s team, though showing strong performances on both the offensive and defensive side of the game, fell just short of making it to playoffs. After suffering many heartbreaking overtime losses, a fire has been lit within the heart of the team who will undoubtedly be out looking for redemption in this 2010 season.
 
Men’s Golf
Our men’s Varsity Golf Team is one of SLC Kingston’s competitive tournament sports. As part of the OCAA Golf Division II, this team competes as both individuals and as a team at different golf tournament invitationals around Ontario such as the Durham College Invitational, the Queen’s invitational, and of course our own challenging SLC Tri-Campus tournament. All of this leads up to the OCAA Championships at the end of the season where the team competes for a chance to attend the CCAA National Championships.
In the fall of 2009 the SLC Kingston Men’s team had a remarkable season. At the OCAA Championships, the team proved their strength with a 2nd place finish in their division, giving SLC its first medal of the 2009-2010 athletic years. With the continuous growth and development of this team, with the addition of new members and experience of those from the years past, we expect that an even stronger team will emerge in the 2010 season.
 
 
 
Cross Country
Our varsity Cross Country team competes in the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association, racing other college teams from all over the province. With such a short season, the team is known to travel to a different invitational race practically every weekend from mid-September until the end of October with races spanning as far away as Sault Ste. Marie, to London Ont., to our very own SLC invitational.
In the 2009 season SLC Kingston saw a lot of positive results and progress from the cross country team. The addition of young, dedicated runners helped us to become a recognized school in this particular sport. This season we saw one rookie male runner, Julian Rhebergen, achieve not only an overall 5th place finish in the OCAA, but it also gave Julian the opportunity to compete at the National Championships in Alberta at which he placed just 15th out of 108 runners – quite an accomplishment for his first year! Coaches Randy Zabukovec and John Reid hope to continue to build on this momentum with the team as a whole for the 2010 season with high expectations that another trip to nationals can be achieved with even more SLC members in attendance.
 
Women’s Basketball
The SLC Varsity Women’s basketball team participates in one of the most competitive and longest running programs in the OCAA. The season begins early in the fall with tryouts and exhibition play, and moves into its regular season that stretches from November until mid-March. The league consists of two divisions – East and West, with teams competing to be the top of their division. Qualifying teams of each division then face off in provincial playoff action competing for a chance to attend the CCAA national championship tournament. 
In the 2009-2010 season the team, after plagued with injuries amongst its most veteran players, finished with a decent 4th place finish in the east division with a record of 9-7. The last game of their season saw a heartbreaking loss keeping the Lady Vikings out of the playoffs by just 1 point! This year, under the guidance and leadership of accredited coach Andrea Blackwell – newly inducted member to the Ontario Basketball Hall of Fame, and recognized Ontario Basketball Mentor Coach, the Lady Vikings look to come back strong to fight for the playoff spot that they fell just short of this season. The team looks for some new blood, hard work, and the return of some key players to achieve their playoff goals in the 2010-2011 season.
 
Men’s Basketball
Here at St. Lawrence College Kingston, our men’s basketball program is often the most recognized varsity sport. With their vast number of OCAA competitions with different exciting home & away games and invitational tournaments, men’s basketball is notably the most popular sport to watch! The men’s team is an integral part of the OCAA and is one of the most recognized teams in the Eastern Division. With long time coach of 16 years – Barry Smith, the program has been developed into what is often a force to be reckoned with.
In the 2009-2010 season there was no lack of excitement or ups and downs for this young Vikings team. With the addition of many young strong recruits, paired with the experience and determination of the teams few veterans, the Vikings remained undefeated for the first half of the season, even earning the title of being the 1 team in Canada across the CCAA for a few months. Though struggling with a slow start in the second half of the season the team came back strong near playoffs. While the goal of leaving the OCAA Championships with a gold medal and a chance the National Championships slipped just out of reach, they still came out with an impressive Bronze medal finish- giving the team their first bronze medal since 1975. 
With the loss of some of the team’s veteran players for the 2010-2011 season, the team faces a rebuilding year. In spite of this, coach Smith’s determination and dedication to constant recruitment allows for hope that SLC can once again attract some new additions and dynamic to the team so that they may once again succeed in reaching their goals of attending playoffs.
 
Women’s Indoor Soccer
Our varsity women’s soccer program is another one of our OCAA tournament sports. With tryouts usually beginning in December, the team then travels to a variety of indoor tournaments around Ontario as a means of building team strength and in preparation for the East Regionals, and should they advance – the OCAA Championships. Much like the outdoor programs, the league works in an East/West division format where the top teams emerge at the end of the season for a chance at the OCAA Provincial Championship Title.
In 2010 the women’s team, while building and improving all season, struggled in the East Regional tournament and was unable to secure a spot in the OCAA Championships. With new coach Richard Grazette, and his reshaping of the outdoor program, it is the hope that he can move what are sure to be the improvements of that team to the indoor program as well. It is no doubt the goal and expectation that the women’s indoor team will be at the OCAA Playoff tournament in 2011.
 
Men’s Indoor Soccer
Our varsity men’s soccer program is one that competes against other colleges in the Eastern division of the OCAA. Before competing in the East Regional playoff tournament, which decides which teams will advance to the OCAA Championship and face off against the best of the west, the team is known to participate in local and other indoor tournaments in order to come ready to compete at playoffs.
The 2010 indoor soccer season for the Vikings started off well with strong showings at both the Queen’s Invitational, the SLC Cornwall Invitational. With the team building and experience from these tournaments and others under their belts, the men’s team came out strong at the East Regionals finishing 2nd, which was enough to propel them to the OCAA Championship Tournament. At the OCAA’s the Vikings gave the eventual champions – the Humber Hawks, a run for their money, but missed the win by just one goal. It is the hope of head coach Ryan Poser that the team can again pull together in the 2011 season to not only advance to the OCAA’s once again, but to successfully secure a spot in the championship game.
 
Men’s Hockey
The Vikings Men’s Hockey team is an avid member of the Ontario Colleges Campus Recreation Committee sport association. While it has yet to be recognized as an OCAA sport, the competition level is no less then what you would find in any varsity competition. Tryouts start in October, after which time the men compete in several tournaments around Ontario at such schools as Humber, Seneca, and of course the SLC Brockville invitational tournament. These tournaments assign points based on the finishing standings and performance of its teams. The top teams in the province go into one final tournament in the hopes of winning the Challenge Cup.
In the 2009-2010 season the Viking’s men’s hockey team made great strides in its program seeing over 90 guys come out for the initial tryouts. The competition was immense and the selection of the final 23 players was not easy, but the team emerged with an abundance of talent and energy going into the season. The guys got off to a great start defeating teams from the other SLC campuses as well as capturing the division B title in the SLC Brockville tournament and placing silver in the Seneca tournament. While the team continued to grow and work hard, they fell just short of making the cut for the Challenge Cup tournament. This year the team looks to continue to build and feed off the energy of last year as they go after their goal of being a part of the final tournament in 2011.
 
Men’s Rugby
Coming off a 2008 Division II OCCAA Championship season, the Vikings entered their 2009 campaign in re-building mode. The squad got off to a slow start, however responded well and showed continual improvement as the season progressed - so much so, in fact, that they just narrowly missed the play-offs. The 2010 Vikings will return a much higher number of experienced players and the squad is poised for a return to play-off form with a hopeful run to the championship. With the departure of Grant Bradley as head coach, a completely new coaching staff has been brought in to lead the Vikings. Brad Greenwood, SLC Tri-campus Athletic Director, and former Queen’s University Rugby head coach will assume the head coaching duties. Herb Steacy, also a former Queen’s University Rugby head coach will coach the forwards and Rob Lloyd, a former Welsh representative player will coach the backs. The Vikings are planning for success this coming season and encourage all of SLC to get behind them in their push for an OCAA title.
Women’s Rugby
2010 will mark a special year in Women’s rugby at SLC and throughout the entire OCAA. This season is the official varsity trial season for women’s rugby, meaning that the success of the entire league will lead to full OCAA varsity status for Women’s Rugby in the following seasons. Prior seasons Women’s rugby operated as an extramural sport and played exhibition games and tournaments but not an official league.  Gary Peacock, returns for his second season as head coach of the Women’s program and plans to build upon the successes of last year. As with the men, the women’s team will return a healthy number of experienced players which should bode well as the sport looks to complete this last hurdle to achieve varsity status in the OCAA. Opponents for this trial season include: Seneca, Humber, Loyalist, Fleming Lindsay with exhibition games against McGill, York U and RMC. The "Prom Dress" game with RMC will be the second annual and will become a "classic" game for both schools.