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2010-11 Subway OUA Water Polo Championships – Day 2 Recap
posted by: Jamie Howieson - Sports Information Assistant

11/27/2010 9:53:08 PM
KINGSTON, Ont. (November 27, 2010) – Day two of the 2010-11 Subway OUA Water Polo Championships saw the first elimination games played on the men's side of the competition as the McMaster Marauders and the Western Mustangs advance to the semifinals.

The morning of day two opened with the final round robin games for the men. The Toronto Varsity Blues and the host Queen's Gaels squared off in the first game of the day with the defending champion Varsity Blues demonstrating their strength with 23-0 shutout win. Alan Chung of Ajax, Ont., was the top scorer for Toronto notching six goals in the win with four other Varsity Blues finishing with two or more goals.

The last game of round robin play saw Carleton and Western take to the pool with first place on the line in Group B. The Mustangs hung tough with the Ravens but Carleton held them off for a 13-10 win to clinch top spot. Carleton got three goals in the game from Gordon Cameron and Charles Bouwer, both of Ottawa, while Jason Carter of Vancouver, B.C., and Yevgen Demidenok of London, Ont., each had three for Western.

With the placing in the groups decided, the quarter-finals were played out later in the afternoon with No. 2 Queen's from Group A facing No. 3 Western from Group B. Despite a valiant effort from the home team, Western's Carter proved to be too much as he found the back of the net seven times to pace the Mustangs to a 15-8 win.

The second quarter-final had No. 2 McMaster from Group B facing No. 3 York from Group A. McMaster received a very strong game from Richard Saunders of Hamilton, who had six goals in the game, to help them advance to the semifinals with a 12-6 win. York was led once again by Straun Wefers of Toronto, who scored three times to give him a total of six on the tournament.

Western will now face Carleton in the first semifinal Sunday morning at 11:40 am while McMaster will take on Toronto in the second semifinal beginning at 1:00 pm. The winners of those games advance to the gold medal match while the losers will play for bronze later in the day on Sunday.

In women's action on Saturday, unbeatens Toronto and Carleton took to the pool in the evening with the winner looking to move one step closer to clinching top spot in round robin play.

The two teams traded goals throughout regulation time but with Toronto up one goal late, a shot from Carleton's Kaitlyn Sennema of Ottawa,k found its way in with six seconds left to force overtime for the first time in the championships. In extra time, Toronto once again found its form with Nicole Brown of Burlington, Ont., scoring a pair of goals to pick up a 9-7 victory. The win moved the Varsity Blues into top spot in the round robin with a perfect 3-0 record while Carleton fell to 2-1.

Brown led the Varsity Blues in scoring for the match with four goals, while her counterpart, Sarah McIlveen of Scarborough, Ont., led Carleton with four of her own.

The final game of the night saw the host Queen's Gaels taking on the McMaster Marauders. With both teams coming into the game with a 1-1 record, it promised to be a tight battle throughout. However, after the Marauders went up 3-1 at the half, the team pulled away with a strong fourth quarter in which they scored five goals to pick up an 11-4 victory.

Kate Feather of Rockwood, Ont., was the game's top scorer with four goals on the night for the Marauders. Meanwhile, four different scorers found the back of the net for Queen's, highlighted by Carla Henderson's (Nanaimo, B.C.) third goal of the tournament.

On Sunday, the women will wrap up their round robin play before the medal matches. As for the men, their semifinals get underway beginning at 11:40 am before their medal matches later in the evening.