U Sports legacies being built in field hockey, rugby, cross country

With championship season well underway in the U Sports world, building and cementing legacies is front and centre.

This week we look at a women's field hockey dynasty, two women's rugby teams duking it for the chance to call themselves a dynasty, and a Quebec school looking to solidify its cross-country supremacy.

Landmark victory for Vikes

The Victoria Vikes women's field hockey team defeated the York Lions 2-0 on in a best-of-three series to capture their fourth-straight U Sports national title on Saturday on their home field.

The Vikes took the first game on Friday 2-0 over the Lions with goals from Chloe Langkammer of Duncan, B.C., and Germany's Anni Kleinschmidt.

Victoria's Cara Butler potted the winner in Saturday's 2-1 win on Saturday after Kingston, Ont., native Lexi Hannah evened the score for York at one.

While the four-peat itself is a special accomplishment for numerous reasons, it's a particularly meaningful send-off for head coach Lynne Beecroft and star defender Anna Mollenhauer, who opened the scoring for the Vikes just four minutes into the title-clinching game.

Beecroft, who is set to retire in January, wrapped up her storied 39-year coaching career with the Vikes with her 15th national championship, the last four of which came alongside fifth-year Mollenhauer.

"This feels very special because I knew it was my last year, so it's a great way to finish," said Beecroft to the University of Victoria Varsity Athletics program following Saturday's win.

"I started my coaching career winning a championship with Nancy Mollenhauer [Charlton] in 1984, and now I'm ending my coaching career winning a championship with Anna Mollenhauer—it's a perfect ending."

The first three-time winner of the Liz Hoffman Award — which recognizes the U Sports women's field hockey player of the year — was an integral part of each and every title the Vikes have won in the last five years, with previous wins over York in 2018, Guelph in 2019, and the University of Toronto in 2021.

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Clash of the titans

In a tale of two duelling prospective dynasties, the Laval Rouge et Or defeated the Queen's Golden Gaels on Sunday to win their second Molinex Trophy in the last four years as U Sports women's rugby champions.

Both teams entered the final match of the year undefeated at 10-0, with Laval ultimately completing their perfect season with a 22-5 victory in Victoria, B.C.

Championship MVP Audrey Champagne of Quebec City, Que., paced the team to a 9-0 first half lead with three penalty goals.

Madison Donnelly's try for Queen's early in the second half brought the game to within four, but tries from Alexina Tardif-Samson of Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures, Que., and Quebec City's Cécile Leclerc, along with another penalty goal from Champagne, put the game out of reach.

Laval's first title came in 2019 by way of a 22-14 win over the Golden Gales.

The Gee-Gees had another strong showing this year, winning the bronze medal game over Guelph, 29-7, after losing to Queen's in the semifinal.

Laval cruised into the final by topping Acadia, 68-0, in the quarter-finals and Guelph, 30-8, in the semis.

Cross country in the home stretch

The U Sports men's and women's cross-country championships kick off at Dalhousie University and Saint Mary's University in Halifax, N.S., this Saturday, with a familiar school at the top of the rankings.

Last year's women's champion Laval, which has held its top spot in the rankings wire-to-wire this season, are 10 points clear of No. 2 Guelph following a team conference title in Rawdon, Que., on Oct. 29.

The Rouge et Or are headlined by Quebec City's Jessy Lacourse, who carries a seven-race winning streak into Saturday after winning the eight-kilometre race in Rawdon, which crowned her as the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ) women's cross-country champion.

The 2021-22 female track athlete of the year will look to lead Laval to their second straight national title, along with the third title in her tenure with the Rouge et Or (Laval won their first-ever women's championship in 2018).

The Laval men's team will also be looking to repeat as champions in Halifax, yet they find themselves firmly placed behind the McMaster Marauders in the men's standings, losing ground each week to the point where their two-point deficit to begin the season has now become a 17 point gap.

McMaster cruised to gold at the 2022 Ontario University Athletics (OUA) Championships on Oct. 29 in London, Ont., featuring a fearsome combination of star power and depth throughout their program.

Overall, the Marauders had five of the top eight individual finishers in the competition.

Should McMaster earn the men's title this weekend, it would be their second in program history, nearly 60 years removed from their first win in 1963 — the first year the men's U Sports cross country championship trophy was awarded.