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Ben House, Grand Prix Edmonton (RDP Athletics)
Soccer/Cross Country

Red Deer Polytechnic Athletics weekend recap

Sep 18, 2023 | 1:35 PM

Off the track, the Kings and Queens had an average week with the women’s soccer team defeating the University of Alberta-Augustana Vikings but followed that up with a 4-1 loss to the SAIT Trojans on Sunday.

The men in Calgary came out of the gate and paid the price as they were defeated 7-1. This was the only match on the Kings schedule for the weekend.

However, on the track, the Polytechnic’s Cross Country team continued their great start to their season with two first-place finishes in Calgary on Saturday afternoon.

Please refer to the details below for more information regarding each match and meet.

Soccer

Queens (2-2-0) vs University of Alberta-Augustana Vikings (2-2-0)

• • Saturday, September 16 | 12 pm in Red Deer

Queens (2-2-0) vs SAIT Trojans (4-0-0)

• • Sunday, September 17 | 12 pm at Calgary

The Queens would make it two in a row to start their weekend as they shut out the Vikings 5-0 on Saturday afternoon in their home opener. All five goals came from five different student-athletes. They would score two goals in the first half and follow that up with three in the second which included a goal from midfielder Erica Navarro (Bachelor of Science in Nursing) who was later named the player of the game.

Sofia Quinteros, Queens Soccer vs SAIT Trojans. (RDP Athletics)

But it went downhill from there as they were playing the undefeated SAIT Trojans who came into this afternoon’s game only allowing one goal and scoring a total of 32 across four games. The Queens held the Trojans to just one goal in the first half but would concede three consecutive goals in the first 22 minutes of the half to take control of the match. Forward Grace Smith (Bachelor of Business Administration) would score their lone goal in the 79th minute and was later named the Queens player of the game.

Kings (0-2-1) vs SAIT Trojans (3-0-0)

• • Sunday, September 17 | 2 pm at Calgary

In their lone game on the schedule, the Kings were outscored 5-0 in the first half enroute to a 7-1 loss to the Trojans, who are also undefeated like their female soccer team and have only allowed one goal in their three games played so far. The lone goal allowed by the Trojans this season and the only goal on the board for the Kings was scored by midfielder Ajdin Sarcevic (Business Administration) on a penalty kick in the 59th minute.

Ajdin Sarcevic PK VS SAIT Trojans. (RDP Athletics)

The Polytechnic was madly outshot 26-8 after the final whistle with 19 of those shots being stopped by goalkeeper Garrett Thompson (Bachelor of Kinesiology).

Kings and Queens Cross Country

• • Saturday, September 16 hosted by SAIT Trojans (Calgary)

The Kings and Queens Cross Country continued their dominant start to their 2023/2024 season as they ran away from Calgary still in first place in the Alberta College’s Athletic Conference (ACAC) after the first two Grand Prix’s of the campaign.

The Queens started things off with their 6 km race at noon at the Running Room Grand Prix #2 – Jordan Fish Memorial. The first Polytechnic runner to cross the finish line for the second week in a row was Justine Larson (Bachelor of Education) who placed sixth with a time of 26:55. Larson just beat out her teammate, Georgia Sawchuk (Bachelor of Science in Psychology), by four second who came in seventh. It wouldn’t take long for the next Queens runner to complete the 6 km race with Emily Barritt (Bachelor of Science in Nursing) coming in 11th with a time of 27:35.

The Kings were led by Benjamin House (Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences) for the second race in a row as he rounded out the top three in the men’s category with a time of 27:59. Open Studies student-athlete Jordan Coen would be the next Polytechnic runner to finish the race in fifth place with an average pace of 3:38 per kilometre. Benjamin Higham (University Sciences) was just eight seconds behind Coen as he placed sixth among the 42 ACAC runners.

With a combined score of 36 from the men’s and women’s best three finishes, they finished in first place.

They will have a couple of weeks off from ACAC cross-country meets before heading off to Lethbridge on September 30 for the third Grand Prix. This will be the same course they will run on October 28 at the ACAC Men’s and Women’s Championship.

For more information on Red Deer Polytechnic Athletics, including team rosters and schedules, please visit: rdpolytechathletics.ca.