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Blazers Volleyball Split Weekend Set with Pilots

2022.11.07 @ 1:58 PM • Women's Volleyball, Men's Volleyball

After a successful opening weekend to the 2022-23 MCAC volleyball season with both teams earning wins over the Assiniboine Community College Cougars, this past weekend saw the conference schedule begin in earnest with a home-and-home series with the Providence Pilots.

Friday's showdown in Niverville was the home opener for the Providence Pilots, and CMU's men's side did everything in their power to ruin the party.  The best-on-best matchup started smoothly for the Blazers who cruised to a 25-17 first set victory.  A stumble in the the second set saw Providence regain some momentum, but a marathon 29-27 set win for the Blazers in their road whites proved to be the back-breaker for the Pilots, as the visitors got out to an early lead in the fourth set and sailed to the four set victory.  Second-year right side Duncan Petrie led all Blazers with 15 kills along with some huge serving runs, while left side Cam Gayleard added 14 of his own in the win.  The story of the game was perhaps the passing of the Blazers squad, allowing setter Tim Juvonen to spread the offence and keep the Pilots on their heels.  Left side-turned-libero Brock Carmichael was named player of the match for CMU, notching 14 digs and solid serve-receive numbers throughout the match.

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Kalyssa Wasylik: October's Zueike Female Athlete of the Month

2022.11.03 @ 7:11 PM • Women's Soccer

Congratulations to Kalyssa Wasylik of Women's Soccer on being selected the CMU Zueike Female Athlete of the Month for October. The highly-skilled player made the transition from midfield to defence in her sophomore season.

With a few changes to the lineup in the offseason, Blazers women's soccer co-head coaches Cara Isaak and Lianna Bestvater had some tough roster decisions to make and turned to Wasylik to move to the fullback position at the wing of the back line of defence.  The CMU coaches weighed in on their rising star's play this month, stating "Kalyssa has really reached a new level of play this year.  She was asked to transition to defense which was new for her and she had an amazing attitude about it and worked really hard to learn the position.  She brings great energy to every game and gets the crowd on their feet with her footwork."

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Noah Schindel: October's Zueike Male Athlete of the Month

2022.11.03 @ 4:41 PM • Men's Soccer

Congratulations to Noah Schindel of Men's Soccer on being selected the CMU Zueike Male Athlete of the Month for October. The rookie defender has been a fixture at the Blazers backline throughout the season, and the league has noticed.

A summer signing of Blazers Men's Soccer head coach Anderson Pereira, Schindel came to CMU with a maturity that most rookie athletes don't possess, owing to the gap years he took between high school and post-secondary education.  He was named the Folio Cafe player of the game early in the season, and was deserving of the award on several other occasions throughout the second half when the Blazers had to chase down the Assiniboine Cougars for a spot in last weekend's MCAC Championships.  Perhaps the pivotal moment in the season was during a beautiful October afternoon when the Blazers hosted the Cougars at the Ralph Cantafio Soccer Complex.  Having tied in their previous match in the season, the Blazers needed points in the contest to keep pace with ACC and give themselves a chance at sneaking into the playoff picture.  After two goals from CMU's Matheus Aquino put the Blazers ahead, the Cougars managed to fight back and press to go ahead late in the game.  However, a final push by the green and gold produced a glorious top-shelf tally from outside the box off of the boot of Schindel, and kept the Blazers' season alive.  The Blazers would go on to beat ACC on their home turf, and leapfrog them into the MCAC Championships semi-finals.

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Blazers Bow Out Early in Championship Run

2022.10.31 @ 1:22 PM • Women's Soccer, Men's Soccer

The Blazers soccer teams arrived in Brandon on Saturday morning hoping for an extended stay in the Wheat City where the MCAC Soccer Championships were being held, but a deep title run was not in the cards for either team this season as both squads failed to produce the semi-final upsets needed to make a finals appearance.

The Blazer men kicked off the day's games playing the top-ranked Brandon Bobcats on their home field, a game that had originally been scheduled on neutral turf at the Brandon Sportsplex, where ACC was supposed to be hosting the first versus fourth seed games.  The Bobcats took full advantage of their familiar field, launching an early counter-attack resulting in a goal which sent the Blazers reeling and chasing the remainder of the game.  Clearly both sides had not forgotten their hotly contested clash last weekend when both goalkeeper Zach Bartel, and defender Matthew Pahl were sent off with red cards.  Bartel was back in the Blazers' net after serving his one-game suspension, while Pahl was given a two-game suspension for his in-game altercation, which carried over into the semi-final.
Overall, the Blazers defended quite well after their early blunder, with MCAC All-Conference selection Noah Schindel working his magic at the back, and captain Matheus Aquino, also an MCAC All-Conference award-winner, leading the attack.  However, CMU was up against the conference leader in goals in Brandon's Camilo Rodriguez, and it was apparent that his level of talent and recognition afforded him additional leniency with the officials, who tallied seven fouls for the attacking forward, but refused to pull out the cards for the home side.  Several great chances off of set plays by the Bobcats in the second half came up empty, due to solid play by graduates Zach Bartel in goal and defender Gode Katembo, who was heroic in his challenges against Rodriguez.  Nevertheless, the referees awarded a penalty to the home side on a seemingly harmless bit of defending by the Blazers, which resulted in the Bobcats' second goal and the back-breaker for the CMU side.  Noah Schindel was named as CMU's player of the match for his fantastic defensive effort on the day.

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