{"id":34647,"date":"2024-06-06T17:13:13","date_gmt":"2024-06-06T21:13:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=34647"},"modified":"2024-06-13T16:35:34","modified_gmt":"2024-06-13T20:35:34","slug":"st-max-mustangs-capture-their-first-yraa-varsity-girls-rugby-15s-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/st-max-mustangs-capture-their-first-yraa-varsity-girls-rugby-15s-championship\/","title":{"rendered":"St. Max Mustangs capture their first YRAA Varsity Girls\u2019 Rugby 15\u2019s Championship"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The St. Maximilian Kolbe Mustangs capped their best Varsity Girls Rugby season in school history by winning the York Region 15\u2019s championship last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Mustangs defeated the St. Theresa of Lisieux Lions in two straight games in a best-of-three final to secure the long-sought after YRAA title and, subsequently, punched their ticket to the provincial championships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The series sweep versus the Lions represented a Triple Crown of championships in 2023-24 for the Mustangs. In the Fall, the Aurora high school captured both the Junior 10\u2019s and Senior 10\u2019s titles to set up the trifecta this Spring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Mustangs gallop into Peterborough to compete at OFSAA from June 3-5 against powerhouses like the #1-ranked defending champs Mayfield SS (Caledon) as well as #2-ranked John F. Ross CVI (Guelph) and #5-ranked Ajax and #7-ranked Uxbridge from Durham Region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the daunting task of taking down these perennial provincial-caliber programs did not faze either of the Mustang captains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grade 12 multisport student-athlete Mikayla Young, who has committed to a soccer scholarship at Wheeling University in West Virginia in September, is the kicker for the Mustangs and is optimistic about her squad\u2019s chances in Peterborough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m hopeful that [we] can do very well at OFSAA.  We\u2019ll try our best as we have all season. We started training in December for this.  All the time and effort has been put in by everyone involved so we\u2019re ready to compete.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fellow Senior Verena Marsig, who has committed to play rugby for the Marauders and attend McMaster in Hamilton this Fall, was even more confident and was looking to leave a legacy of winning for the school she is graduating from in four weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe biggest thing last year was putting our school and Aurora on the map as having a proper, competitive rugby program. We lost in the YRAA finals last year so winning the championship this year made it even more meaningful. Now, we\u2019re representing St. Max, Aurora, and the Barbarians in the Ontario championships. We need to put up a good fight when we\u2019re representing so many. This is a great way to go out as graduating players.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Mustangs\u2019 coaching staff\u2014comprised of Meaghan Sheahan, Kate Treacy, and Melissa Menard \u2013 was equally enthusiastic about the team\u2019s chances in Peterborough. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coach Kate Treacy, who also coaches Varsity Hockey, offered a voice of experience that exuded confidence in her student-athletes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been to OFSAA for hockey and I can appreciate that anything can happen. They\u2019re passionate about rugby and they\u2019ve shown it all season. They are going to be competitive at OFSAA.  We told them at practice that \u2018It\u2019s up to you now.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coach Melissa Menard noted, \u201cThis is my first OFSAA and I\u2019m looking forward to seeing them compete against strong programs and seeing all the work they\u2019ve put in this season put into practice at the provincial championships.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coach Meaghan Sheahan, a veteran rugby coach and a former player for the Aurora Barbarians, praised her players and felt confident regarding her Mustangs\u2019 prospects in Peterborough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese are some of the most inspirational athletes that I\u2019ve ever coached. Their debut at OFSAA will highlight the hard work, dedication, and adaptability they have shown this season.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coach Sheahan acknowledged the vital importance of the team\u2019s leadership group to cope with the pressures that come with a team\u2019s first trip to the provincial championships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have fantastic leadership in both the forwards and the backs. Our captains \u2013 Verena and Mikayla \u2013 inspire and motivate their teammates to work together as one cohesive unit. While this may be our first time attending OFSAA, we have the advantage of being unknown to most other competitors.  I have no doubt that this team will turn some heads and make a statement that St. Max is also a rugby powerhouse, not to be underestimated.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s possible to underestimate the #14-ranked Mustangs. However, their pristine 6-0 regular season record during which they outscored their opponents 123-25 would contradict such a low seeding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, the Mustangs\u2019 participation in two tournaments at McMaster University and Durham College earlier in May yielded a 2-1-2 record on the road\u2014five games of vital experience that will serve them well when they perform on the pitch at the provincials in Peterborough this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Jim Stewart<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The St. Maximilian Kolbe Mustangs capped their best Varsity Girls Rugby season in school history by winning the York Region 15\u2019s championship last week. The Mustangs defeated the St. Theresa of Lisieux Lions in two straight games in a best-of-three final to secure the long-sought after YRAA title and, subsequently, punched their ticket to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":34650,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[24,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-sports","category-sports"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/2024-06-06-03.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-90P","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-12 04:56:37","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34647"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34647\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}