Matt Eriksen
Lacrosse
The men’s lacrosse season has been a work in progress. An earlier training camp and more practices are helping the team improve from their 2-8 season last year. Second-year economics student Matt Eriksen was a presence on the field this weekend, leading the Gaels’ comeback against Bishop’s in the second half on Sunday by scoring seven goals and two assists.
“In the McGill game, we … weren’t acting like we really wanted the ball,” he said. “In the Bishop’s game, we had a different attitude. We were a lot more composed in the offensive end against Bishop’s. We had a lot of long possessions that wore down their defence and really built our confidence.”
Eriksen remained humble about his achievement and instead focused on the improvements he made between the McGill and Bishop’s game.
“Both games I kind of got off to a slow start, some uncharacteristic errors. Some of which were costly,” he said. “By the end of the Bishops game, I was able to work out those kinks and get back to playing the way I know how to play and I think that’s the reason why I had a lot of my success.”
Eriksen, a Canadian-born Massachusetts native, transitioned from hockey to lacrosse due to friends’ involvement in the sport and increased popularity south of the border.
“It’s a lot different than lacrosse in the States in of competitiveness,” he said. “In general lacrosse is not as developed up here in of field lacrosse.”
Lacrosse was not the reason Eriksen attended Queen’s but he said he was excited at the commitment for improvement and growth from the Gaels.
“It was definitely a big selling point that they did have a team,” he said. “A team that was looking to build and become more respectable and more of a presence in the Canadian league.”
—Kate Bascom
Sarah Pathak
Women’s Rugby
“Our team showed a lot of resilience from this game,” Sarah Pathak said of her team’s triumph over McMaster. “[McMaster was] winning with five minutes left in the game but our team really held it together and stayed mentally positive and just thought ‘we’re going to win this game’.”
The Gaels’ undefeated season was tested this weekend against their post-season rivals the McMaster Marauders last year. Queen’s suffered a loss to the Marauders in both the regular season and in the playoffs — a game which saw them lose the bronze-medal. This year Sarah Pathak said a positive change in attitude has helped the Gaels improve their record to 3-0.
“I think it’s the resiliency of this year,” she said. “The same thing happened last year [in the McMaster game] where they scored in the first but this year we kept [it] positive … We had an attitude of ‘we have to score’ and now it’s ‘we are going to score’.”
A second-year Life Sciences student Pathak, came out as the hero of the thrilling game in Hamilton this weekend. Pathak scored a try in the dying minutes of the game to lift the Gaels to a 15-14 win.
“I think the try that I scored was completely a team effort,” she said. “There was no way that I could do it singlehandedly … I was able to work off my teammates’ momentum as well as the momentum going forward. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time to catch the ball.”
The Gaels have emphasized the team aspect of rugby this year. This weekend’s game saw them take sole possession of first overall in the OUA East. Pathak said the from the rest of her team has been the difference this season.
“You can’t be a superstar without your team backing you up,” she said. “A team can’t do well if they only have one good player. You need everyone else to keep you going and get you into the right position for a ‘superstar’ moment.”
—Kate Bascom
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