The Eyeopener — Top 10 Ryerson Athletes

9November 23, 2011 The EyeopenerSPORTS TOP 10

#10Equestrian

In just their second year of existence, Ryerson’s equestrian team is proving to the entire Ontario University Equestrian Association (OUEA)

that they are a force to be reckoned with. Currently sitting in third place in the East Zone, Andrea Robinson is not surprised by her team’s

performance this season.

“Last year was our first year and we didn’t have enough people to fill each division,” explained Robinson, one of the team’s co-founders.

“This year, people are lined up for shows and everyone who goes is either placing or having amazing rounds.”

Laura Giffen is one of the team’s newest members and said that she chose Ryerson over other universities because of the equestrian team.

Now two shows into the season, Giffen leads the East’s Entry Division in points, while Robinson is sitting in fourth place in the Novice Division. Both Robinson, Giffen and three other Ryerson riders

have already qualified for the OUEA championships.

“You don’t want to get an ego with riding because it’s not an individual sport, it’s a partnership with the horse and

one bad ride can drop you down,” said Giffen. “But I definitely can be competitive.”

—CharlesVanegas

10 November 23, 2011The Eyeopener SPORTS TOP 10

#9Hockey

One, two, three. That was Dustin Alcock’s recipe for success in the Rams’ varsity hockey game against the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Saturday, Nov. 12, when he scored his first

career OUA hat-trick in a 5-4 overtime loss. Just over a third of the way into the season, Alcock has already accumulated more goals (seven) than he did all of last season (four).

“There’s nothing better than scoring,” said the self-described workhorse.

In only his second year with the team, Alcock will need to build off of his quick start if Ryerson hopes to make it into the playoffs this season. Regardless of how this season turns out, he aims to

win an OUA championship by the time he graduates from Ryerson.

Humble and softspoken, Alcock deserves his fair share of credit for the hockey team’s improve-ment this year, as he has already matched his first-year point total with nine through 12 games.

“We’ve got a good group of young guys,” said the Hamilton native and criminal justice major.

If the Rams’ win total continues to increase at a rate similar to that of Alcock’s scoring, chances are his group will be OUA championship

contenders in no time.

—MattOxman


#8Soccer

After playing 120 minutes of soccer at the University of Toronto’s Varsity Center, the Rams and the Blues were tied at one goal apiece. Michael Jan, the Rams all-star defender, was struggling to catch his breath when he was called upon to take the

first penalty shot.

Knowing exactly where he wanted to place the shot, Jan stepped up to the ball and blasted it to the right side. Instatnly reacting to the shot, U of T’s goalie made the diving save, safely batting

away Jan’s shot.

“I was still confident we were going to win it because I knew Christian [Maraldo], our goalie, could save a goal but then

we missed another one and it didn’t work out.”

The loss marked the second consecutive year that the men’s soccer team’s season ended in penalty kicks.

Jan came into last season with an already impressive resume. In his rookie year, the third-year defender was

named the OUA East Rookie of the year and was also named a second team OUA all-star. His second season was

equally as strong on the Rams’ backline, but he did not receive anywhere near the same recognition around the

league as he did after his rookie year.

This past summer Michael and his brother, Luke, trained together, working on their one on one skills

and getting stronger in the weight room.Jan, who was named a first team OUA all-star, just

finished his strongest season to date, finding the back of the net twice in fourteen appearances.

His strengths lie in his understanding of the game, his nose for reading the opposition’s

offence and most importantly his contributions to the team’s offence as a defender.

“I trained a lot more this year on the things I needed to work on,” said Jan. “I was a

good enough defender but I needed to attack more, which resulted in a couple

goals this year.” — Gabriel Lee


It has been a tough move up to Canadian Interuniversity Sports for Ryer-son’s women’s hockey, but it could have been a lot tougher without new goalie and top recruit Emma Crawley. “It’s not the first time I’ve played

on a weak team, compared to the rest of the league,” says Crawley. “We’re not a bad team, but we’re just not as strong as our potential.”

As recipient of the prestigious President’s National Entrance Scholar-ship, Crawley has lived up to the high expectations. After 12 starts,

Crawley leads the OUA in saves with 351, 19 saves ahead of the runner-up who has played one more game than her. “I’m stopping

as many pucks as I can,” she says.

Despite the struggles that come along with a young program, Crawley firmly believes the Rams just need to click to become contenders. By notching a single victory, the chemistry major

says that her team has already exceeded expectations. In their only win of the season the Rams beat the Waterloo

Warriors 1-0, with Crawley stopping all 21 of the shots she faced.

“I feel like once we click we’re going to be unstoppable,” she said.

Playing on a young team has forced her to raise her game to a new level, and although the losses are frustrating, they only motivate her to get that

much better. “I feel like growing up playing for weak teams has just made me stronger as an

individual because I’m always working ten times harder than I’d work if I was on a team

that won 10-0 every game.” —MattOxman

#7Hockey


#6Figure Skating

When Alysha Gjos transferred to Ryerson from Fanshawe College, she never planned on getting involved with the figure skating team.

Thankfully for Ryerson, after a little convincing from a friend who skates for the University of

Toronto, Gjos decided to lace her skates back up after not having skated competitively for more

than two years.

At first, Gjos found it hard to get her rhythm back as she was struggling to execute basic

jumps. “It felt like a roller-coaster,” said Gjos. “Because I had taken so much time off I kept

falling in [practice].”

After a tough return to the ice, Gjos realized that if she got back into shape, she could have a legitimate shot at winning it all. Last Febru-ary, she captured the gold medal in the Senior

Silver Freeskate event.

This season, Gjos has only one thing on her mind: defending her title as best senior silver

free skater in Ontario.

“Personally, I hope to medal in every competi-tion and I’d like to defend my championship.”

— Gabriel Lee


#5Volleyball

“I love blocking,” said Kasandra Bracken. “The best blocks are when the other team gets super, super excited that they’re going to have a huge hit they think

they’re about to do something great and you just take one step above them, and are like ‘Nope! I’m gonna do something better!’”

Seven games into the season, he fifth year middle blocker is already lead-ing the team with 16 blocks. Although the women’s volleyball team is 2-5, Bracken believes that Ryerson is playing better than their record indicates.

“We’re definitely a team that’s hoping to make the playoffs,” she said. “Obviously we’re going to have to up our record, but I feel like we have been playing well, and if you look at the individual stats we’re up there in kills, we’re up there in digs, we’re up there in aces, we’re up there in blocks. Technically we are leading the league, we just haven’t been able

to get a lot of the results that we wanted.”

One of the lone veterans on a young team, Bracken says that she is actively looking to mentor her younger team-

mates. That being said, she says she feels a “selfish” sense of urgency in her last year of eligibility, but

is realistic about the team’s expectations. Still, Bracken feels on top of her game despite a

nagging shoulder injury.

“I feel good, I feel smarter, I feel stronger this year. I’m coming back for a fifth year,

so now I don’t have to deal with room-mates, and rez.” —MattOxman


#4Volleyball

A number of key departures left the Ryerson’s men’s volleyball team with a largely inexperienced group of players. With five rookies on his team, Luka Milošević is fully

aware that much of the burden is on him to churn out a successful season.

“It’s a lot of pressure, but I try not to let it affect me,” he said. “I just go into every game focused on my duty: [getting kills] and scoring as much as possible.”

And score he does. The fourth-year player ranks fifth in the OUA in both points per game and service aces. In ad-dition to that, he also leads the Rams in blocks with

14. While Milošević is content with his statistics, he’s less pleased with the team’s 2-4 record.

“We’re not quite where we want to be,” he said. “We beat McMaster, the defending

OUA champs, but then we’ve lost games we thought we should have had.”

With a number of “very winnable” games in their future, Milošević believes the team

can be back at .500 by the end of the semester, which would solidify them as

a legitimate playoff contender.

“We have a lot of talent on this team; it’s just a matter of staying

consistent,” he said. “As long as everyone can stay focused, keep

a cool head and not fold under pressure then we can get

there. We’ve proven we can be a dominant team when

everyone stays focused.”

— Charles Vanegas


#3Basketball

Ashley MacDonald has achieved as much individual success as any women’s basketball player in the OUA could hope for. The fifth-year point guard turned shooting guard was

a first team OUA all-star last year, team MVP, female athlete of the year at Ryerson, and was second in league scoring. Four games into the season, MacDonald leads

the league with 23.8 points per game, while adding 4.3 rebounds and five assists per game. There’s only one last thing that the veteran point guard would like

to achieve before she graduates.

“I want to get to nationals,” said MacDonald decisively.Sporting a 1-3 record to start the season, the team will not make the

OUA playoffs at this rate, let alone the nationals.

“This is my end-all be-all,” said the sociology student. As much as she wants to make a championship run, MacDonald under-

stands she has to play the role of the patient leader. That being said, she refuses to set the bar low.

“This rookie class is probably the most skilled I’ve been around,” she said.

Like a true veteran leader, MacDonald will try to guide her younger teammates in the right

direction, while improving her own game in what will be her final season as a

Ryerson Ram.

—MattOxman

MacDonald


#2Basketball

Jahmal Jones accomplished more in his first year at Ryerson than most univer-sity student athletes do in their entire careers. Having averaged 17.3 points per game in his rookie season, Jones led the Rams to their best playoff finish since

2003 and was named to the OUA all-star team. The Rams’ floor general has quickly become the new face of Ryerson basketball, and arguably the new face

of Ryerson athletics.

During the off-season, when most athletes take time off to rest their bodies, Jones continued to refine his game by representing Canada at the International University

Sports Federation (FISU) games in August and more recently at the Pan Am Games in October. Playing against some of the best basketball players in the world (includ-

ing Puerto Rican J.J Barea, the point guard for the 2011 NBA champion Dallas Mavericks) showed Jones there are still many aspects of his game that need

improvement and the 20-year-old Mississauga native is ready to get to work.

“I see it as a challenge to exceed what we did the previous year,” said Jones, who is averaging 18.5 points per game this season. “People like to

use the word potential with our group but as [assistant] coach [Jermaine] Small says ‘potential is nothing if you don’t fulfill it.’”

While starting off the regular season 1-3 wasn’t ideal for Jones and the

Rams, the sophomore point guard has no doubt that once the team gets healthy that they’ll be legitimate contenders in the OUA and pos-

sibly make a championship run come February.

Regardless of how the team finishes this season, one thing is certain: the future of the men’s basketball relies heavily on the play of their

explosive young point guard.

—GabrielLee


#1Soccer

As the final whistle blew, the women’s soccer team walked off the Varsity Centre’s turf with with their heads down. Not only had they dropped their

first playoff appearance in three years to U of T, but that loss marked the end of something greater. The Andrea Raso era of Ryerson soccer had officially

come to an end.

Without a doubt the best player in Ryerson’s women’s soccer program’s history, Raso finished her career as a Ram on a high note. This past season

was a historic one for the program, as the team completed the regular season with a program-best six wins and they reached the post-season for only the

third time in 26 years.

Those milestones would not have been reached without Raso.

In the 21 seasons before she was on the team, the women’s soccer program had a combined record of 16 wins, 194 losses and 13

ties. In Raso’s five years with the Rams, they won 24 games.

Throughout her career, Raso amassed a team-high 19 goals and was named to five straight OUA all-star teams. In 2008,

she became Ryerson’s first ever-female CIS All-Canadian. This past season, she scored six goals and was named a first-team

OUA all-star.

“At the time I didn’t know that I was the first ever,” she said in reference to being named all-Canadian. “It feels good to

be recognized by the league and across Canada. It means a lot to me.”

When faltering programs turn around, credit often goes to big-name coaches, increased funding or

state-of-the-art facilities. Often forgotten are the athletes on the field. In the history of

women’s soccer at Ryerson, there has never been a greater player than

Andrea Raso. —CharlesVanegas

The Eyeopener — Top 10 Ryerson Athletes

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