Dalhousie sports roundup: fall sports wind down, as winter sports begin

Editor’s note: this article references statistics as of Oct. 28.

As the weather gets colder and fall transitions into winter, sports fans say goodbye to summer sports, settling in for a new season of winter matchups. 

At Dalhousie University, the Atlantic University Sport soccer season is drawing to a close, while the hockey and basketball teams gear up for a new season with fresh rookie faces and seniors preparing for their final run on campus. 

The Gazette breaks down everything students need to know about Dalhousie’s soccer seasons and previews what’s ahead for the Tigers’ hockey and basketball teams.

Soccer

This season, the Dalhousie women’s soccer team claimed the top spot in the AUS regular season, while the men’s team tied for second place, earning an automatic advancement to the semi-final of the AUS championship.

The women’s team won 10 games for the first time since the 2012-13 season, recording only one loss on Sep. 27 against the University of New Brunswick. The team finished the season with a record of 10-1-1. The Tigers have one of the top striker trios in the league, with Elise Evans (eight goals), Paris Axam (five) and Sally Steinberg (five) combining for 18 goals and eight assists. Evans ranks third in the league for goals, while Axam is third in assists and leads the Tigers in total points.

Cindy Tye, head coach of Dal’s women’s soccer team, is in her eighth season as the Tigers’ bench boss. On Oct. 22, Tye was named the AUS coach of the year. The team faced Memorial University in the AUS semifinal on Friday. 

The women’s soccer season ended prematurely when the Seahawks beat Dalhousie 4-3 in a penalty shootout.

The men’s team had a strong regular season performance, finishing in second place with an 8-2-2 record. 

The Tigers entered the tournament as lower seeds the past two years — fourth last season and sixth the season before — but the core of Mohammed Tolba, 2024 AUS rookie of the year; Ben Hashimoto; Jack Ellis and Sinclair Astridge have used their years of experience to boost the team’s rank in the standings. They were tasked with filling the void left by former captain and defensive stalwart Luke Berryman, but have done so by welcoming former Saint Mary’s University rival defenceman Woody Bain to their backline. 

Bain, an all-star last year at SMU, hasn’t missed a beat since his move across Robie Street, recording two goals and four assists in his fifth year of eligibility.

This season, Tolba led the Tigers in points, with four goals and five assists. Hashimoto wasn’t far behind, scoring six goals during the season. 

The Tigers were headed into a tight AUS playoff race. Dal defeated defending champions St. Francis Xavier University 3-2 in the AUS semifinal on Oct. 24 when Jack Ellis scored the winning goal in overtime. 

In the final, Dalhousie came from behind to defeat the Cape Breton Capers — the regular-season champions. The Tigers erased a 2-0 Capers lead to win the Atlantic championship 3-2 after Mohammed Wahdan scored a second-half hat-trick. This marked the first win for the Tigers since 2008. 

Hockey

The Dal men’s and women’s hockey teams have gotten off to different starts this season. 

The women’s team currently sits in second place in the AUS, holding a 4-4 record through their first eight games. The men’s team is winless through its first eight games, sitting at the bottom of the league. 

It’s a familiar story for the men’s team, which hasn’t made the playoffs since 2022. Brody Fournier is picking up where he left off last season — leading the team in points, with two goals and four assists. The Tigers will look to spread out their scoring; nine players have found the back of the net so far this season. The team has also started four different goaltenders, with starter Robbie Forbes giving up 11 goals in the team’s first game versus UNB, forcing head coach Chris Donnelly to shuffle his hand.

The Tigers nearly got their first win of the season on Oct. 15, but Acadia University erased a 3-0 lead in the third period to take a 4-3 overtime win.

The women’s team started off the season with three wins and a shootout loss, but cooled off after a two-game weekend against SMU ended in a 6-5 overtime loss and a 2-0 shutout loss.

Head coach Keifer House said the team’s identity starts with their strong goaltending play — and Grace Beer brings just that. The reigning league most valuable player is in her fourth year of eligibility at Dalhousie. 

“That’s a corner-stone for our program,” House said.

Forward Madison Wardle joins a leadership group consisting of Beer, third-year forward Natasha Falk and fifth-year forward Emma Penner. Each player will wear the “C” — except Beer, since goaltenders can’t wear it on the ice — a system that House says fits the team’s “do it by committee” leadership style.

Basketball

It’s a new year of hoops at Dalhousie, meaning the men’s and women’s basketball teams will soon take the court at the Dalplex. 

Both teams are in the season’s early stages. Two games in, the men have a 1-1 record, and the women are down 0-2. 

The men’s team has nine freshmen on their roster, including redshirt Griffin McDonough. Despite their youth, head coach Rick Plato is impressed by his new group of players.

“It might be the best [recruiting class] we’ve had,” Plato said. “I forget the year now, but we got Jordan Brathwaite and Marley Blommers. That was an unbelievable recruiting class. I think this one can be just as good.”

The Tigers’ young roster includes six-foot-five forward Isaiah Graham-Roache, Ukiah Best, who is battling for the starting point guard spot as a rookie, and Jacob Christie, brother of former Dal men’s basketball player and AUS MVP Malcolm Christie. 

The team also has a group of experienced players: guard Lydell Husbands-Browne, twins Caleb and Riley Stewart, Jayden Parker and Spencer Riar. Austin Thomson will also continue to grow into his six-foot-10 frame in his sophomore year. 

Plato is hungry to win after missing the playoffs last season, which marked just the second time sitting out the post-season in his 12 seasons at Dal. The Tigers are looking ahead to hosting nationals in 2027.

Last season, the Dal women’s team won two games and finished seventh in the AUS, rebounding from a winless 2023-24 season.

The team also found their star in Kaitlyn Ferrier, who finished second in the league in points per game. But Ferrier tore her ACL in the latter half of the season and will redshirt the entire 2025-26 season, leaving Dalhousie in search of another player to take on the offensive load.