West Island athletes named soccer all-Canadians

BY MICHAEL PIASETZKI



Although Jamie Scholefield and Shari Fraser would have preferred capturing national championships with their respective McGill University soccer teams, each recently received individual awards for tremendous seasons.

Scholefield, a Senneville resident who played for the Redmen, was named a second-team all-Canadian at the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) men’s soccer championship awards gala in Edmonton. The 22-year-old management junior led the Redmen, finishing second in conference scoring with seven goals and 11 points in 12 games. A speedy, five-foot-seven, 160-pound striker, he was picked seven times by the opposing coach as McGill’s game Most Valuable Player and earned all-conference honours.

Meanwhile, Kirkland resident Fraser of the Martlets earned first-team all-Canadian status at the CIS women’s soccer championship awards gala in Victoria. It was the second time Fraser, a four-time all-star defender, earned national recognition. The five-foot-seven geography senior scored once for the Martlets this year and played a major role in helping McGill hold down the top defensive record in the nation, with only three goals against in 13 games.

“It was a great honour,� said Scholefield, a co-winner of the outstanding male athlete award at John Abbott College in 2004.

“It’s always nice to get recognized for having a pretty good individual season. Our team was quick on the field and played well, and I seemed to feed off other players. That made it easier to score some goals,� he said.

The fact Scholefield had any type of season at all is a detriment to his persistence and belief one must always move forward, no matter what happened in the past. In the fall of 2004, two weeks after being named McGill Athlete of the Week, he was involved in a horrific automobile accident. His 56-year-old father John, who was driving the car at the time and whom he was very close to, was killed in the mishap. Jaimie survived, and despite spending a couple of weeks in the hospital with head trauma and internal injuries, remarkably returned to the soccer pitch to finish off that season. He played all of last year as well.

“Playing soccer and my Redmen teammates really helped me get through those very tough times,� said Scholefield, who played all through the AAA Lac St. Louis Lakers’ system, including last season with the senior side. “When I play soccer,

especially for McGill, I’m always thinking of my dad.�

Being named a first-team all-Canadian came as somewhat of a shock to Fraser, who also played two years for Abbott while learning her soccer in the Lakers system. She missed almost half the season due to injuries.

“I wasn’t expecting at all,� she said. “We had a couple of defenders who had tremendous seasons and maybe should have been chosen ahead of me. Anna Gruending in particular, who really stepped it up at nationals as well. By far, she should have been chosen ahead of me.�

The award took away a bit of the bitter feeling left on Fraser’s tongue after the Martlets’ disappointing sixth-place finish at the CIS national championships earlier this month in Victoria. Particularly after going undefeated in the regular season and provincials.

Everything went downhill for the Martlets at those nationals after head coach Marc Mounicot pulled his team off the field with 20 minutes left to play trailing 2-0 during the opener against the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds. Of the two banks of stadium lights, only one was working. Complaining of a growing darkness in the Martlets end made playing conditions unbearable, the Martlets forfeited the game to UBC, and as a result, automatically fell out of gold-medal contention.

Note: Scholefield and Fraser were not the only local athletes named CIS all-Canadians. Pointe Claire native Katherine Baker earned second-team all-Canadian status after putting together an impressive season at Memorial University in Newfoundland.