Three Stars: Berget, Kamel, Gotaas earn honours
MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – Men's golfer Justin Berget is the MacEwan Athletics' first star of the week after winning a silver medal in the men's individual competition at the PING CCAA golf national championship last Friday.
Berget shot rounds of 73, 74 and 70 at Continental Golf Club-St. Laurent in Sainte-Victoire-De-Sorel, Que., to become the first golfer in program history to make a podium at a CCAA national tournament.
Other athletes recognized this week include second star Salma Kamel of the women's soccer team and third star Cam Gotaas of the men's hockey team.
It's the fourth time this season that Berget has made the three stars list, also being honoured as first star on Oct. 1, second star on Sept. 17 and third star on Sept. 3.
Kamel and Gotaas are both making their first appearances of the 2019-20 season.
1st STAR: Justin Berget, men's golf
Spruce Grove, AB, third-year, Commerce
Justin Berget capped off the best individual golf season in MacEwan history by becoming the first Griffins student-athlete to medal at a CCAA national championship.
With rounds of 73, 74 and 70 on the Par-72 Continental Golf Club-St. Laurent in Sainte-Victoire-De-Sorel, Que., Berget finished just one shot behind winner Louis-Alexandre Jobin-Colgan of Champlain St. Lawrence and was awarded the silver medal last Friday.
Berget's three-round total of 1-over 217 matches the best score at a nationals ever for a MacEwan competitor (James Charpentier finished tied for 12th in 2015 with a 217 score).
Barrett Belland was previously the only Griffins golfer to crack the top 10 at a CCAA national championship, finishing in 10th back in 2013.
Berget's accomplishment comes not long after he won the ACAC Championship for the first time in his university career – a dominant nine-shot win in Ryley, Alta. last month.
2nd STAR: Salma Kamel, F, women's soccer
Edmonton, AB, fourth-year, Arts
Salma Kamel had the best individual week in Griffins women's soccer history, scoring five goals in three games to help MacEwan secure a division title for the first time since joining the conference in 2014.
Kamel's four-goal effort against MRU in Calgary on Oct. 15 – (the rare Tuesday affair a makeup game from Sept. 29) – is tied for third-best in Canada West history, marking just the 14th time a women's soccer player has scored four times in match.
It's the first four-goal game in conference play since Manitoba's Hailey Lavarias accomplished the feat on Oct. 7, 2017. The performance also breaks the MacEwan program record for most in a game.
Kamel finished the season in style, scoring the game-winning goal in the Griffins' 2-1 win over Regina on Sunday that clinched first place in the Prairie Division.
Kamel, who didn't start a match until the fourth weekend of the season while she recovered from an injury, still managed to finish with seven goals and eight points in 10 games.
She will lead the Griffins into the quarter-finals this weekend as MacEwan hosts the winner of Victoria and Regina on Sunday (2 p.m.) with a berth in the Final Four on the line.
Salma Kamel scored five goals in MacEwan's final three games of the regular season, including netting four against Mount Royal to break the program record (Chris Piggott photo).
3rd STAR: Cam Gotaas, F, men's hockey
Sherwood Park, AB, fourth-year, Commerce
Griffins captain Cam Gotaas drove the bus in MacEwan's weekend sweep over Concordia by scoring three goals in two games, including potting the game winners on both nights.
The fourth-year veteran has scored in four-straight games for the Griffins and has an ACAC-leading five goals on the young season so far.
On Friday at Clareview Arena, the Griffins fell behind 1-0 to the cross-town rival Thunder just 1:19 into the third period, but their deficit lasted just 48 seconds, thanks to the captain. That's when Gotaas scored his first of two goals in less than 90 seconds as MacEwan skated to a 2-1 win.
On Saturday at the Downtown Community Arena, the teams traded goals until Gotaas broke the tie with 5:38 left to play, cutting through the middle of the zone on a powerplay and tipping Austin Yaremchuk's point blast in as MacEwan won 3-2.
Gotaas currently leads the Griffins with six points in four games, tied for fourth-best in the ACAC. He leads MacEwan into weekend action against UAlberta-Augustana on Friday (7 p.m., DCA) and Saturday (6 p.m. in Camrose).
Cam Gotaas has five goals in his last four games and scored game-winners in both of MacEwan's triumphs over Concordia on the weekend (Joel Kingston photo).
