McGill's Mounicot named CIS coach of the year, Green earns all-Canadian honours
TORONTO -- McGill University's Marc Mounicot, a 46-year-old native of St. Jean de Luz, France, and resident of Outremont, Que., was named CIS women's soccer coach of the year at the Canadian university soccer championships awards gala in Toronto, Wednesday. Also honoured from McGill was Katherine Green, a sophomore 5-foot-11 defender from Richmond Hill, Ont., who earned all-Canadian second-team status,
Mounicot became the second McGill mentor to win the coach-of-the-year award in CIS women's soccer and the first since Tony Iachetta in 1988.
In his 12th season behind the bench, Mounicot guided a young Martlets team to a surprising 10-3-1 second-place record in the eight-team Quebec conference, a semifinal win over Sherbrooke and a berth in the league championship game, a 2-1 loss to the nationally No.1-ranked Montreal Carabins.
Since taking over the helm of the Martlets after captaining McGill to the 1997 CIS men's soccer championship, Mounicot has posted a 182-57-41 record overall, earning QSSF coach-of-the-year honours four times. He has led the Martlets to eight Quebec titles and four medals in eight appearances at the CIS Nationals. Mounicot has also served on the Canadian women's coaching staff three times at various World University Games, including a summer as head bench boss at the 2005 Universiade in Turkey and stints as an assistant coach at the 2007 Games in Bangkok and the 2001 Games in Beijing.
"Marc has done an exceptional job with our women's soccer program over the years," said Drew Love, executive director of athletics and recreation at McGill. "This season, he took a very young squad, which included 19 players in either their freshmen or sophomore year, and molded them into a contender. It's safe to say that very few people would have predicted the Martlets to reach the league final this year and come within a goal of qualifying for Nationals."
Green, a 19-year-old political science major, is a two-time conference all-star rearguard who scored twice in 10 regular season starts.
Fifth-year Queen's striker Renee MacLellan was named CIS player of the year. MacLellan of Kingston, Ont., became the third Gael to receive the Chantal Navert memorial award since the inception of the trophy in 1995.
Other CIS major award winners announced during the All-Canadian Banquet were Trinity Western's Alicia Tesan of Vancouver, who was named rookie of the year, Alberta's Veronique Mayer of Edmonton, who received the Student-Athlete Community Service award, and McGill's Marc Mounicot, who earned coach-of-the-year honours, an award presented by Coaches of Canada.
The 2009 CIS championship gets under way Thursday at the University of Toronto and culminates Sunday at 5 p.m. with the gold-medal final. SSN Canada will have live webcasts of all 11 match-ups, including the consolation round (www.ssncanada.ca or www.cis-sic.ca).
2009 CIS ALL-CANADIAN TEAMS:
The all-Canadian teams were also announced on Wednesday, with Montreal and UBC each placing two players on the top squad.
The 10 players who joined MacLellan on the first CIS constellation are UBC goalkeeper Jaclyn Dunnett of Burnaby, B.C., Montreal's Émilie Mercier of Longueuil, Que., and UBC's Chelsea Stang of Surrey, B.C., on defence, Montreal's Véronique Maranda of Montreal, Manitoba's Desiree Scott of Winnipeg, and Memorial's Laura Breen of St. John's at midfield, as well as a foursome of strikers comprised of Victoria's Kendra Flock of Calgary, UPEI's Tessa Roche of Charlottetown, York's Ami Otaki of Kanagawa, Japan, and Sherbrooke's Josée Bélanger of Coaticook, Que.
A number of first teamers are usual suspects. Mercier became a five-time all-Canadian, including four first-team nods. Both Bélanger and Breen became four-time CIS all-stars, including three nominations to the first squad for Bélanger and two for Breen. Dunnett and Stang are three-time all-Canadians, while Maranda was named to the first team for the second straight year.
The second all-CIS squad is comprised of Laval goalkeeper Noémi Duguay of Quebec City, Ottawa's Nikki Moreau of Almonte, Ont., Victoria's Holly Fiddick of Victoria and McGill's Katherine Green of Richmond Hill, Ont., on defence, Sherbrooke's Andréanne Gagné of St-Hyacinthe, Que., Cape Breton's Hannah Abenheimer of Sydney, N.S., Victoria's Jackie Snell of Victoria, Wilfrid Laurier's Heather Malizia of Burlington, Ont., and Cape Breton's Kiley Snow of Sydney at midfield, as well as Brock's Cassandre Van Bakel of Aurora, Ont., and Memorial's Malorie Harris of Mount Pearl, Nfld., as the strikers.
Fiddick, Gagné, Abenheimer, Snow and Harris are all two-time all-Canadians.
2009 CIS WOMEN'S SOCCER AWARDS & ALL-CANADIANS
Chantal Navert Memorial award (player of the year): Renee MacLellan, Queen's
Rookie of the year: Alicia Tesan, Trinity Western
Student-Athlete Community Service award: Veronique Mayer, Alberta
Coach of the year, presented by Coaches of Canada: Marc Mounicot, McGill
First Team
Position Athlete University Year Hometown Faculty
Goalkeeper Jaclyn Dunnett UBC 5 Burnaby, B.C. Arts
Defence Émilie Mercier Montreal 5 Longueuil, Que. Administration
Defence Chelsea Stang UBC 5 Surrey, B.C. Arts
Midfield Véronique Maranda Montreal 4 Montreal, Que. Administration
Midfield Desiree Scott Manitoba 5 Winnipeg, Man. Arts
Midfield Laura Breen Memorial 5 St. John's, Nfld. Arts
Striker Renee MacLellan Queen's 5 Kingston, Ont. Geography
Striker Kendra Flock Victoria 5 Calgary, Alta. Education
Striker Tessa Roche UPEI 4 Charlottetown, P.E.I. BA
Striker Ami Otaki York 2 Kanagawa, Japan Education
Striker Josée Bélanger Sherbrooke 4 Coaticook, Que. Kinesiology
Second Team
Goalkeeper Noémi Duguay Laval 2 Quebec City, Que. Business Administration
Defence Nikki Moreau Ottawa 2 Almonte, Ont. Biology
Defence Holly Fiddick Victoria 4 Victoria, B.C. Human & Social Development
Defence Katherine Green McGill 2 Richmond Hill, Ont. Arts (Political Science)
Midfield Andréanne Gagné Sherbrooke 3 St-Hyacinthe, Que. Political Science
Midfield Hannah Abenheimer Cape Breton 5 Sydney, N.S. Science
Midfield Jackie Snell Victoria 5 Victoria, B.C. Education
Midfield Heather Malizia Laurier 3 Burlington, Ont. Psychology
Midfield Kiley Snow Cape Breton 5 Sydney, N.S. Science
Striker Cassandre Van Bakel Brock 3 Aurora, Ont. Fine Arts
Striker Malorie Harris Memorial 5 Mount Pearl, Nfld. Police Studies
For more information please contact:
Earl Zukerman
Communications Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
475 Pine Avenue W.,
Montreal, QC H2W 1S4
CANADA
514-398-7012 (Tel.)
514-398-1956 (Fax)
Michel Bélanger
Manager, Communications & Media Relations
Canadian Interuniversity Sport
Ph: (613) 562-5670 ext. 25
Cell: (613) 447-6334
Fax: (613) 562-5669
belanger [at] universitysport.ca