Chadwick, Wedgewood, Wale named OUA athletes of the week
Burlington, Ont. – Julia Chadwick, Emma Wedgewood, and Holden Wale have been named OUA athletes of the week for the period ending January 14, 2024.
Julia Chadwick, Basketball, Queen’s Gaels
Julia Chadwick had a record-breaking performance over the weekend, helping her team to back-to-back wins on the road.
Continuing to lead her Gaels team, the senior put up quite the effort against the McMaster Marauders. Battling it out in the first quarter, the Gaels slowly but surely started to pull away to take a dominant lead into the break and ride their momentum from there. Chadwick finished just one rebound shy of a double-double, recording 24 points and nine rebounds, while shooting a strong 11-for-15 from the field.
Following an already dominant outing, the forward from Ottawa, Ont. turned in a record-breaking stat line the next night when the Gaels traveled to Toronto to take on the York Lions. As part of a dominant victory for the Tricolour, Chadwick set the Queen’s women's basketball program marks for single-game points and rebounds, recording 43 points and 27 rebounds. Her astonishing efforts eclipsed the previous scoring record from 2009 and her own school-best tally on the glass.
Chadwick is now fourth in the OUA in points per game, averaging 17.7, and rebounds per game, averaging 9.8.
Emma Wedgewood, Hockey, York Lions
As part of a weekend split of their home-and-home with the powerhouse Lakers, the York Lions proved themselves to be a formidable foe on the ice, thanks in large part to their young goaltender Emma Wedgewood.
Starting the weekend on the road in North Bay to face nationally-ranked Nipissing, the Lions fought their way to a tie game at the end of regulation, withstanding an onslaught of shots from their opposition. Despite ultimately dropping the game in overtime, Wedgewood put her prowess between the pipes on display time and time again, stopping 47 of the 50 shots she faced for a .940 save percentage.
After some complications on the way home and having to postpone their originally scheduled Saturday game, Wedgewood and the Lions suited up again, this time on home ice, for a rematch with the Lakers.
A strong start helped the Lions take the lead late in the first, with the teams then trading goals thereafter. York would add an insurance marker to clinch the 3-1 win, but once again, can thank their second-year netminder from Innisfil, Ont. for her instrumental efforts. Wedgewood surrendered just the lone goal en route to stopping the other 35 shots she faced, good for a stingy .972 save percentage.
After a long and dramatic weekend for the Lions, Wedgewood helped guide her squad to four of a possible six points against the top team in the division.
Holden Wale, Hockey, Windsor
Picking up their first two wins of the 2024 calendar, the Windsor Lancers have found their groove again as they take down not one, but two of the OUA West Division’s top three opponents.
Holden Wale notched four points over the weekend as part of those two wins, and timely ones at that, as the Lancers hosted the TMU Bold and Toronto Varsity Blues. The Friday night game started slowly for the Lancers, but the team bounced back quickly with a pair of goals, including one from Wale, to take the lead. With a lot of back-and-forth action, the two teams headed into extra time knotted up at four, and it was then that the second year forward took charge and scored the game winner with just over a minute left to play to earn the Lancers a victory.
Coming off of one overtime winner, Wale was able to play the role of hero once again against the Blues. Windsor overcame another slow start to erase a two-goal deficit and send the game to the extra frame, and much like their previous outing, Wale wowed the home crowd for a second straight night to cap off his three-goal, four-point weekend with back-to-back game winners.
Backed by Wale’s heroics, the Lancers improved to 10-9-1-0 on the season and maintained their spot in the West’s top five squads.
