Hamilton, Ont. — It was a busy weekend for the Marauders, opening their seasons with strong performances across the board. Women's and Men's Soccer both earned the win against Algoma with shutout games, 7-0, and 3-0 respectively. Football capped off the weekend in their home opening game with a 31-26 victory against Windsor. 

Women's Soccer 
August 28 - W: 7-0 vs Algoma | Box Score

The McMaster Marauders (1-0-0) opened up the 2026 season with a dominant 7-0 victory against the Algoma Thunderbirds. The Marauders started the game off with a bang as Elisa Ciccone's (Kleinburg, Ont.) hard work set up Maria Annibale (Toronto, Ont.) for a top corner finish putting McMaster out front. 

Mid-way through the first half, Emma Fluit (London, Ont.) buried a beautiful cross-in from first-year Marauder, Julia Van Haeke (Whitby, Ont.), to extend the lead to two. In the 61st minute, Van Haeke plays a beautiful touch to second year forward, Clara Fischer-Credo (Vancouver, B.C) who made no mistake to give McMaster a three-goal lead. 

Fluit would add three more assists, feeding Saleena Braich (Oakville, Ont.), Akeelah Omokhua (Brampton, Ont.), and Mia Paiement (Hamilton, Ont.) as McMaster cruised to 6-0 lead. Annibale would add another for her second of the game. The Marauders finished the game with 13 shots on target and Lucie Duffy (London, Ont.) and her defensive unit earn a clean-sheet. 

Head Coach, Garrett Peters, was pleased with his team's performance. "I'm Happy for the girls, they've put in a lot of work." Next up, McMaster visits Toronto and will take on York University on Sep 3 at 6pm.

Men's Soccer
August 28 - W: 3-0 vs Algoma | Box Score 

The McMaster Marauders opened their 2026 OUA campaign in convincing fashion Friday night, defeating the Algoma Thunderbirds 3-0 at Ron Joyce Stadium. McMaster controlled much of the contest, outshooting Algoma 15-4 and putting six attempts on target. The Marauders also generated six corner kicks while limiting the Thunderbirds to three shots on goal.

Nathan Oduol opened the scoring in the 32nd minute, finding the back of the net for his first goal of the season and sending McMaster into halftime with a 1-0 advantage. The Marauders quickly added to their lead after the break. Niko Eskit doubled the advantage in the 51st minute with his first of the campaign, putting McMaster firmly in control.

For fifth-year Marauder Damiano Refosco, the season-opening victory was particularly meaningful.

"I thought we really executed the game plan and in the key moments of the game, we really settled and dominated where we needed to," said Refosco. "We had a really good performance and it's very encouraging going forward."

McMaster continued to push forward before Cristian Alfieri put the finishing touches on the victory in the 89th minute, converting a feed from Romain Sordet. Alfieri finished with a game-high five shots, including three on target.

Ethan Cagalj was perfect at the other end, stopping all three shots he faced to earn the clean sheet.

Football
August 29 - W: 31-26 vs Windsor | Box Score

The McMaster Marauders opened the 2026 OUA football season with a 31-26 comeback victory over the Windsor Lancers on Saturday night at Ron Joyce Stadium.

After falling behind 17-3, McMaster responded with 27 unanswered points to take control of the game. Quarterback Lucas Barresi (Hamilton, Ont.) helped spark the comeback with two rushing touchdowns in the second quarter, including a one-yard score that sent the teams into halftime tied 17-17.

"I thought all three aspects of my football team competed like heck," said head coach Stefan Ptaszek. "All three aspects dug in, started to play better football, and we needed to get back to 17-17 before the half. That was huge."

McMaster took its first lead on a 41-yard Michael Horvat (Hamilton, Ont.) field goal early in the third quarter before Sean Underhill (Hamilton, Ont.) delivered the game's biggest play. Underhill returned a missed Windsor field goal 124 yards for a touchdown to push the Marauders ahead 26-17.

"Just having him be able to flip the field and score, that's such a huge momentum changer," said Barresi, who completed 18 of 24 passes for 168 yards.

Windsor cut the deficit in the fourth, but Isaiah Shields (Hamilton, Ont.) helped halt the comeback with an interception at McMaster's 33-yard line with 6:41 remaining.

"We trusted one another," said Shields. "Offence trusted the defence, defence trusted the offence. We were able to come back after a struggle first quarter and pull out the win."

The victory moves McMaster to 1-0 on the season and marks the Marauders' first Week 1 win since 2019.

Upcoming Events (Aug 31 - Sept 6)

Sept 3
6:00PM: Women's Soccer at York
8:15PM: Men's Soccer at York

Sept 4 
12:00PM: Baseball at Waterloo
3:00PM: Baseball at Waterloo

Sept 5 
12:00PM: Baseball at Guelph
2:00PM: Women's Rugby at Trent

Sept 6 
1:00PM: Football at Guelph
4:00PM: Women's Soccer vs Western
6:15PM: Men's Soccer vs Western