CIS athletes of the week (#9): UBC’s Haughn, UQTR’s Bélanger-Vaillancourt honoured

OTTAWA (CIS) – Hannah Haughn, a field hockey player from the University of British Columbia, and Raphaël Bélanger-Vaillancourt, a soccer player from University of Quebec at Trois-Rivières, are the CIS female and male athletes of the week for the period ending Nov. 4, 2012.

Haughn, a first-year kinesiology student from North Vancouver, B.C., was named MVP of the CIS championship after she helped the top-seeded Thunderbirds capture their second straight McCrae Cup title – and their record 14th all-time - in Toronto. The 5-foot-3 midfielder was stellar at both ends of the field in guiding UBC to four wins and a draw in five contests, including a convincing 3-0 victory over the host Varsity Blues in the gold-medal final. Prior to the tournament, Haughn received the Joyce Slipp Award as CIS rookie of the year and was announced as a second-team all-Canadian.

StFX rugby player Tyson Beukeboom, Sherbrooke soccer player Marie-Ève Jacques and Guelph rugby player Britt Benn were also nominated for the women’s award.

Bélanger-Vaillancourt, a second-year student from Laval, Que., earned back-to-back game-MVP nods as he led the Patriotes to their first RSEQ title since 2001 thanks to a pair of penalty kick wins at the conference Final Four. The sophomore goalkeeper was sensational in both PK sessions, stopping two of four shots in a 1-0 semifinal victory over UQAM and three of five kicks in a 2-1 gold-medal win against first-place Laval. Bélanger-Vaillancourt and UQTR will compete at this week’s CIS championship in Quebec City, starting with a quarter-final matchup against Alberta on Thursday.

Soccer players Andrew Murphy of Cape Breton and Mark Reilly of McMaster, as well as Saskatchewan volleyball player Bryan Fraser were the other male nominees.

Female nominees:
AUS: Tyson Beukeboom, rugby, StFX
RSEQ: Marie-Ève Jacques, soccer, Sherbrooke
OUA: Britt Benn, rugby, Guelph
CWUAA: Hannah Haughn, field hockey, UBC (recipient)

Male nominees:
AUS: Andrew Murphy, soccer, Cape Breton
RSEQ: Raphaël Bélanger-Vaillancourt, soccer, UQTR (recipient)
OUA: Mark Reilly, soccer, McMaster
CWUAA: Bryan Fraser, volleyball, Saskatchewan

-CIS-