Gaels win third annual ‘Kick for the Cure’ game against RMC, raise $13,000 in the process

Team Scoring leader Christie Gray talks last week’s success on and off the field

Image supplied by: Robin Kasem
Christie Gray

On Oct. 24, the Queen’s Women’s Soccer team won their third annual “Kick for the Cure” soccer game against RMC, handily beating the Paladins 5-0 at Richardson Stadium.

The initiative, originally started in 2019, is a soccer-based iteration of the Canadian Cancer Society’s “Run for the Cure’ in which individuals raise funds and awareness for breast cancer research. As of Oct. 26, the men’s and women’s soccer teams had already surpassed their $10,000 fundraising goal by upwards of $3,000 ahead of the event’s Oct. 31 end date.

“I think this year really reassured that this is a tradition that’s probably going to stick around,” fifth-year forward Christe Gray told The Journal in an interview.

“It’s been pretty amazing.”

Gray was one of the founding members of Kick for the Cure’” back in 2019 and has played an active role in continuing to develop the initiative year to year since.

According to Gray, ‘Kick for the Cure’ has grown exponentially since it was originally devised. In its first iteration, the team raised less than $5,000.

Although they couldn’t have an actual game during the 2020-21 academic year—due to the suspension of varsity sports—Gray said the team still organized a socially-distanced run, the likes of which raised $10,000.

Currently in her final season of eligibility as a student-athlete, Gray won’t be able to play in next year’s game, but she remains hopeful that the event will continue to grow after she leaves.

“It’ll be cool next year to see the younger up-and-coming leaders take it over,” she said.

“I think it’s an initiative that’ll stay around for a while, so it’s pretty cool to [have been] a part of that.”

Not only did she lead the charge for this year’s record-breaking fundraising effort, but Gray also led the team on the field too, scoring three of their five goals in Sunday’s match.

Speaking to their commanding victory, Gray said she and the team were happy with the win, but they could’ve performed better.

“We probably should have scored more, considering we had forty shots on net and only scored five goals,” she explained. “But at the end of the day, a win’s a win.”

Gray is currently the leading scorer on the Gaels’ roster and ranks second in the OUA in total goals scored.

Commenting on her current accolades, Gray was quick to point out the level of support she receives from her teammates, and how much her success is derived from it.

“I wouldn’t be able to score goals if I didn’t have a good goalie, defence, and mid behind me,” she said.

“We’ve had a couple awesome transfers. One from the states, one from Trent who’s my age […] Lots of attacking force from everywhere, so it’s been a really fun year.”

Looking forward to their final games of the season against York this weekend, Gray said she and the team are well aware of how important it is for their seeding in the playoffs, but are still up for the challenge.

“I’m confident, if we play the way that we did against Ottawa […] we’ll give them a good shot.”

“It’ll be a fun battle.”

Tags

soccer, Women's soccer

All final editorial decisions are made by the Editor(s)-in-Chief and/or the Managing Editor. Authors should not be contacted, targeted, or harassed under any circumstances. If you have any grievances with this article, please direct your comments to journal_editors@ams.queensu.ca.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Skip to content