Simon Fraser's Sophia Wisotzki splits the Tampa post defence during action between the host Red Leafs and visiting, No. 4-ranked Spartans Nov 3, 2024 at CCA Div. 1 Canadian Tip-Off Classic at the Langley Events Centre. (Photo exclusive property of Varsity Letters via VL Sports Services 2024. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Women's Basketball

SFU women’s basketball notebook: The rise of senior Sophia Wisotzki to NCAA D-2’s No. 2 scorer, plus West Region tidbits and all there is to love about the Red Leafs’ press!

BURNABY — Simon Fraser’s Sophia Wisotzki is more used to making the news every time she brings her dynamic two-way game to the court this season for the Red Leafs’ basketball team.On Wednesday night, however, she had the news delivered to her.“Oh, I didn’t know that,” the 6-foot senior guard and kinesiology major admitted when […]

SFU guard Irish Coquia has made a smooth transition from high school at East Vancouver's St. Patrick's Regional, to the NCAA Div. 2 ranks with the Red Leafs. (Photo by special request for VarsityLetters.ca. All images remain property of Varsity Letters 2024. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Baseball

Simon Fraser’s Irish Coquia: As backcourt injuries mount, former St. Pat’s star comes of age in NCAA behind career-high 34 points, 10 assists in Red Leafs’ 2-OT win!

BURNABY — Soloist and conductor.The wheel of attrition has ground down especially hard on the Simon Fraser men’s basketball team over the first month of its 2024-25 season.And as its ranks have thinned at the guard spots, the Red Leafs’ urgency to get performance from one of its youngest players has grown exponentially over the […]

Quebec native Sophie Bergeron has brought a defensive presence to Simon Fraser. Here, Bergeron does what she does best during Sunday action between the host Red Leafs and visiting, No. 4-ranked Tampa Spartans on Nov 3, 2024 at CCA Div. 1 Canadian Tip-Off Classic at the Langley Events Centre. (Photo exclusive property of Varsity Letters via VarsityLetters.ca Images 2024. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Women's Basketball

Press to play! Simon Fraser Red Leafs women’s hoops debuts a full-court defensive scheme to impressive results at NCAA Div. 2 Canadian Tip-Off Classic!

VANCOUVER —  They may be just three games into a new season, yet Simon Fraser head coach Bruce Langford does not hesitate when asked to describe the 2024-25 edition of Red Leafs women’s basketball team.“I think we play a more exciting style than we have played for many years,” Langford began this past Sunday after […]

Simon Fraser head women's basketball coach Bruce Langford reached the 500-win milestone on Saturday with a win over Western Washington. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Women's Basketball

Bruce Langford: Simon Fraser women’s head basketball coach reaches 500-win milestone with Seniors’ Night win over WWU! “Who would have thought a 51-year-old high school coach could get 500 wins? Not me!”

BURNABY MOUNTAIN — It was about two years ago that Bruce Langford decided to make a donation.Just ahead of his 70th birthday, Simon Fraser’s longtime women’s basketball coach decided to pay forward his own hoops education by packing up his 100 or so coaching books and manuals so that the impressionable minds of the future […]

Simon Fraser's David Penney loves the developing chemistry he's seeing in the Red Leafs. (Photo by by Wilson Wong protected image 2023. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Men's Basketball

Simon Fraser men’s basketball: With three wins in past four GNAC conference games, veteran guard Penney gives nod to Red Leafs’ developing chemistry as season’s toughest road swing charters north to Alaska!

BURNABY — David Penney’s senior season with the Simon Fraser Red Leafs has included its share of tough times.Yet as his final Great Northwest Athletic Conference regular season winds its way down to its final five games, their is no greater authority to speak to the ever-evolving state of suddenly-percolating Red Leafs.“Last year, we were […]

SFU Red Leafs' guard Aram Dulai (right) with former teammate Sophie Klassen during the 2022-23 season. (Photo by Gordon Kalisch property of FastTrackSportsPhotography and SFU athletics 2024. All Rights Reserved)
SFU Red Leafs' guard Arman Dulai is the first women's basketball player in SFU's NCAA era to earn a spot in the team's starting line-up as a walk-on player. (Photo by Gordon Kalisch property of FastTrackSportsPhotography and SFU athletics 2024. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Women's Basketball

SFU women’s basketball: Arman Dulai puts her stamp on Red Leafs’ red-letter day as first walk-on starter in team’s NCAA era!

BURNABY — When it comes to beating the odds during this current decade-plus NCAA era of Simon Fraser women’s basketball, Arman Dulai may well have everyone beat.When the 5-foot-9 junior guard from Surrey found out that she was going to be announced in the starting line-up for this past Saturday’s home game against Seattle Pacific, […]

Simon Fraser Red Leafs Tate Christiansen (left) and Matthys Van Bylandt, a pair of North Vancouverites and Handsworth Secondary graduates, have an emotional and energetic surge to the Simon Fraser Red Leafs in their redshirt-freshman seasons on the hill. (Photo by Wilson Wong property of Simon Fraser athletics 2023. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball University Men's Basketball

Rookie Red Leafs rise to new challenges atop Burnaby Mountain! Ex-Handsworth stars Van Bylandt, Christiansen lead with work ethic while their talents begin to shine for Simon Fraser!

BURNABY — A mere three minutes of viewing may not be enough to constitute any kind of a scientific sample size.Yet if you were among the small crowd gathered earlier this month for the CCA Div. 2 Canadian Tip-Off Classic at the Langley Events Centre, you might have at least developed a pretty strong hunch […]

Behind a 36-point performance, SFU senior Jessica Wisotzki led her team to a win over Minnesota Moorhead at the West Gym, it was the team's fifth straight victory. (Photo by Wilson Wong property of Simon Fraser athletics 2023. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Women's Basketball

For Simon Fraser’s Jessica Wisotzki, a new single-game scoring standard caps five-game win streak, Red Leafs’ star senior also says ‘sharing the rock’ with sister Sophia part of ‘…a special bond!’

By Howard Tsumura(This story appeared in its original form at athletics.SFU.ca Re-printed here via kind permission of Simon Fraser athletics)BURNABY — The Simon Fraser women’s basketball team opened its season with three straight losses on B.C. soil during the recent CCA Div. 2 Canadian Tip-Off Classic, inviting questions as to just how long it was […]

Simon Fraser's Irish Coquia, fresh off leading St. Patrick's to back-to-back B.C. senior boys titles, as well as a junior championship, is working on becoming a complete guard over his debut campaign with the Red Leafs. (Photo by Wilson Wong property of Simon Fraser athletics 2023. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Men's Basketball

Irish Coquia: As Red Leafs tip off vs. Hawaii Pacific, Simon Fraser’s pure freshman standout ready to work on his defence while bringing a ready-to-roll offence to SFU after winning three B.C. MVP awards for St. Pat’s Celtics!

BURNABY MOUNTAIN — I can picture the late, great Lorne Davies smiling a lot these days about a kid named Irish.When the founding father of Simon Fraser athletics planted the pioneering idea of his student-athletes competing against U.S.-based competition upon the school’s opening in 1965, he no doubt harboured a hope that one day SFU […]

Simon Fraser's Sasha Vujisic played a game-changing role over his seven minutes on the floor Friday as the Red Leafs won their first game of the season at the West Region Crossover in Arcata, CA against the host Cal Poly Humboldt Lumberjacks. (Photo by Wilson Wong property of SFU athletics 2023. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Men's Basketball

Simon Fraser Red Leafs work for biggest comeback win in head coach Steve Hanson’s tenure, as new post Sasha Vujisic brings paint presence in 83-75 win at Cal Poly Humboldt!

ARCATA, CA — Last winter, two years into his studies in computing science at Simon Fraser University while on a ever-lengthening hiatus from the game, big man Sasha Vujisic wandered into the office of Red Leafs’ men’s basketball coach Steve Hanson and asked if he could try and earn a spot on the team for […]