There’s an old cliché in sports: “You have to play 60 minutes to win.” McGill found out the hard way on Saturday that there’s still a lot of truth in that expression. Despite going into halftime with an 11 point lead, the Redmen failed to pull off what would have been a huge upset against the top ranked team in the country, losing to the Laval Rouge et Or 43-27 in front of 1,749 spectators at Molson Stadium.

National Football Conference North Chicago Bears (10-6): If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. Last year’s division champion will return all its starters from last season. While that’s good news for the defence-finished second in total yards and first in points allowed-it’s less so for the offence.

The third ranked Martlets got off to a slow start in Friday night’s season opener at Molson Stadium. But a much stronger second half allowed them to escape with a 2-0 victory over the visiting Sherbrooke Vert et Or. Neither side had been able to find any rhythm or assert itself during the first frame.

Sports are a transcendent element in today’s turbulent society. To use a cliché, any team can win on any given day. It is not always the supremely skilled squads that capture championships; rather, spirited, passionate and hard-working often trump the talented.

Coming off what can only be described as the worst year in the football program’s history, there’s really nowhere for the Redmen to go but up. On the field the team finished a dismal 1-7, but that was only the tip of the iceberg. Instead it was the black eye the franchise suffered as a result of the team’s hazing scandal which will be remembered as the legacy of the ’05 edition of Redmen Football.

With Sherbrooke having prevented the Redmen from reaching the playoffs in each of the last two seasons, it’s not difficult to imagine why this meeting was such a scrappy affair. And while it won’t erase the memories of post-season dreams dashed, McGill managed to exact a little revenge by edging out a 2-1 victory at Molson Stadium.

While the average women’s soccer fan at McGill might point to the team’s impressive conference record and harvest of major year-end awards as signs of a successful 2009-10 campaign, the Martlet players and coaching staff aren’t nearly satisfied with the season’s results.

Martlets Soccer-McGill vs. Sherbrooke; Friday, 6p.m. The Quebec champion Martlets open the season in the friendly confines of Molson Stadium against Sherbrooke. In what should be a challenging game against an always fiesty Vert et Or side, McGill will have the chance to show the home fans why they are a top contender for the ultimate prize at the end of the season-the National Championship.