AROUND OUA: Gryphons, Gaels, Marauders and Mustangs advance to semifinals
Guelph, ON - The Gryphons Women's Rugby team set an OUA record with 140 points on Saturday afternoon in a blowout win over the Brock Badgers in what was an OUA Quarter-final matchup.
SCOREBOARD
With the win over Brock, the Gryphons advance to the OUA Semi-finals where they will face a familiar opponent in the Queen's Gaels. Guelph won their previous meeting with Queen's 48-7 when the two teams met on October 9.
Source: Guelph Gryphons
No. 5 Gaels move on to the OUA Semis after a 53-15 win against York
KINGSTON, Ont. (October 17, 2015) – The No. 5 Gaels (5-1) defeated the York Lions (2-4) 53-15 this Saturday in the OUA Quarter Final match which sends the Gaels on to the OUA Semi Finals.
GAME FLOW
The Gaels got on the board early in the first thanks to an Emma Chown (Barrie, Ont.) try to set the pace for the rest of the match. Queen's kept their energy high with Lauren Cranfield (Pickering, Ont.) breaking away from the pack and crossing the try line, with a conversion by Lauren McEwen (Wasaga Beach, Ont.) kicked true, the Gaels were up 12-0.
York tried to find their footing receiving a penalty kick and Cat Belanger getting them 3 points up on the board. Sadie Stephenson (Oakville, Ont.) found a long run to get the Gaels back into their groove, putting down the next try of the game followed by another McEwen convert. The Gaels made use of the few minutes of injury time with Cranfield scoring her second try of the match giving them a lead of 26-3 at halftime.
Chown opened up the second half like she did the first with another long run culminated with a try down by the goal posts setting McEwen up for a successful convert and stretching the Queen's lead to 33-3. Megan Pawkins broker through the Queen's line for the Lions and put down their first try of the game. The momentum continued for the Lions but Queen's kept them at bay with a great run by Miranda Seifert (Regina) popping it off to Pippi McKay (Toronto) for another try; with the convert the Gaels were up 38-10.
The Lions didn't let the Gaels get away too easily and came back to the try line to trail Queen's 38-15 with 15 minutes left of play. Lauren Murray (Lindsay, Ont.) responded with a try of her own, followed by tries from both Chown and Hannah Greenwood (Kingston, Ont.) sealing the deal for the Gaels on their 53-15 win in the OUA Quarter Final match.
FINAL SAY?
"We had a lot of different bodies in the lineup today and they did what we asked them to do. We challenged them to work a lot harder than they have in the previous two weeks, and they stepped up. The bottom line is, the team is only as good as its effort and their effort today was very good." - Beth Barz, Head Coach
BY THE NUMBERS
No. 5 – Gaels current CIS ranking
41-7 – Score for the Gaels when the two teams met this season
10 – Points for Lauren Cranfield in the game
UP NEXT
The Gaels will now move onto the OUA Semi Final match which is scheduled for next Saturday, October 24. Location and opponents are TBD.
Source: Queen's Gaels
Marauders dominate Trent in playoff opener
The McMaster women's rugby team took its first step toward defending its OUA Championship by defeating the Trent Excalibur 88-8 in quarterfinal playoff action held Saturday afternoon in Hamilton.
Before the game was 10 minutes old, McMaster had crossed the touchline three times with Katie Svoboda going over twice and Cindy Nelles once. Steph Black converted all three maroon tries and the Marauders were in front 21-0, as fans were still finding their seats.
Trent managed a penalty goal by Karlie Robinson, but the McMaster onslaught continued as Ashley Gordon scored on three long runs, Lauren Walkden had two tries, and Emily Ricketts crossed the line just before halftime to put the Marauders ahead 61-3 at the break.
McMaster coach Shaun Allen took advantage of the big lead and made several substitutions for the second stanza.
Trent started the second half with some good work and Robinson took it over the touchline in the early minutes to make it 61-8.
The Marauders kept up the pressure and got two second -half tries from MacKenzie Wiens, and single scores from Keyara Valencia-Hinds and Selena Seguin. Steph Black added three more conversions and a drop goal to complete the scoring, finishing with a total of 25 points for the game.
With the win McMaster advances to host an OUA semi-final against the Western Mustangs on Saturday, October 24. The start time for the semi-final at Ron Joyce Stadium will be 7 p.m.
Source: McMaster Marauders
Western moves on to OUA Semi-Finals with 64-19 win over Laurier
LONDON, Ont. – Opening up the post-season with a bang, the Mustangs recorded a substantial 64-19 victory over the Laurier Golden Hawks at Alumni Field on Saturday afternoon. Outscoring their opponents 272-158 throughout the regular and post season, Western will continue the fight for an OUA banner into next week.
"We wanted to play the best 'Western ball' we could, but this is an entirely new season," said head coach Katie Baer.
"[Western ball] is a high speed, high intensity kind of play. Our line speed today against Laurier, it made the other team not want to play. We play a high-pace game, that's what we tried to achieve and it's what we strive for every game."
With the loss, Laurier has been eliminated from the OUA playoffs, and finishes the season with a combined 3-3 regular season and playoff record.
Paige Farries topped both sides of the scoresheet, recording 20 points from four tries. All four of her tries resulted in successful converts, with three being planted centrally for an easy kick.
Close behind was Andrea Bowra, who recorded 14 points from seven converts. Also putting up purple and white points were Veronica Harrigan, Ashley Snider, Dagmar Walklen, Nikki Case, Hilary Dingman, and Olivia Murphy.
Laurier took control of the game early on, picking up the ball in their own end and handing it off to rookie Jessica Smith. Running the ball out of the Golden Hawk half, she outran every Mustang defender to plant the ball in the center of the in-goal area. Jennifer Gilmore followed up with a successful convert.
Taking the early score as motivation, the Mustangs kicked it into high gear. Case was the first to respond with a try, but Harrigan put another on the board for Western a minute later with a successful kick from Bowra.
Twelve minutes into the game and the Mustangs were up 12-7.
The following 28 minutes were dominated by Western. Four more tries were posted – all with subsequent converts. At the close of the first 40, the Mustangs had a 40-7 lead over the Golden Hawks.
The flow of purple and white points slowed in the second half – no longer averaging one point per minute – but that didn't prevent the Mustangs from controlling the final half.
The game was again largely concentrated towards the Golden Hawk end, with the Mustangs running through the opposing defenders. Dingman and Farries put up tries in quick succession, hardly giving Laurier time to reset.
It wasn't until the 68 minute mark that Laurier was able to break back on the board, earning their first points of the second half.
Western countered with yet another try, but wasn't able to hold off the Golden Hawk offence anymore. With just minutes remaining Laurier managed to put up another seven points, bringing the final score to 64-19.
The Mustangs are back in action next Saturday to compete in the OUA Semi-Finals against McMaster in maroon territory. The victor will progress to the gold medal game, while the team picking up a loss will fight for bronze.
Source: Western Mustangs
