Banner Season: Eighth straight banner season battle for Gaels and Gryphons

Burlington, Ont. – The specifics may be the same as years past, but when the Queen’s Gaels and Guelph Gryphons line up for an eighth straight meeting in the OUA Women’s Rugby Championship on Friday, the conclusion is anything but forgone.

2025 OUA Women’s Rugby Championship Details

Case in point? The Gryphons came to Kingston as the conference’s No. 2 seed a year ago, after falling to the top-ranked Gaels in the regular season, and were able to turn the table on the banner season scoreboard to secure their fifth title in the last decade. Not only that, but the win also came right down to the wire, with Guelph earning the edge on the final kick of the game from Tausani Levale.

In addition to Levale’s last minute heroics, the Gryphons also bookended their win with a sizzling start, notching the game’s first two tries before Queen’s came back and pushed ahead.

In their first meeting since that thrilling 2024 finale, the Gaels were able to prevail thanks in large part to their impressive depth. A total of seven different Queen’s players notched tries, including a pair from Kyleigh Chandran, while Lizzie Gibson converted on seven of those eight tries. The team turned their collective contributions into a 54-31 win at home, helping give them the edge in the regular season standings and the right to host their sixth straight OUA finale.

The long list of contributors is nothing new for the Kingston crew, as highlighted by their seven all-star nods on the year, but neither is a starring role from Gibson. The Caledon, Ont. product was named the league’s most valuable player this season on the heels of an OUA-best 157 points scored. This included a Week 2 performance against York that saw her register an astounding 20 successful converts as part of a 55-point performance on the pitch.

Gibson will look to light up the scoreboard once again on the familiar confines of Nixon Field, but she will need to do so against an all-star laden roster on the other side as well.

Guelph picked up a total of eight such nods on the year, including the likes of Addy Holmes, who claimed MVP honours just a year ago. The third-year standout led the team with eight tries on the year while appearing in Guelph’s final four games of the season, and after adding a pair of tries in her team’s semifinal win over Brock, will look to carry that momentum onto the banner season pitch as well.

Like Holmes, four-time OUA all-star Taylor McKnight was also a key contributor to the Gryphon’s 58-7 victory this past weekend. Her three tries helped her side really pull away against the Badgers, and while she will rely on that type of performance to make a similar mark in the championship, the senior can also rely on her recent experience with Team Canada at the Women’s Rugby World Cup, where she came home with a silver medal.

Much like it was smooth sailing for Guelph in the penultimate week of OUA competition, the same can be said for their championship counterparts, who handled Wilfrid Laurier to the tune of 116-0 in their semifinal fixture.

Kennedi Stevenson, who soared to sophomore success after bursting on to the varsity scene as rookie of the year in 2024, chipped in with a try during that most recent triumph. The all-star also did so 10 other times during the regular season for a fourth-best 50 points overall. And while her score came in the second half off of an impressive run through the Laurier defence, it was an eight-try first half, including one from Tatyannah Jackson just four minutes in, that got the Gaels off and running quickly.

A similarly strong start and relentless showing on both sides of the ball would go a long way in helping Queen’s collect their third title in the last four years.

And after falling just short of a three-peat at the hands of Guelph a year ago, the Tricolour will be looking to start up a new championship streak in front of their home fans on Friday.