Courtesy of University of Guelph Athletics
GUELPH, Ont. (CIS) – The tournament host Guelph Gryphons scored the first 20 points of the second half to defeat the Alberta Pandas 25-8 in the fifth-place match of the CIS women’s rugby championship at Alumni Stadium, Sunday morning.
The OUA silver medallist Gryphons end the competition with a 1-2 record, while the Canada West champion Pandas return home with an 0-3 mark, a year after claiming the Monilex Trophy thanks to a 29-10 win over Guelph in the national final in Quebec City.
All-Canadian Brittany Priddle (Badjeros, Ont.) opened the scoring with a try only five minute in for the Gryphons, who were then kept off the score sheet for the remainder of the opening period.
A penalty kick by Alberta’s Rebecca Fairbairn in the 33rd minute made it 5-3 at the break.
Two minutes into the second half, Alexandra King (Ottawa), a former OUA all-star goalie in soccer, showed off her strong boot by splitting the uprights from 35 metres out to give Guelph an 8-3 lead.
At the 57-minute mark, Laura Van Bommel (Springfield, Ont.) broke through the Alberta line for a big run deep into Pandas territory. It led to a try by Jennifer Dunn (West Vancouver, B.C.), another former soccer player on the Guelph roster, putting the Gryphons up 13-3.
Dunn’s second try of the match in the 67th minute extended Guelph’s advantage to 18-3 and Bronwyn McCrone (Mississauga, Ont.) provided the exclamation mark on the victory with a punishing try in the 77th minute as she bulldozed over several Alberta players.
The Pandas would add a try of their own in the final minute, courtesy of Stacie Becker (Sturgeon County, Alta.).
“Our execution was much better today and the scoreboard finally reflected the quality of rugby that we are capable of playing,” said Guelph head coach Colette McAuley.
While the Pandas finished the week without a win, head coach Matt Parrish was pleased with the character his players showed in Sunday’s match.
“For a fifth-year player like Stacie Becker to find a way
to score a try in the final minute of the match, it was a pretty
nice way for her to end her career. And for a fifth-place game, I
thought today’s match featured two really good
teams.”
SCORING SUMMARY
GUE 5-20: 25
ALB 3-5: 8
First half
GUE – Brittany Priddle try 5th minute (conversion no good)
– (GUE 5 – ALB 0)
ALB – Rebecca Fairbairn penalty kick 33rd – (GUE 5
– ALB 3)
Second half
GUE – Alexandra King penalty kick 42nd (GUE 8 – ALB
3)
GUE – Jennifer Dunn try 57th (conversion no good) - (GUE 13
– ALB 3)
GUE – Jennifer Dunn try 68th (conversion no good) - (GUE 18
– ALB 3)
GUE – Bronwyn McCrone try 77th (Alexandra King conversion) -
(GUE 25 – ALB
3)
ALB – Stacie Becker try 80th (conversion no good) –
(GUE 25 – ALB 8)
Players of the game
GUE: Devon Stober (Mississauga, Ont.)
ALB: Stacie Becker (Sturgeon County, Alta.)
Legend:
Try: 5 points
Penalty goal: 3 points
Convert: 2 points
POOL STANDINGS, SCHEDULE & RESULTS
Pool A preliminary round (FINAL)
GP
W
L
T
PF
PA PTS
1.
StFX
2
2
0
0
68
41 10
2. Western
2
1
1
0
46
46 6
3. Alberta
2
0
2
0
36
63 1
Pool B preliminary round (FINAL)
GP
W
L
T
PF
PA PTS
1. McMaster
2
2
0
0
32
25
8
2. Ottawa
2
1
1
0
33
32 5
3. Guelph
2
0
2
0
28
36 2
NOTE 1: A win is worth 4 points and a tie 2 points.
NOTE 2: 1 bonus point is awarded for scoring 4 tries or more in a
game.
NOTE 3: 1 bonus point is awarded for a loss by 7 points or
less.
Thursday, Oct. 30
10:30 Pool A: Western 22, Alberta 19
13:30 Pool B: McMaster 15, Guelph 13
Friday, Oct. 31
10:30 Pool A: StFX 41, Alberta 17
13:30 Pool B: Ottawa 21, Guelph 15
Saturday, Nov. 1
10:30 Pool A: StFX 27, Western 24
13:30 Pool B: McMaster 17, Ottawa 12
Sunday, Nov. 2
10:00 Fifth place: Guelph 25, Alberta 8
12:00 Bronze medal: Western vs. Ottawa (CIS-SIC.tv)
14:00 Championship final: StFX vs. McMaster (CIS-SIC.tv)
About Canadian Interuniversity Sport
Canadian Interuniversity Sport is the national governing body of university sport in Canada. Every year, over 11,500 student-athletes and 700 coaches from 56 universities and four regional associations vie for 21 national championships in 12 different sports. CIS also provides high performance international opportunities for Canadian student-athletes at Winter and Summer Universiades, as well as numerous world university championships. For further information, visit www.cis-sic.ca or follow us on:
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/CIS_SIC
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/cissports
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/universitysport
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/CIS_SIC
-CIS-