CIS women's rugby Saturday roundup: Guelph, Queen's head to OUA final

Posted: Oct 19, 2013

Photo credit Guelph Athletics

No. 10 McMaster	0	No. 2 Guelph	20	Final
OUA Semi-final
Source: Guelph Sports Info Guelph, Ont. – The Guelph Gryphon women's rugby team will advance to the OUA Championship finals after a semifinal win against the McMaster Marauders at Varsity Field on Saturday, with a final score of 20-0. The Gryphons will host the OUA Championship Finals next Saturday (Oct. 26) at 1:00 p.m. against the Queen's Gaels. The Gryphons will be looking for their sixth straight OUA title. Last year the team defeated Queens in Kingston 10-6. In Saturday's semifinal win, Shannon Spurrell led the Gryphon offence scoring 15 of the 20 points that Guelph put on the board with a try, a successful conversion and two penalty goals. McMaster and Guelph were evenly matched going into the game. The Gryphons found it difficult to keep possession of the ball, and were unable to use their speed as a much more physical Marauder team kept them at bay. The Gryphons were on the board first after a good drive and a successful penalty kick by Shannon Spurrell early on in the game. McMaster came back strong however, trying to hammer their way into the Guelph try zone. The Gryphons held the Marauders up, and eventually regained possession of the ball, making their way down the field. Daria Keane would be the first Gryphon into the McMaster try zone, using her speed to get past the wall of Marauders. After a successful conversion by Shannon Spurrell, the score was 10-0 for the Gryphons. Spurrell would score another penalty goal at the end of the first half, making it 13-0 going into the second half of play. The cold, rainy weather took a toll on both teams entering the second half, making ball handling hard and injuries more prevalent. The Gryphons took advantage of the dropped balls by McMaster and Spurrell was able to score the second try of the game with the conversion to make it 20-0 early on in the half. McMaster was able to make their way to the edge of the try zone late in the game, but a wall of Guelph players kept them from putting any points on the board, and the final score was 20-0 sending the Gryphons to OUA finals.
Western	15	No. 3 Queen's	30	Final
OUA Semi-final
Source: Emily Suchanek, Queen's Sports Information Writer KINGSTON, Ont. The Queen's Gaels will advance to the OUA championship after a tough game against the Western Mustangs. The semifinal win also send the Gaels to the CIS Women's Rugby Championship for the third time in four years. Inside center Lauren McEwan (Wasaga Beach, Ont.) led the Gaels with 20 points against the Western Mustangs. McEwan scored three penalty goals, one try and three conversions. After a slow start to the game the Gaels put the first points on the board with a penalty goal from McEwan, she soon followed this up with her second penalty goal of the game. In the 34th minute of play the Gaels scored their first try with McEwan running the ball over the line, she kicked a successful conversion following her try, bringing the Gaels to a 13-0 lead at the half. The Gaels started the second half strong with another penalty goal from McEwan five minutes into the second half. Western quickly gained some momentum, stringing together a set of phases which allowed them to breakt through the Gaels defense and resulting in a try for Meaghann Buitinga (London, Ont.). In the 60th minute of play Kayla Roote (Peterborough, Ont.) scored her first try of the game for the Gaels which was followed by a successful conversion by McEwan. Not long after Roote's try, Caitie Ryan (Kamloops, B.C.) scored another try for the Gaels with McEwan kicking the conversion. The Gaels continued to fight for the win, and played strong defensively trying to keep the Mustangs away from their goal line. However, Western was able to break through the Gaels defense twice in the final minutes of play with their scrum half Lori Josephson (Beaverton, Ont.) scoring two tries to close the game, bringing the final score to 30-15 for the Gaels. The Gaels will play in the OUA championship next Saturday, more details to follow.
Ottawa	17	No. 7 McGill	27	Final
Demi-finale RSEQ

No. 6 StFX	24	No. 5 Acadia	17	Final
Source: Eric Cederberg, Acadia Manager, Events & Communications WOLFVILLE, N.S. - Despite a 24-17 loss in tonight's matchup against StFX, the Axewomen rugby team completed the season with a 7-1 record and a first place finish in the AUS standings, knocking StFX out of a first place finish that they have had comfort in holding for the last 11 seasons. The StFX win positioned both teams in first place with a 7-1 record and 1-1 records head to head, but the 44-13 win that Acadia handed the X-Women in the season opener pushed the Axewomen up in the standings due to the points differential in both meetings +14 in favour of the Axewomen. Acadia opened up the scoring in front of a Homecoming crowd 689 fans with a Riley Kitchin try 13 minutes into first half. Converted by AUS MVP candidate Emilie Chiasson, the Axewomen pushed out to an early 7-0 lead. The Axewomen stretched the lead to 12-0 on an unconverted Maddie Fray try with 18 minutes remaining in the half. StFX would reply late in the half on a long open field run by speedster Zahra Batool followed by a conversion by Sabrina McDaid to close the gap to 12-7. Emilie Chiasson, who recently shattered the AUS record for most points in a season set my X-Women Magali Harvey last season, left the game with a suspected knee injury and did not return. Acadia's Allison Jordan rumbled in for Acadia's last try with under a minute remaining in the half to extend the Axewomen's lead to 17-7. The second half witnessed 17 unanswered points by the X-women, as StFX's Catherin MacKeigan scored the first of three second half trys. Six minutes after MacKeigan's unconversted try five minutes into the final half, Danielle Robb added an unconverted try to tie the game at 17. With ten minutes remaining in the game, the X-Women grabbed their first lead of the game with a Lauren Agnew try, converted by Sabrina McDaid. StFX would hold onto the lead for the remainder of the game to hand Acadia their first loss of the season. Matt Durant, head coach of the Axewomen was upset with the loss of Chiasson but not shaken by the game’s outcome. "We had a great first half. Some bad breaks with a try called back and a penalty try called against us, but our ladies know they are better than StFX this season. It was just too bad we didn't respond differently when we lost Emilie. I think the team is looking forward to the championship weekend with the desire of meeting StFX again". UPEI will be the site of next weekend's AUS championship. Tomorrow's final game of the regular season - UPEI hosting Saint Mary's - will shape the final schedule of the AUS championship semi-final with Acadia taking on the lowest seeded team. UPEI will have to beat the Huskies by more than 33 points to finish in third place. Their last meeting was on September 7 when Saint Mary's handed UPEI a 48-15 loss. Acadia will play against the conference's fourth place finisher. Scoring Summary: First Half ACA – 27:00 - Riley Kitchin – try, converted by Emilie Chiasson ACA – 18:00 – Maddie Fray – try, unconverted StFX – 5:00 – Zahra Batool – try, converted by Sabrina McDaid ACA – 1:00 – Allison Jordan – try, uncoverted 17-7 at the Half Second Half: StFX - 35:00 – Catherine MacKeigen, unconverted StFX – 29:00 – Danielle Robb, unconverted StFX – 10:00 – Lauren Agnew, converted by Sabrina McDaid
Laval	3	No. 4 Concordia	38	Final
Demi-finale RSEQ

Women's Rugby