Gaels take CIS women's rugby silver; Win OUA women's soccer title

Gaels take CIS women's rugby silver; Win OUA women's soccer title

By Communications Staff

November 9, 2015

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The Queen's Gaels faced the McMaster Marauders in the final of the CIS Women's Rugby Championship on Sunday. (Photo by Ian MacAlpine}

The following is a quick roundup of the weekend results for Queen's Gaels teams:

WOMEN’S RUGBY

The Cinderella story wasn’t to be as the host Queen’s Gaels were unable to knock off the second-seeded McMaster Marauders in the final of the CIS Women’s Rugby Championship, Sunday afternoon at Nixon Field.

The OUA champion Marauders claimed their first Monilex Trophy with a 27-3 win over the No. 8 Queen’s Gaels in the gold-medal final.

The Gaels had pulled off a pair of upsets just to reach the final.

Despite the loss, Queen’s still achieved the best result in program history, surpassing a CIS bronze medal in 2013. Head coach Beth Barz credited the Marauders for their play but was also proud of her group.

“They worked their tails off the whole game, realistically McMaster had a pick-and-go that we had a hard time stopping even though we certainly worked to do it and had some success at times,” she says. “It sure was fun to watch our team this tournament and man they played with a lot of heart today.”

For McMaster it was a return trip to the national final after dropping a 43-34 decision to St. Francis Xavier in last year’s title match in Guelph.

Four days after being named the CIS player of the year, fourth-year McMaster standout Cindy Nelles was voted championship MVP after scoring two tries in the final.

WOMEN’S SOCCER

The Queen’s women's soccer team defeated the Laurier Golden Hawks 1-0 on a goal from Tara Bartram to win the 2015 OUA Championship.

This was the Gaels first OUA Championship win since 2011. Queen's has won three national championships in team history. Their first was in 1988, followed by back-to-back national championships in 2010 and 2011.

Coming in off of a penalty kick win over the undefeated York Lions in the OUA semifinals, the Gaels kept that momentum rolling into the OUA Championship on Sunday afternoon against the Laurier Golden Hawks. The first half saw both teams playing strong defensively but it was the Gaels attack that came out with most of the pressure as they fired 11 shots towards the goal.

The Gaels finally broke through in the 69th minute when striker Tara Bartram was able to get free on the left side of the 18-yard box striking the ball into the opposite side of the net to give Queen's a crucial 1-0 lead heading into the final 20 minutes of play. The Gaels defence came up strong in the dying minutes as they held the Golden Hawks attacks in check

“I couldn't be prouder of our team. To emerge as champions from a final four with the quality that was on display this weekend is tremendous,” says head coach Dave McDowell. “I thought our team defending throughout the playoffs was fantastic and proved to be difference for us.

The CIS championship is set start Thursday, Nov. 12 in Vancouver at the University of British Columbia. Last year’s winner the Laval Rouge et Or lead a field that includes No. 2 UBC Thunderbirds (Canada West champions), No. 3 Queen’s Gaels (OUA champs), No. 4 Cape Breton Capers (AUS champs), No. 5 Trinity Western Spartans (Canada West finalists), No. 6 Sherbrooke Vert & Or (RSEQ finalists), No. 7 Calgary Dinos (Canada West bronze medallists) and No. 8 Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks (OUA finalists).

MEN'S RUGBY

The Queen's Gaels men's rugby team will get a chance to defend their three-time OUA title streak after dispatching the Western Mustangs 37-8 on Saturday night in Kingston. They will face the Guelph Gryphons in the final on Sunday, Nov. 15.

MEN’S VOLLEYBALL

The Queen’s Gaels men’s volleyball team (4-1) picked up a pair of wins on the weekend topping the York Lions (3-3) three sets to one (25-22, 25-23, 24-26, 25-20) on Saturday, a day after beating the Nipissing Lakers (3-3) in five sets 23-25, 25-15, 25-19, 22-25 and 18-16.

WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL

The Queen’s Gaels Women’s volleyball team (2-3) swept the York Lions (2-2) in three straight sets Saturday night 25-14, 25-14, 25-23 for their second win of the season. On Friday they beat the Nipissing Lakers (0-3) in straight sets as well 25-19, 25-18, 25-21.

MEN’S BASKETBALL

The Queen’s Gaels men’s basketball team started the 2015-16 regular season with a 70-66 win over the visiting York Lions Saturday night in the main gym of the ARC.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

The Queen’s Gaels (1-0) opened up their 2015-16 season with a 64-47 victory at home against the York Lions (0-1) at the ARC.

MEN’S HOCKEY

The Queen’s Gaels split their home-and-home matchup against UOIT on the weekend. On Friday the Ridgebacks won 5-3, but the Gaels bounced back to score a 4-3 win in overtime in Oshawa.