A roundup of Queen's Gaels athletes and teams in action over the weekend:

CROSS COUNTRY

The No. 1 Queen’s women’s cross country team took first overall at the Western Invitational in London on Saturday led by an individual first-place finish from transfer Branna MacDougall, who won her first U Sports race. Eric Wynands placed second overall on the men’s side helping No. 6 Queen's take second as a team.

MacDougall crossed the finish line first in the 6-km race in a time of 20:45, a new course record for the Western Invitational beating the previous best set by former Gael Julie-Anne Staehli at 20:51.

Coming in fourth place was former Mustang Amy Stephenson, who finished in a time of 21:43 for Queen’s, while Taylor Sills, Jade Watson and Brianna Bradley placed 10th, 19th and 21st respectively. As a team, Queen's finished with 55 points, 11 ahead of the second place Western Mustangs.

On the men’s side, Wynands ran to a second place finish in 25:14. Following him were teammates Robert Kanko, Mitchell Kirby, Brett Crowley, and Matthew Flood who finished ninth, 11th, 14th and 17th respectively. Queen’s total of 53 points was just eight shy of the top-placing McMaster Marauders.

FOOTBALL

The Queen's Gaels (0-4) were in London to take on the No. 4 Western Mustangs (5-0) and were handed a 48-10 loss Saturday night.

The Mustangs jumped out to an early lead on the Gaels in London for their ‘Black Out’ night that saw the team wear new all-black jerseys. Quarterback Chris Merchant proved to be a thorn in the Gaels side as he started the scoring with a six-yard touchdown run at 12:53 and quickly followed up with a nine-yard touchdown pass to Alex Taylor at the 9:13 mark to go up 14-0.

Down 23-0 to start the second quarter, Queen’s got on the board as Nick Liberatore connected on a 34-yard field goal. After the defence held Western to a field goal, quarterback Nate Hobbs went to work with a big 27-yard pass to John Bews. Hobbs then found Alex Zulys for a 17-yard reception and followed up on the next play with another pass to Zulys, this time for a two-yard touchdown. Liberatore made the extra point to cut the deficit to 26-10.

Western kicker Marc Liegghio took over from there as he five more field goals. Alex Taylor had a 35-yard touchdown run in the second half as well for Western.

MEN’S RUGBY

The Queen's Gaels men's rugby squad (4-0) had little trouble taking down their long-time rivals the Western Mustangs (2-2) Saturday at Nixon Field.

The Gaels started off strongly with a pair of tries by Nicholas DeLallo and Alex Colborne converted both for a 14-0 lead. The Mustangs couldn’t crack the Gaels defence but a late penalty by William Saunders put the Mustangs on the board to make the halftime score 14-3

Following the break, the Gaels managed to find an opening after some grinding back-and-forth play as Colborne drove in the first try of the second half. Western hit back late in the second half but Charlie Tremblay sealed it with a try in extra time.

WOMEN’S RUGBY

The No. 7 Queen’s Gaels (2-2) pushed for a late try but the No. 6 McMaster Marauders held on for a 21-15 win Saturday on Nixon Field.

In the scorching September heat, McMaster’s Khadija Brouilette scored the opening try, taking it in from near mid-field. The Gaels responded with tries by Pippi McKay and Harlee Bruce A missed convert meant Queen’s was up 12-7. McMaster continued to push the pace as half-time neared and scored off a scrum to enter the break up 14-12.   

McMaster struck again early in the second half to make it 21-12. After some strong defensixe play by both teams Nadia Popov converted a penalty goal, to put the Gaels within reach but as Queen’s pressed for the winning score late the Marauders were able to hold on for the win.

WOMEN’S SOCCER

The No. 8 Queen's Gaels (5-2-1) split their weekend games with a 2-1 victory over the Trent Excalibur (1-7-1) at Richardson Stadium after losing  2-1 to the undefeated No. 2 UOIT Ridgebacks (8-0-0) the day before.

On Sunday, Laura Callender led the way scoring on a penalty in the 14^th minute. Just 10 minutes later Callender crossed to Jenny Wolever who made the lead 2-0. Just before the half, Trent was awarded a penalty kick of their own and Kaitlyn Steffler beat Gaels goalkeeper Anna Stephenson. After the break Callender continued to press as the Gaels just missed on several occasions to stretch the lead.

On Saturday the Gaels came out strong in the first half but couldn’t find the back of the net and the teams went into the break scoreless. In the first minute of the second an unlucky deflection off of a Gaels defender put the visitors up 1-0.

The Gaels would then level the score as Jenny Wolever sent in a perfect cross that found the head of rookie Alex Doane who netted her fourth goal of the season. But with time running out the Ridgebacks scored on a shot from 35 yards out for the winner.  

MEN’S SOCCER

The Queen’s Gaels men soccer team (3-3-2) finished the weekend with a pair of draws: 2-2 against the Trent Excalibur (2-4-3) on Sunday and 1-1 with the UOIT Ridgebacks (3-4-1) the day before.

On Sunday, Queen’s opened the scoring early in the first half through Andrew Kim but the Excalibur netted the equalizer on a penalty kick before halftime. The Gaels retook the lead on a penalty kick of their own after the break with Jacob Schroeter converting, but Trent tied it up again with the games third shot from the penalty spot.

On Saturday, Patrick Van Belleghem put the Gaels up in the first half only to see the Ridgebacks bounce back with a goal of their own in injury time.