Gaels complete comeback to down top seed Acadia at CIS women’s rugby championship

KINGSTON, Ont. (CIS) – The host Queen's Gaels opened their CIS women's rugby championship journey with a come from behind upset over the top seeded Acadia Axewomen 24-17 on their home turf of Nixon Field on Thursday night in Kingston.

The Gaels (1-0) now join Concordia, McMaster and Ottawa in the semi-finals ensuring that a new CIS champion will be crowned as none of the four programs have won the Monilex Trophy in their respective histories. Queen's will take on Concordia on Saturday at 5:00 p.m. in semi-final two while McMaster draws Ottawa in semi-final one.

For the Axewomen (0-1), they will look ahead to a matchup in the consolation round Saturday against the Victoria Vikes at 1:00 p.m.

"We focused on the fundamentals and did it really well today," commented Queen's head coach Beth Barz after the win. "We were dealing with where the ball was and at the beginning of the breakdown right after the tackle, so the post tackle area was really important for us. We didn't do that well the last two weeks, but a little bit more presence on the backline, McEwen did a great job talking and really directing the troops."

Acadia bench boss, Matthew Durant credited Queen's hard play after the game. "I was happy with the way we started getting up 17 points but all the credit to Queen's they really beat us at our own game."

The AUS Champion Axewomen dominated the pitch straight from the kick-off with All-Canadian Maddie MacKenzie (Peterborough, Ont.) breaking away from the Queen's defence to put down the first try of the game. The Gaels didn't get the chance to find their bearings before MacKenzie was able to find her way for another try putting the Axewomen up 10-0 15 minutes into the first half.

The Axewomen kept up the pressure with Janice Cougle (Lethbridge, Alta.) fighting her way to dive across the try line. The Gaels pushed back, getting into some physical play to hand Lauren McEwen (Wasaga Beach, Ont.) the opportunity she needed to successfully kick a penalty goal and get Queen's on the board for the first time in the match.

Following her lead, All-Canadian Gillian Pegg (Oro-Medonte, Ont.) got the ball out to Lauren Murray (Lindsay, Ont.) on the far sideline who found an edge to get by the Axewomen scoring the Gaels their first try. The two teams met in the middle as Acadia pushed back against the new found Gaels pressure, fouling Queen's twice more before the half was through. McEwen kicked true another penalty goal to meet the halftime whistle trailing Acadia 17-11.

The second half opened with McEwen jumping on the ball and getting the Gaels the early possession. The Axewomen scrambled to regain their first half momentum, fouling Queen's in the process and setting McEwen up with two consecutive 25 metre penalty goals allowing her to tie the match up at 17-17 15 minutes into the second half.

The Gaels didn't slow as they made their way into the Acadia end, fighting along the try line to break through the Axewomen defence. Finally, getting the ball free on the left side, Emma Chown (Barrie, Ont.) took advantage of an open lane to smack down a try, culminating 24 unanswered points for the Gaels as they stole the lead 26 minutes into the half.

All-Canadian Veronique Russel (Markham, Ont.) kept the Axewomen alive, putting her head down and forcing her way through the Queen's players. Feeding off their offensive presence, Lauren Humby (St. Philips, Nfld.) crossed the line for Acadia but, with a crushing tackle by McKinley Hunt (King City, Ont.) the Axewomen were denied their possible comeback try as she fell out of bounds from the hit.

The Gaels ran out the clock on their second half comeback win, taking the match 24-17 against the Acadia Axewomen.

McEwen was selected as player of the game for Queen's. For Acadia, All-Canadian MacKenzie received the selected player honour.

SCORING SUMMARY
QUE 11-13: 24
ACA 17-0: 17

First half
ACA - Maddie MacKenzie try 5th (QUE 0 - ACA 5)
ACA - Maddie MacKenzie try 10th (QUE 0 - ACA 10)
ACA - Janice Cougle try (Jenny Matheson convert) 15th (QUE 0 - ACA 17)
QUE - Lauren McEwen penalty goal 19th (QUE 3 - ACA 17)
QUE - Lauren Murray try 22nd (QUE 8 - ACA 17)
QUE - Lauren McEwen penalty goal 34th (QUE 11 - ACA 17)

Second half
QUE - Lauren McEwen penalty goal 4th (QUE 14 - ACA 17)
QUE - Lauren McEwen penalty goal 15th (QUE 17 - ACA 17)
QUE - Emma Chown try (Lauren McEwen convert) 26th (QUE 24- ACA 17)

Players of the game
QUE: Lauren McEwen (Wasaga Beach, Ont.)
ACA: Maddie MacKenzie (Peterborough, Ont.)

Legend:
Try: 5 points
Penalty goal: 3 points
Convert: 2 points

PRE-CHAMPIONSHIP SEEDING

1. Acadia (AUS champions: 5-1 regular season / 2-0 conference playoffs)
2. McMaster (OUA champions: 4-1 regular season / 3-0 conference playoffs)
3. Ottawa (RSEQ champions: 7-0 regular season / 2-0 conference playoffs)
4. Victoria (Canada West champions: 2-2 regular season / 2-0 conference playoffs)
5. Concordia (RSEQ finalists: 6-1 regular season / 1-1 conference playoffs)
6. StFX (AUS finalists: 5-1 regular season / 0-1 conference playoffs)
7. Lethbridge (Canada West finalists: 0-3-1 regular season / 1-1 conference playoffs)
8. Queen's (Hosts: 4-1 regular season / 1-2 conference playoffs)

SCHEDULE & RESULTS

Thursday, Nov. 5
13:00 Quarter-final 1: Ottawa 29, StFX 7
15:00 Quarter-final 2: Lethbridge 14, McMaster 62
17:00 Quarter-final 3: Concordia 34, Victoria 12
19:00 Quarter-final 4: Queen's 24, Acadia 17

Friday, Nov. 6
Rest day

Saturday, Nov. 7
11:00 Consolation 1: StFX vs. Lethbridge (CIS-SIC.tv)
13:00 Consolation 2: Victoria vs. Acadia (CIS-SIC.tv)
15:00 Semifinal 1: Ottawa vs. McMaster (CIS-SIC.tv)
17:00 Semifinal 2: Concordia vs. Queen's (CIS-SIC.tv)

Sunday, Nov. 8
11:00 Fifth place (CIS-SIC.tv)
13:00 Bronze medal (CIS-SIC.tv)
15:00 Championship final (CIS-SIC.tv)

Source: CIS