Marauders edge Ottawa, get another shot at first Monilex Trophy

KINGSTON, Ont. (CIS) – The second-seeded McMaster Marauders will play in the Monilex Trophy final for the second straight year thanks to a hard-fought 14-8 win over the No. 3 Ottawa Gee-Gees in the first semifinal of the CIS women's rugby championship, Saturday afternoon at Queen's University's Nixon Field.

It will mark the third title match appearance in history for the OUA champion Marauders, who lost a wild 43-34 decision to StFX a year ago and dropped a 15-10 decision to Guelph in the inaugural CIS final back in 1998. In Sunday's gold-medal game at 3 p.m., McMaster will face either tournament host Queen's or Concordia.

For the second straight season, the RSEQ champion Gee-Gees were denied a spot in the national final by McMaster. A year ago, the Marauders beat Ottawa 17-12 in the Pool B finale, when the tournament was played under a six-team format.

After finishing fourth in 2014, the Gee-Gees will try to claim their first CIS medal Sunday at 1 p.m.

"We played Ottawa last year in our second game at nationals so it was a very similar game," commented Shaun Allen, McMaster head coach. "We knew it would be a battle, we knew physicality and the ability to tackle and really perform under a huge amount of pressure would be the difference in the game, so I think that was clear today."

Ottawa coach Jennifer Boyd credited the Marauder team for capitalizing on their chances. "For us, we had opportunities early in the game that we didn't capitalize on and a few calls didn't go our way. Hats off to McMaster, they had two opportunities to score in the second half and converted both. They had a great game."

It was a slow opening to the first championship semi-final match of the day as the two teams fought to maintain possession, pushing each other throughout the early minutes for field position. Ottawa caught a break at the 15 minute mark, getting their first points on the board off a penalty goal kicked true by CIS All-Canadian Irene Patrinos (Mississauga, Ont.).

McMaster surged forward for the rest of the half but the Gee-Gees worked hard on the defensive end to keep them out of the try zone. Ottawa was able to shut down their opponents strong attack to maintain their 3-0 lead until the halftime whistle.

The Marauders hit the ground running in the second half, cruising deep into the Gee-Gee's end to put pressure right along the try line. Culminating a series of drives from the five metre line, Colleen Irowa (Innisfil, Ont.) dove through a wall of Gee-Gees to put down the first try of the match. A successful conversion from Stephanie Black (Oakville, Ont.) put the Marauders out in front with a 7-3 lead just two minutes into the second half.

Ottawa was able to respond from there, forcing McMaster onto the defensive as the Gee-Gees inched forward threatening their try line. Stealing back possession in a maul, the Marauders turned the tables on the Gee-Gees, hitting a series of lateral passes to get Ottawa back in their end.

The tough battle continued as the two teams played defensively to keep their opponents from adding points to the board. Matching their first try, the Marauders mauled forward nearing the five metre line with Irowa putting it over the line and scoring her second try of the afternoon.

As the game ran into injury time the Gee-Gees pulled out all the stops to catch McMaster, crashing through the defence with Alexandria Ellis (Ottawa) pushing through their first try of the game.

There just wasn't enough time left for Ottawa as McMaster finished with the 14-8 win.

Irowa was honoured as player of the game for McMaster. For Ottawa, Danarae Sommerville of Orleans, Ontario received the player of the game nod.

SCORING SUMMARY
MAC 0-14: 14
OTT 3-5: 8

First half
OTT - Irene Patrinos penalty goal 15th minute (OTT 3 - MAC 0)

Second half
MAC - Colleen Irowa try (Stephanie Black convert) 2nd (OTT 3 - MAC 7)
MAC - Colleen Irowa try (Stephanie Black convert) 10th (OTT 3 - MAC 14)
OTT - Alexandria Ellis try 31st (OTT 8 - MAC 14)

Players of the game
MAC: Colleen Irowa (Innisfil, Ont.)
OTT: Danarae Sommerville (Orleans, 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: McMaster 62, Lethbridge 14
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: Lethbridge 20, StFX 12,
13:00 Consolation 2: Victoria 55, Acadia 12
15:00 Semifinal 1: McMaster 14, Ottawa 8
17:00 Semifinal 2: Concordia vs. Queen's (CIS-SIC.tv)

Sunday, Nov. 8
11:00 Fifth place: Lethbridge vs. Victoria (CIS-SIC.tv)
13:00 Bronze medal: Ottawa vs. TBD (CIS-SIC.tv)
15:00 Championship final: McMaster vs. TBD (CIS-SIC.tv)

Source: CIS