Banner Season: Gryphons secure three-peat with 39-14 win over Queen's in championship rematch
Guelph, Ont. – Their mantra is "As One." And what the Guelph Gryphons women's rugby team accomplished over the course of 80 grueling minutes on the Varsity Field pitch was the perfect representation of those two simple words. The No. 4-ranked Gryphons rode a stifling defensive performance and a cluster of timely tries to defeat the No. 5 Queen's Gaels 39-14 in a rematch of last year's OUA championship, completing an incredible three-peat.
Guelph scored the first 29 points of the match, setting the stage for a third straight banner, eighth in the past 11 years, and 16th in the 25-year history of OUA women's rugby. But what stood out was the thorough nature of the victory, with the hungry Gryphons dominating on both sides of the ball.
"They deserved the win because of their hard work and how they played," said elated head coach Colette McAuley, who was once again named the Shiels Division Coach of the Year earlier this week. "Their performance on the field today showed that they are the best in the league.
"They had a good day. It was such a team effort."
Rebecka Sundell led the team with two tries, while Kylie Shaughnessy, Alexandra Everett, Julia Schell, Talia Hoffman, and Amara Hill all touched down once for the three-time champions. Nadia Popov and Shiels Division Most Valuable Player Sophie de Goede, who went off injured with a cut to her head for a portion of the match, scored the tries for Queen's.
It was a particularly meaningful win for Everett, a fourth-year Wildlife Biology student from Brockville. The talented Guelph centre missed last year's championship match with a torn quad but she was inspirational throughout 2018, leading the OUA in tries during the regular season with 11. Everett said she woke up feeling like she wanted to prove something, and while she admitted to feeling nerves before the match, the veteran did exactly that.
"From the beginning of the season, this is what we set out to do," she said with a smile beaming on her face. "It feels so good. We accomplished our goal and everyone played so well together. Our defence was excellent, which is what we were working for. It was such a great win, such a team win."
The Gryphons began to exert their will early but turned the ball over three times near the Queen's line. McAuley said the team was aware of the Gaels' ability to strip the ball and worked on that in practice this week but it made for a frustrating start.
The Gaels would turn the ball over deep in their own end and Shaughnessy eventually capitalized moments later for the first try in the 10th minute to give Guelph a 5-0 lead. And while it took 20 more minutes before Everett touched down, the flood gates opened from there. Schell burst down the right sideline to score from a long way out in the 34th minute, sending the Gryphons into the half up 17-0. And Guelph poured it on early in the second half as Sundell and Hoffman touched down in the 42nd and 45thminutes, stretching the margin to 29-0.
Shiels All-star Popov, who ran one in on the Varsity Field pitch in last year's gold medal game, gave Queen's some hope with an excellent effort to score in the 58th minute. But the Gaels could not maintain any momentum and touched down just once more when de Goede got over the line in the 76thminute with the match all but decided.
de Goede missed a portion of the first half when she suffered a significant cut on the forehead after a bruising run in the Guelph end. After a long absence, she returned with her head heavily bandaged.
"We're definitely not a one-horse team and I was quite happy we were able to keep Guelph at bay in that time because mentally we knew, there's one gold jersey down and another one going in," said Queen's head coach Dan Valley. "You just remove the name from it."
Valley suggested that his side was a little too predicable against the Gryphons and that the hosts had game-planned well.
"They knew how we were going to go about our business and we made it pretty straight forward for them," he said. "We weren't nearly confrontational enough early on and we weren't nearly creative enough with the opportunities we did have. All they needed to do was get off the line and be direct and they were going to be successful.
"You let a squad like this run at you and you play up high against them, of course they will do what they did to us. If we can chop them to the floor a little more effectively, then we get our opportunities to force turnovers and play the game we want. We didn't put ourselves in a position to do that."
While Guelph's offence eventually hummed, it was the grit the team showed defensively that dictated the match. McAuley continually yelled out "hunt" from the sideline, asking her players for the aggression that's a trademark characteristic when they defend.
"We got really good pressure from our girls coming from the inside," McAuley said. "With that initiation of defence, everything else falls into place and people just have to go do their job. It all starts with that inside push. When the girls are on, and relentless and fearless, it was hard for Queen's to break through."
Despite the disappointing result, Valley was proud of the fact that the Gaels continued their ascent as an OUA rugby power. Queen's is still in the process of establishing its' identity but the future of the program is looking bright.
"This is the next step in the progression for us," he said. "We're here because we should be here. We're continuing on our trajectory of becoming the best team in the province."
For the time being, the Gryphons hold that title. But there is work ahead with Nationals scheduled for Nov. 1-4 at Acadia University in Wolfville, NS.
"This is one more box ticked," McAuley said of securing the program's third straight OUA banner. "But we're not done yet."