Gaels grab second half comeback win against defending OUA champion Marauders in season opener

KINGSTON, Ont. (September 13, 2015) – It was a close game Sunday as the Gaels took a second half comeback win over McMaster 15-14 in their OUA home opener at Nixon Field.

McMaster had the kick-off giving Queen's the first possession. The Marauders didn't give the Gaels a chance to leave their half, pushing against their line with fly-half Steph Black breaking through and putting down the first try of the game which she completed with a conversion. Queen's responded quickly, finding their way on offence, but the play remained evenly matched with the Marauders keeping them on their toes. The Gaels took it a couple meters at a time forcing the Marauders back and scoring a penalty conversion by veteran Lauren McEwen (Wasaga Beach, Ont.) who put the Gaels on the board for the first time in the game. The rest of the half was a stalemate from both teams with the score left at 7-3 for McMaster at halftime.

The Marauders kept their momentum going into the second frame, with Selena Seguin pushing through their second try of the game completed with a conversion by Black putting them up 14-3 early on. The Gaels found themselves immediately back on defence deep in their half however, with her trademark agility, Emma Chown (Barrie, Ont.) found a seam in the Marauder's offence breaking away for a near 100 meter run to put down the first try of the game for Queen's. With another McEwen convert, the Gaels tightened the score up to 14-10.  The Gaels battled hard to catch the Marauders and, taking advantage of uneven numbers, managed to get Hannah Van Luven (Inverary, Ont.) through with a try giving Queen's their first lead of the game at 15-14.

The Gaels maintained this lead for the final minutes of injury time grabbing their first win of their OUA 2015 season.

FINAL SAY?

"We started with a third of our starting lineup being rookies and they played out of their skin today. The opportunities are there for us to continue to get better and make sure we don't get down early when we get scored on, we did a really nice job responding today." - Beth Barz, head coach

BY THE NUMBERS

2nd  – McMaster's standing in the 2014 CIS Championships

4-1 – Gaels 2014 regular season record

2 – Members of the Gaels that were named CIS all-Canadians in 2014: McEwen and Gillian Pegg (Oro-Medonte, Ont.)

100 meters – Emma Chown's second half run

2 – McEwen conversions

UP NEXT

The Gaels head to Peterborough next weekend where they will take on the Trent Excalibur Saturday, September 19 at 11:00 am. 

This November Nixon Field at Queen's University will play host to the best in Canada as the Queen's Gaels host the 2015 CIS women's rugby national championship in Kingston. The action starts off on Thursday November 5 where all eight participating teams will do battle looking to stake their claim as the CIS national champions. Tickets for the national championship are on sale now! For more information visit www.gogaelsgo.com/cisrugby.