Undefeated after three games, the Queen’s women’s rugby team has high hopes for the rest of the season. Defeating the McMaster Marauders in a close game this past weekend leaves the Gaels as the only team in the OUA Russell division with a perfect record.
The Gaels have sent a strong message in the last few weeks, steadily ri the CIS rankings. After earning wins against Brock, York and McMaster the team has risen from 10th to seventh in the national rankings. While impressive, Captain Jocelyn Poirier is not ready to celebrate.
“It’s not part of our thought process going into a game,” the fourth-year Phys-Ed major said.
Her teammate, Sarah Pathak agreed. “[Our position] really only effects us in playoffs and crossover games,” she said.
The Marauders took a 14-10 lead over Queen’s in the first half but the Gael’s defence stifled the opposition in the second by not allowing a single point. A try from Pathak in the last five minutes brought the Gaels back in front with for a 15-14 finish. Although Pathak scored the winning try she was quick to accredit the team’s success to their defensive play.
“Our defence was our strong point; our coaches were really impressed with our play, but we can improve our offence” she said.
The Gaels’ match this weekend against the Trent Excalibur promises to be a tough contest. While confident, both Pathak and Poirier agreed that it would come down to their offence’s ability to execute come game time.
“We definitely can’t take them lightly,” Poirier said. “We need to come out hard and play good defence and really execute our offence.”
Pathak was similarly cautious about the game.
“They have really dynamic forwards,” she said. “We’ll need to slightly change our game play.”
The biggest challenge to the Gael’s undefeated record, Guelph, doesn’t appear in the regular season but promises to be a difficult opponent in the post-season. Guelph and Queen’s are currently the only two undefeated teams in the OUA women’s rugby league. For now, the women’s rugby team is focused on the regular season, which is off to a great start with the toughest team in our division, McMaster, already taken care of.
“We’re happy to have that win under our belt,” Poirier said.
The team is very confident this year and has high hopes for the rest of the season. Undefeated with much of the season behind them, the Gaels are pleased with the success of their team thus far.
“We have a lot of new players, and our attitude has changed slightly [from last year], we’ve become more resilient and more confident as a team.” Pathak said. “Last year’s goal was to beat Trent, this year’s goal is to win the OUA championship.”
The Gaels will be in Peterborough this weekend facing the Trent Excalibur.
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