A hard-fought women’s rugby match against the Trent Excalibur Sunday afternoon resulted in a 20-15 win for the host Golden Gaels.
Winger Jocelyn Poirier said she was happy with her team’s effort late in the second half.
“The team worked really hard in the end to keep going,” she said. “The girls played their hearts out.”
Queen’s came out flying after the opening kick, scoring their first try under one minute into the game. However, the Gaels couldn’t hold onto the momentum they created. They let Trent storm back down the field to score a try and conversion, taking a 7-5 lead.
An excellent 20-metre run by Jocelyn Poirier put Queen’s back on top until Trent capitalized on a penalty goal from 15 metres out to tie the score. As the first half drew to a close, Lauren Young touched the ball down for another Gaels try—her third of the season—and Queen’s took a 15-10 lead into the break.
The second half started with the Excalibur scoring a try six minutes in, but a missed conversion left the score at 15-15.
At the 12-minute mark of the second half the Gaels pulled out a surge of energy and pushed the ball across the line with Christine Wadsworth touching it down for the winning try.
The Gaels were able to keep the game on Trent’s side of the field for most of the second half, but too many turnovers prevented Queen’s from scoring more points.
Head coach Beth Barz said the game wasn’t the Gaels’ best effort.
“It was a bit messy on both sides,” she said. “We had far too many turnovers.”
The Gaels victory at home improves their record to 2-0 in OUA play. They will travel to Toronto next weekend for a game against the Varsity Blues.
Also on the weekend, three early tries aided the Queen’s men’s rugby team to a 76-3 victory Saturday afternoon at the University of Toronto against the host Varsity Blues.
Bryn Davies led the Gaels with two tries and six conversions in a match that ended with 10 different Queen’s players scoring points.
Although the Gaels’ defence has only allowed three points in their opening two games, Queen’s head coach Peter Huigenbos said he expects more from the team.
“Our defence was a little undisciplined, which resulted in a good penalty kick by Toronto to take three points.”
Chris Barrett and Alistair Clark each had two tries in the game. Will Sorenson, Tim Richardson, Steve Shortly, Zach Pancer, Michael Salisbury and Ian Gillespie added tries for Queen’s.
With the win, the Gaels improve their record to 2-0 and sit in first place in the OUA’s East Division.
With two victories already under their belts, Queen’s looks forward to a challenge next weekend as they play host to McMaster, the defending OUA champions, at Kingston Field. Start time is 1 p.m.
Huigenbos said he’s feeling good about the match.
“The build-up has been great. We’re looking forward to putting together a good game plan”.
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