Entering this year as two-time OUA champions, with a streak of four consecutive national podiums, the expectations for the Women’s Rugby team were naturally sky-high.
After just over a two-month-long season, the team wrapped up their season on Nov. 3 with a U SPORTS Bronze medal, an OUA Silver medal, and a 9-2 record. Their only two losses came in close games against the Guelph Gryphons in the OUA Championship game and the Victoria Vikes in the U SPORTS semifinals.
Their accomplishments are ones any team should be proud of, a sentiment shared by Head Coach Dan Valley.
“I am very, very proud of the group and the way that the season went,” Coach Valley said in an interview with The Journal.
However, for a team with OUA and U SPORTS Championship aspirations that had the talent to compete, falling just short of their goals was a hard pill to swallow.
“Obviously not the outcomes we were hoping for. We were hoping to be chatting today as the OUA champions and U SPORTS champions,” Valley added.
Despite falling short of their goals, the team had a lot to be proud of behind the scenes. This year, the team lacked several veteran players who’ve led squads in previous years, leaning on other players to take up the role of the leader.
“Lizzie Gibson [ArtSci ’25] took a massive step forward as a leader of this program, [and] Madison Donnelly [ArtSci ’26] did an unbelievable job this year—leading people is a really challenging thing to do,” Valley said.
Some of the team’s key performances also came from rookies, including Kennedi Stevenson, ArtSci ’28, the OUA and U SPORTS Rookie of the Year.
“She got better every single day over the course of the season and ended up putting in a pretty epic performance for us at the U SPORTS Championships,” Valley said.
A significant part of the team’s success this year, as in previous years, is the work they put in during the offseason and during the regular season. This year, Valley placed extra emphasis on this effort to ensure the group was in a position to compete.
“We challenged the crew in January that we needed basically every session and every day to go a certain way for us, in order for us to be in a situation where we were competing for an OUA championship and competing for a national championship,” Valley said.
For Valley, knowing the work the team puts in allows them to focus more on the journey of the season. Setting goals isn’t only based on results but includes training and meetings, he added.
“It helps us a little bit more day in, day out, and I also think it helps us move past those sorts of heartbreaking losses,” Valley said.
With a new approach to the team’s approach, the Women’s Rugby team looks to see what the journey brings next season, with no person more excited than Head Coach Dan Valley.
“I’m very, very excited to see where we end up collectively in the next eight months, and the players are feeling the exact same way,” he concluded.
Tags
Dan Valley, Gaels, Kennedi Stevenson, Lizzie Gibson, Madison Donnelly, Women's rugby
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