Late try secures bronze

Women;s rugby beats Brock Badgers in consolation game

Lauren McEwen burned the Brock Badgers for the second time this season.

The rookie winger scored a last-minute try to give the women’s rugby team a 17-13 victory in the OUA bronze medal game at Tindall field on Saturday. The Gaels trailed 13-10 before McEwen’s try.

Queen’s finished second in the OUA Russell Division with 20 points, while Brock came third in the Shiels Division with only 11 points. But the Badgers troubled the Gaels all season. The Gaels only won their Sept. 17 encounter with the Badgers by one point after McEwen ran 70-yards to score a try with seconds remaining.

The Badgers scored the first try on Saturday, but rookie Gilly Pegg responded to tie the game and winger Bronwyn Corrigan kicked a conversion to put the Gaels ahead 7-5 at halftime.

“They started harder than we did and we were over-confident on defence,” said captain Susan Heald, who was sidelined just before halftime with a dislocated shoulder.

Heald said the Gaels should have taken more risks to put up points earlier against the Badgers. But she said come-from-behind wins were a trend for her team this season.

“All season, we’ve been waiting until the end of the game to pull out the try,” she said. “We’ve done it so many times, we knew it was going to happen.”

The Gaels needed a last-second try in double overtime to defeat the Trent Excalibur 14-10 in the quarter-final on Oct. 15.

Last year, the Gaels made their first appearance at the OUA finals since 1995 and advanced to nationals for the first time in the team’s history. A semifinal loss to the Guelph Gryphons on Oct. 22 deprived them of a return to nationals this year.

Heald ended her Gaels career on Saturday. But with only four fourth-year players set for graduation, head coach Beth Barz said she’s optimistic about next season’s team.

“We’re a young team,” she said. “We’re looking forward to next year when we’re a little bit older.”

Tags

Beth Barz, Lauren McEwen, Susan Heald, Women's rugby

All final editorial decisions are made by the Editor(s)-in-Chief and/or the Managing Editor. Authors should not be contacted, targeted, or harassed under any circumstances. If you have any grievances with this article, please direct your comments to journal_editors@ams.queensu.ca.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Skip to content