X-Women rugby punch ticket to CIS final

SEMI-FINAL 2: 2009 CIS women’s rugby championship
StFX wins in 2OT, joins Lethbridge in final
Courtesy UBC Sports Information/CIS

VANCOUVER (CIS) – Two-time CIS player of the year Ghislaine Landry scored a try in the second overtime period to lift the St. Francis Xavier X-Women to a thrilling 13-8 over the Concordia Stingers in the second semi-final of the CIS women’s rugby championship, Saturday afternoon at the University of British Columbia’s Thunderbird Stadium.

The 12-time AUS champion X-Women, who claimed their lone Monilex trophy as national gold medallists in 2006, will battle the two-time defending CIS champion Lethbridge Pronghorns Sunday at 2 p.m. Pacific Time., in a rematch of last year’s title match won 29-15 by Lethbridge.

StFX, which beat Guelph 10-5 in the 2006 final, is 1-1 all-time in CIS gold-medal matches. Lethbridge is 2-1 including last season’s victory over StFX, a 15-10 win over western in 2007 and a 20-3 loss to Alberta in 2003.

Quebec champion Concordia, whose best result in three previous CIS tournament appearances was a fourth-place finish in the inaugural championship in 1998, will face OUA champion Guelph in the bronze-medal game Sunday at 12 p.m. Pacific.

SSN Canada will have live webcasts of both Sunday duels (www.ssncanada.ca or www.cis-sic.ca).

Trailing Concordia 8-0 at the half, StFX came back to tie the game on a last-minute penalty goal by Courtnay Malcolm of New Glasgow, N.S.

After both team failed to score in the first 10-minute extra period, Landry ended the affair midway through the second sudden-death frame. The 2007 and 2008 CIS MVP received a pass on the right wing and turned on the jets, streaking 30 yards down the sidelines and through two tacklers for the try.

The X-Women were down by eight with less than 10 minutes to go in regulation, with offence hard to come by for both sides thanks to heavy rain and a muddy field at Thunderbird Stadium. But as the rain subsided late in the second half, the StFX attack woke up.

With eight minutes remaining, Lisa Gauthier of St. Bernadin, Ont., received the ball on the right wing after a five-yard StFX scrum and broke a tackle before diving across the try line to get her side on the board.

With the score 8-5 and less than two minutes left on the clock, Malcolm stepped up to attempt a potential game-tying penalty goal from 25 yards out. Her attempt fell short and was wide left, but she got a chance to redeem herself just before the final whistle.

With the game on the line the X-Women were awarded another penalty attempt from 25 yards, and this time Malcolm made no mistake, splitting the uprights to send the game to overtime.

“It was a really defensive battle,” said StFX head coach Mike Cavanagh. “The field was pretty mucky so we couldn’t do too much offensively but the girls stuck in there after being down 8-0, coming back strong in the second half. I’m really proud of the girls for sticking in there, but I still think we can play better rugby so we are looking forward to tomorrow.”

Concordia dictated the pace of the first half, opening the scoring on a penalty goal by all-Canadian Jackie Tittley of Kirkland, Que., eight minutes in.

The Stingers extended their lead to 8-0 when they were awarded a penalty try as the first half expired. StFX’s Jess Jacobs was carded on the play, leaving the X-Women shorthanded for the first ten minutes of the second half.

"They controlled the first half and were very physical so we knew we had to become more physical too,” said Cavanagh. “Once we matched them at the physical level good things started to happen for us so I’m impressed with the way we came back.”

SCORING SUMMARY

StFX 0-8-0-5: 13
CON 0-8-0-0: 8

First half
1. CON: Jackie Tittley (penalty goal, 3 pts)
2. CON: Team (penalty try, 5 pts)

Second half
3. StFX: Lisa Gauthier (try, 5 pts)
4. StFX: Courtnay Malcolm (penalty goal, 3 pts)

First Overtime (10 minutes – sudden death)
No scoring

Second Overtime (10 minutes – sudden death)
5. Ghislaine Landry (try, 5 pts)

Players of the game
StFX: Ghislaine Landry (Toronto, Ont.)
CON: Sarah Nesbitt (Regina, Sask.)

ROUND-ROBIN STANDINGS, SCHEDULE & RESULTS (all times LOCAL: PACIFIC)
For all the information on the championship: www.cis-sic.ca

Pool A (final)
                        GP       W         L          T          PF        PA       PTS
1. Lethbridge     2          2          0          0          66         3          9
2. Concordia     2          1          1          0          10         15         4
3. Western        2          0          2          0          3          61         0

Pool B (final)
                        GP       W         L          T          PF        PA       PTS
1. StFX             2          1          0          1          28         10         6         
2. Guelph          2          1          0          1          15         10         6
3. UBC             2          0          2          0          0          23         1

NOTE: a win is worth 4 points and a tie 2 points.
NOTE 2: 1 bonus point is awarded for scoring 4 tries or more in a game, and 1 bonus point is allowed for a loss by 7 points or less.

Friday, Nov. 6
Round-Robin Pool A: Lethbridge 51, Western Ontario 3
Round-Robin Pool B: StFX 18, UBC 0
Round-Robin Pool A: Concordia 10, Western Ontario 0
Round-Robin Pool B: Guelph 5, UBC 0
Round-Robin Pool A: Lethbridge 15, Concordia 0
Round-Robin Pool B: StFX 10, Guelph 10

Saturday, Nov. 7
Semi-final 1: Lethbridge 25, Guelph 0
Semi-final 2: StFX 13, Concordia 8 (2OT)

Sunday, Nov. 8
10:00 5th place: Western Ontario vs. UBC
12:00 Bronze medal: Guelph vs. Concordia (SSN Canada webcast)
14:00 Championship final: Lethbridge vs. StFX (SSN Canada webcast)