The CIS ranked No. 1 StFX X-Women will play in the gold medal game tomorrow afternoon in an effort to defend their national title after a 20-5 semi-final win over the Lethbridge Pronghorns Saturday afternoon in Peterborough, Ont.
The game was the second and final game in pool A round robin action in what was essentially a semi-final game as each team was 1-1 heading into the game with the berth in the gold medal game on the line. StFX will meet the winner of the Guelph-Laval semi-final in the championship game, slated for 2:00 pm EST.
The victory marked the first at the national scene for StFX over Lethbridge as the X-Women had fallen short in four previous meetings. In both 2009 and 2008 the Pronghorns defeated the X-Women in the gold medal game, while their other two meetings in 2007 and 2003 were semi-final victories for Lethbridge.
X-Women head coach Mike Cavanagh commented, “I thought defensively we were amazing, we created a lot of turnovers with our big tackles and they could never get any rhythm going in their offense.”
“It’s nice to see when your best players aren’t your best players that other girls can step up and play well. I thought Emma Taylor had an amazing game, Jamee George and Sara Kalvujee played very well. We’ll take this win, it wasn’t our prettiest win of the year but we’ll take it and run with it.”
All Canadian fullback Magali Harvey got the X-Women on the board in the opening six minutes as she scored a try after fellow All Canadian Lisa Gauthier had a long 60 meter run down field to get into Pronghorns territory. Harvey missed on her own convert attempt as the X-Women took an early 5-0 lead.
In the 19th minute, StFX pressure deep in the Pronghorns zone led to the X-Women’s second try of the game. Tyson Beukeboom pulled the ball out of a scrum and after a couple of passes, freshman Sara Kaljuvee crossed the try line. Harvey made good on the convert for a 12-0 lead.
The remainder of the half was a battle for field position. Lethbridge was unable to capitalize on a StFX penalty late in the first half. The Pronghorns continued to pressure and were close to the try line but Harvey held up the play to keep them out just as time expired on the opening 35 minutes of play.
Lethbridge took their late first half momentum into the opening of the second half and had a long run early on to gain field position. A Pronghorns win on a lineout deep in the StFX zone led to a maul that drove the ball over the try line as Juhee Thompson got the Pronghorns on the board with an unconverted try.
With a 12-5 lead, the X-Women continued their strong defensive play and were able to keep the Pronghorns off the score board.
StFX were close to scoring a try midway through the half as Kaljuvee found a seam and ran the ball in deep, but the X-Women were held up on several attempts to drive the ball in. After a second consecutive Pronghorns penalty, Magali Harvey kicked a penalty goal in the 45th minute to increase the StFX cushion to 15-5.
CIS All Canadian center Lisa Gauthier added to the X-Women lead with a try in the 60th minute, working the ball up the field. Harvey’s wide conversion attempt did not fall.
Gauthier took home player of the game honours for StFX as they were able to hang onto the 20-5 win. Brandi Van Eeuwen was named player of the game for Lethbridge.
With the 2-0 record in round robin action, the X-Women finish atop of pool A and will await the winner of the Guelph-Laval game for their gold medal opponent.
Looking ahead to the championship game, X-Women head coach Mike Cavanagh commented, “We have to stop making mistakes when we have the ball, we have to relax and play simple rugby, get our forwards moving and I think we’ll be fine.”
The CIS championship game is scheduled for 2:00 pm (Eastern time) at Justin Chui stadium in Peterborough, Ont. on the campus of Trent University. The game will be broadcast live on www.ssncanada.ca.
The official release and scoring summary from Canadian Interuniversity Sport
Game 3 Pool A: CIS women’s rugby championship
Defending champ StFX off to 4th straight final
PETERBOROUGH, Ont. (CIS) – The defending champion St. Francis Xavier X-Women advanced to the final of the CIS women’s rugby championship for the fourth straight year thanks to a 20-5 win over the Lethbridge Pronghorns in their round-robin finale, Saturday morning, at Trent University’s Justin Chiu Stadium.
StFX, which crushed tournament host Trent 76-3 in its opening match on Thursday, ends the preliminary round atop the pool A standings with a 2-0 record. In Sunday’s title match at 2 p.m., the X-Women will face either Guelph or Laval, who battle for first place in pool B later on Saturday.
It will mark the fourth consecutive appearance in the Monilex trophy final and the fifth in program history for StFX. The 14-time Atlantic conference champions claimed the CIS banner in 2006 with a 10-5 gold-medal win over Guelph and a year ago with a 17-12 overtime victory over Concordia, and lost to Lethbridge in back-to-back championship games in 2008 (29-15) and 2009 (20-3).
Lethbridge (1-1) finishes second in group A and will play for bronze Sunday at 10 a.m. The Pronghorns, who captured three Monilex trophies in a row from 2007 to 2009, were defeated 10-8 by Guelph in last year’s third-place duel.
All-Canadian Magali Harvey, a native of Quebec City, led the way on Saturday for StFX with 10 points on a try, a penalty goal and a convert, while Sara Kalijuvee of Ajax, Ont., and all-Canadian Lisa Gauther of St. Bernardin, Ont., also reached the try line for the winners.
Lethbridge’s points came on a try by Juhee Thompson of Mountain View, Alta.
StFX head coach Mike Cavanagh attributed the win to his squad’s defence.
“We played well defensively today and did a great job of applying pressure and forcing turnovers. I don’t think our best players were our best players today, but I was happy to see everyone step up in support.”
Neil Langevin, the Lethbridge sideline boss, was also complimentary of the X-Women defensive unit.
“I want to give full credit to the X back line, they played a strong game and kept us on our toes,” said Langevin. “With that said I’m proud of our girls. They battled hard to the end. We had a couple of tough breaks and unfortunate loss of possessions on line breaks. We’re going to regroup tonight, and work to complete our chances tomorrow.”
Gauthier got things started for the X-Women when her 60 metre-run brought the ball deep into Lethbridge territory. The ball found its way to Harvey, who took a pass and burst around the Pronghorn defence for an unconverted try.
Much of the next 15 minutes was played between the 22-metre lines, until a lengthy run and a knock-on found the X-Women with a scrum near the Lethbridge five-metre line. Tyson Beukeboom of Uxbridge, Ont., also a CIS all-star, pulled the ball out of the scrum and, two passes later, Kalijuvee scored the try, which Harvey converted for a 12-0 lead.
With time winding down in the opening half, the Canada West champion Pronghorns were deep in StFX territory. Prop Brandi Van Eeuwen of Duncan, Alta., took the ball and bowled over Harvey at the goal line as time expired, but knocked the ball on in the process.
On the strength of their late surge in the first half, the Pronghorns opened the second period on fire. Three minutes after the break, Lethbridge got a maul together and drove a strong 10 metres, when Thompson came loose with the ball and score the unconverted try to cut the deficit to 12-5.
Lethbridge would not get any closer however.
Harvey added a penalty goal in the 45th minute to give her team a 10-point cushion and Gauthier closed out the scoring with an unconverted try in the 60th minute.
Gauthier took home player-of-the-game honours for the victors, while Van Eeuwen earned the nod for Lethbridge.
SCORING SUMMARY
SFX: 12-8: 20
LET: 0-5: 5
First half
SFX: Magali Harvey try 5th minute
SFX: Sara Kalijuvee try (Magali Harvey convert) 19th
Second half
LET: Juhee Thompson try 38th
SFX: Magali Harvey penalty goal 45th
SFX: Lisa Gauthier try 60th
Players of the game
SFX: Lisa Gauthier
LET: Brandi Van Eeuwen
Legend:
Try: 5 points
Penalty goal: 3 points
Convert: 2 points
Official championship website: http://english.cis-sic.ca/championships/wrugby/index
POOL STANDINGS, SCHEDULE & RESULTS
Pool A (FINAL)
GP W L T PF PA PTS
1. StFX 2 2 0 0 96 8 9
2. Lethbridge 2 1 1 0 40 20 5
3. Trent 2 0 2 0 3 111 0
Pool B
GP W L T PF PA PTS
1. Guelph 1 1 0 0 53 19 5
2. Laval 1 1 0 0 24 10 4
3. McMaster 2 0 2 0 29 77 0
NOTE 1: 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.
NOTE 3: 1 bonus point is awarded for a loss by 7 points or less.
Thursday, Nov. 3
10:30 Round-Robin Pool A: StFX 76 Trent 3
13:30 Round-Robin Pool B: Laval 24 McMaster 10
Friday, Nov. 4
10:30 Round-Robin Pool A: Lethbridge 35 Trent 0
13:30 Round-Robin Pool B: Guelph 53 McMaster 19
Saturday, Nov. 5
10:30 Round-Robin Pool A: StFX 20 Lethbridge 5
13:30 Round-Robin Pool B: Laval vs. Guelph (SSN Canada webcast)
Sunday, Nov. 6
10:00 5th place: Trent vs. McMaster (SSN Canada webcast)
12:00 Bronze medal: Lethbridge vs. second place Pool B (SSN Canada webcast)
14:00 Championship final: StFX vs. first place Pool B (SSN Canada webcast)