QF #1: CIS women's rugby championship

KINGSTON, Ont. (CIS) – The Ottawa Gee-Gees opened the CIS women's rugby championship with a 29-7 quarter-final win over the defending Monilex Trophy champion StFX X-Women on Thursday afternoon at Nixon Field.

In the semi-final round, Saturday at 3 p.m., the Gee-Gees, who are making their second straight CIS championship appearance, will face either the McMaster Marauders or the Lethbridge Pronghorns.

As for the X-Women, they move on to the consolation side of the bracket and take on the loser of the Marauders and Pronghorns game on Saturday at 11 a.m. to determine who will challenge for the fifth place on Sunday.

"We made an impact sub, Chanelle Fortin came into the game and she provided real energy for us. I thought she made a huge impact in the second half," commented Ottawa head coach Jennifer Boyd. "Our fitness is really good. We are a second half team and we demonstrated that this afternoon. We are going to recover now and enjoy the win and then focus on whoever wins this next match."

StFX's long-time head coach, Mike Cavanagh, talked about a missed opportunity for his team. "They got that yellow card and we didn't take advantage of it. We had a penalty call on a line out and momentum switched. Ottawa never quit and we give full credit to them."

StFX controlled possession early in first five minutes but it was the Gee-Gees who were able to put the first points on the board. Ottawa broke through at the 11-minute mark as Ashley Strike (Ottawa, Ont.) put down the first try of the game. Strike was able to pick up the ball after a fortunate bounce out of a scrum, she then took it and drove straight in to the try zone. After a failed conversion attempt from CIS All-Canadian Irene Patrinos (Mississauga, Ont.), the RSEQ champions led 5-0.

AUS player of the year Joanna Alphonso (Ajax, Ont.) pushed her way deep into the Ottawa end of the field as the X-Women looked to get their first points on the board but the drive was stalled by the Gee-Gees strong defensive play.

Third year prop Tasha McKenzie (Indian Brook, N.S.) joined Alphonso late in the opening half as the X-Women got just a few metres from the try zone but a great kick out into mid-field from Ottawa cleared any danger.

The X-Women got set with a penalty kick attempt but Sabrina McDaid (Scarborough, Ont.) missed to the left. Just minutes later however the AUS finalists got on the board. Once again it was Alphonso driving deep into the Gee-Gee end pushing off tacklers. She made a great pass to her right to a streaking June Beals (North Preston, N.S.), who broke through down the sidelines and down to the middle of the try zone for a score 35^th minute. The convert from McDaid was good and that took the game to half with StFX in control with a 7-5 lead.

The second half saw the RSEQ champions come alive offensively. They scored 24 unanswered points thanks to tries from Chanelle Fortin (Arnprior, Ont.), Simone Savary (Brampton, Ont.), Patrinos and Jessica Lynn Foran (Nepean, Ont.).

Patrinos' 30-meter run score for a try was the highlight of the game as she broke loose from multiple tackles from the StFX defence to seal the victory for Ottawa. The Gee-Gees played their best rugby during the second half as they dominated the scrums all over the field and did not allow the StFX offence to gain any momentum.

Savary was selected player of the game for Ottawa while Beals took the player of game nod for the StFX X-Women in the loss.

Official championship website: http://english.cis-sic.ca/championships/wrugby/index    

SCORING SUMMARY

OTT 5-24: 29
StFX 7-0: 7 

First half
OTT - Ashley Strike try 11^th minute (OTT 5 - StFX 0)
StFX - June Beals try (Sabrina McDaid convert) 35^th (OTT 5 - StFX 7) 

Second half
OTT - Chanelle Fortin try (Irene Patrinos convert) 7^th (OTT 12 - StFX 7)
OTT - Simone Savary try (Irene Patrinos convert) 17^th (OTT 19 - StFX 7)
OTT - Jessica Foran try 30^th (OTT 24 - StFX 7)
OTT - Irene Patrinos try 33^rd (OTT 29 - StFX 7) 

Players of the game
OTT: Simone Savary (Brampton, Ont.)
StFX: June Beals (North Preston, N.S.) 

Legend:
Try: 5 points
Penalty goal: 3 points
Convert: 2 points 

PRE-CHAMPIONSHIP SEEDING

1. Acadia (AUS champions: 5-1 regular season / 2-0 conference playoffs)
2. McMaster (OUA champions: 4-1 regular season / 3-0 conference playoffs)
3. Ottawa (RSEQ champions: 7-0 regular season / 2-0 conference playoffs)
4. Victoria (Canada West champions: 2-2 regular season / 2-0 conference playoffs)
5. Concordia (RSEQ finalists: 6-1 regular season / 1-1 conference playoffs)
6. StFX (AUS finalists: 5-1 regular season / 0-1 conference playoffs)
7. Lethbridge (Canada West finalists: 0-3-1 regular season / 1-1 conference playoffs)
8. Queen's (Hosts: 4-1 regular season / 1-2 conference playoffs) 

SCHEDULE & RESULTS

Thursday, Nov. 5

13:00 Quarter-final 1: Ottawa 29, StFX 7
15:00 Quarter-final 2: Lethbridge vs. McMaster (CIS-SIC.tv)  
17:00 Quarter-final 3: Concordia vs. Victoria (CIS-SIC.tv) 
19:00 Quarter-final 4: Queen's vs. Acadia (CIS-SIC.tv)  

Friday, Nov. 6

Rest day

Saturday, Nov. 7

11:00 Consolation 1: StFX vs. Loser QF 2 (CIS-SIC.tv) 
13:00 Consolation 2: Loser QF 3 vs. Loser QF 4 (CIS-SIC.tv)  
15:00 Semifinal 3: Ottawa vs. Winner QF 2 (CIS-SIC.tv) 
17:00 Semifinal 4: Winner QF 3 vs. Winner QF 4 (CIS-SIC.tv)  

Sunday, Nov. 8

11:00 Fifth place (CIS-SIC.tv)
13:00 Bronze medal (CIS-SIC.tv)
15:00 Championship final (CIS-SIC.tv)