The women’s rugby team faced tough competition this weekend as they hosted the second-best in the country Guelph Gryphons, at home on Nixon Field. The highly contested match resulted in a 5-50 loss for the Gaels.

This game comes after the Gaels faced the first ranked team in the CIS, the McMaster Marauders, last weekend on the road. The Gaels-Marauders matchup resulted in a loss for the Gaels as well, with a 32-0 end score in McMaster’s favour.

The Gryphons started the match off on a strong foot with a try and conversion on the scoreboard within the first five minutes, setting the tone for the rest of the match. 

Continuing to dominate the game throughout the first half, Guelph increased their lead to 19-0, putting the Gaels in a tough spot. 

After some strong passing by the Gaels, Queen’s would try to shift the momentum back in their favour, with their sole try of the match. Lauren Murray received the ball in the far right corner of the field, stiff-arming a Gryphons defender and beating out another to put the ball over the line. Unfortunately the try wasn’t converted, putting the Gaels down 19-5 at halftime. 

Although Queen’s kept pressing to get back into the game, the Gryphons defense was too much. Guelph was able to control the ball for most of the half, adding on an extra 31 points in the second half alone, leaving the final score at 50-5. 

While the Gaels’ past two matches – against the Gryphons and Marauders – resulted in losses, by a combined score of 82-5, captain Erin Geddes thinks that the importance of the matches transcends the game’s end results on the scoreboard. 

For Geddes, it was clear that the team has improved since their loss to McMaster.

“Moving forward, we have to keep in mind we just played the top two teams in the country back to back,” Geddes said. 

“The score may not have gone our way, but we’ve played some strong opponents which challenged us to step up our game and helped us grow as a team.” 

“Our team is in a good place, and despite the loss, we just need to put in some serious hard work this week and demand more from each other and ourselves,” she added. 

Looking forward to the Gaels’ final match of the regular OUA season, Geddes feels confident in the team’s ability. 

“It’s only up from here and I hope York is ready for us.”

The Gaels will welcome the 3-1 York Lions to Nixon Field on Friday, Oct. 7 at 5 p.m. This will be the Gaels’ final regular season match before the OUA playoffs, which begin on October 15.