Women's rugby dominates at 7's tournament

March proved to be a very big month for the McMaster women’s rugby team as they travelled to Langford, B.C. on the weekend of March 7 to compete in the Rugby 7’s tournament, which took place at Westhills Stadium.

For the Marauders, it was all about getting hot at the right time.

The Marauders were faced with Lethbridge as their opponent on March 9 where they defeated their rival squad 24-7 for the Championship title.

McMaster did not start off  their tournament run on a high note as they dropped their first two games in pool play on Friday, losing to UBC 27-17 followed by another loss to Lethbridge by a score of 17-15.

In the final day of pool play, McMaster was edged once again by their opponents; this time it would be the Guelph Gryphons handing the Marauders a close 15-14 loss on Saturday afternoon.

Guelph would be the thickest competition for the Maroon and Grey as the Gryphons entered the tournament as two-time defending university champions in Rugby 7’s.

Despite a bout of winless bad luck, the Marauders were able to advance into the crucial elimination phase where they shocked everyone by pulling out a win against the favored Guelph Gryphons by a score of 12-10 in the quarterfinals.

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Regina Charalampis and captain Cindy Nelle’s would hold tries in the quarterfinal victory and Stephanie Black would be credited with the important conversion proving to make all the difference in the outcome of the quarterfinal match.

McMaster’s hot streak would continue as they would dominate against Alberta, beating them 35-0 in the semi-finals which would then advance them to the championship game against Lethbridge on the Sunday.

Stephanie Black, Kailyn Jones, Emily Ricketts and Saffara Whitley-Hoffelner would get tries for the Marauders followed by two conversions by Black which would prove to be enough to fend off Lethbridge for the title.

Mac would ride their momentum all the way to the winner’s circle as they grabbed their first ever national Rugby 7’s title, bringing it back to Ontario once again.

McMaster All-Canadian and team captain Cindy Nelles would score four tries in three tournament games and would be named Outstanding Player of the Tournament.

With hope thought to be lost in their tournament run, the Marauders were able to persevere and come home with their first national title, knowing they were able to prove their competitors wrong when it came to their strength, endurance and teamwork.