StFX beats Ottawa 27-19 to claim U Sports women’s rugby championship

VICTORIA – The StFX X-Women are national rugby champions for the fifth time in school history.

In a matchup of two undefeated teams, the X-Women outlasted the Ottawa Gee-Gees with a 27-19 victory on Sunday to capture the U Sports women’s rugby championship.

“Last year we had little bit of an off year and the girls decided in the off-season that they were going to put in the hard work,” said X-Women head coach Mike Cavanagh.

“I’m so happy that their hard work paid off.”

StFX used strong pushes from their forwards to keep the pressure on Ottawa and Danielle Cormier eventually pushed through the Gee-Gees’ defence to score the opening try eight minutes in.

Ottawa answered with a try of its own 10 minutes later from Emily Gray. StFX’s Sam Lake and Ottawa’s Simone Savary traded tries before championship MVP Sabrina McDaid struck a penalty goal in stoppage time for a 15-12 X-Women advantage at halftime.

Joanna Alphonso increased the X-Women’s lead in the 64th minute when she finished off another lengthy StFX drive by plunging over the try line.

“She’s our leader, when she plays well everyone plays well. She leads by example, is a monster in the scrums, a very hard tackler and has a complete game,” said Cavanagh.

The Gee-Gees responded when Tori Wyman cut through the StFX defence to score the try and Emma Sandstrom knocked in her second conversion of the game to make the score 20-19.

McDaid made no mistake on a penalty convert in the 75th minute, however, to secure the win for StFX.

“Ottawa is a classy side that never gave up. They are very well coached and we knew we were in tough,” said Cavanagh. “The game could have gone either way and I’m glad it’s over. It was a team effort, from one to 15.”

Earlier, The Calgary Dinos scored two first-half tries en route to a 24-12 victory over the Guelph Gryphons to capture the bronze medal.

Elysa Sandron opened the scoring with a try and a conversion in the 16th minute, followed by a try from Kaselle Menin in the 20th minute to make it 12-0 Calgary at the half.

Dinos head coach Simon Chi was proud of her squad’s accomplishment this season after winning the first Canada West banner in program history.

“For us it’s our first trip to nationals, so it was all about digging deep and asking whether we were willing to settle or if we still had something to play for,” said Chi.

“We have some graduating players and it’s about sending them off in the right way. I was very happy with our effort.”

Calgary added a pair of tries in the second half from Natasha Loucks and Taejah Thompson. Madison Brattan and Devon Stobere responded for the Gryphons.

Also, the Concordia Stingers beat the McMaster Mauraders 29-22 in the first match of the day to claim a fifth-place finish.