2016 regular season record: 3-2
2016 regular season standings: 2nd in Russell Division
2016 playoff record: 4-4
2016 playoff finish: Lost to Western 20-27 in OUA Bronze Medal Game
Home Field: Nixon Field
Recent Success: 2015 CIS silver medal, 2013 OUA Champions, 2013 CIS bronze medal, 2012 OUA Silver medal
Full Schedule: CLICK HERE
 
The Queen's women's rugby team will open their regular season on the road at Guelph on September 2 before returning to Kingston for their home opener at Nixon Field on September 9 against Western. The Gaels will be looking for redemption against Guelph. Last season, it was the Gryphons who eliminated the Gaels in the OUA semifinals.
 
After coming short of an OUA bronze medal against Western in a 27-20 final score, the Gaels rugby team will look to build on their performance last season with a talented squad under new leadership. Dan Valley has recently been appointed the new full-time head coach for the Gaels. 

Valley was previously the head coach of the Rugby Canada U18 Women's 15's program, as well as the Technical Lead for the Canada 7's NextGen program in Ontario.
 
Valley will come into a group with high prospects for the season and manage a roster of decorated returning players. Centre Nadia Popov (Newmarket, Ont.) was the Gaels leading scorer last year and was named an OUA All-star along with lock McKinley Hunt (King City, Ont.) and wing Lauren Murray (Lindsay, Ont.). Popov and Hunt received national recognition as well with both being named U Sports All-Canadians for their efforts.
 
Complimentary to the veteran accolades last season, freshman scrum half Jordi Di Nardo (Toronto, Ont.) was selected as the OUA Rookie of the Year.  Di Nardo was the first Gaels player to win the award since Popov was awarded the honour during her rookie season in 2012.
 
A new addition to the Gaels squad is fifth-year Janna Slevinsky. The student-athlete transferred from Acadia University for graduate school and brought with her an impressive rugby resume. Slevinsky was named an U SPORTS All-Canadian back-to-back during the 2014 and 2013 seasons, as well as an AUS All-Star for both consecutive seasons. A veteran player, Slevinsky will surely contribute to the Gaels success this season.  

Queen's will be looking to make conference playoffs for the 13th consecutive season and battle to get back to the U SPORTS championship. The last time the Gaels captured a medal was in 2015, when Queen's earned a U SPORTS silver medal as the Championship host.
 
Quote from the Head Coach:
"I am really excited - we've had a great training camp, with quality performances against Ottawa and Carleton.The athletes have done a really nice job setting their standards of excellence and have been working hard to live up to them every session thus far. I think we have a very special group here, and that we can start to re-shape the landscape of Women's Rugby in the OUA as early as this season," said head coach Valley.  

"Obviously every team wants to win, but our emphasis will be less on winning and more about being exceptionally difficult for other teams to play against by being overly physical, and exceptionally accurate at the point of contact," said Valley.  

"We believe that we can set the tone physically and maintain that physicality for 80 minutes week-in, week-out, and that success on the scoreboard will follow. Our first regular season fixture against Guelph on Saturday will be a really fun test for us, and we can't wait."
 
Key Returnees:
McKinley Hunt
Lauren Murray
Nadia Popov
Jordi Di Nardo
Erin Geddes
 
Key Losses:
Miranda Seifert