KINGSTON, Ont. (CIS) – The Ottawa Gee-Gees picked up their program's first CIS women's rugby medal thanks to a 65-7 domination of the Concordia Stingers in the third-place match of the 2015 championship, Sunday afternoon at Queen's University's at Nixon Field.
 
The duel for bronze came one week after a much closer affair in the RSEQ final, won 25-17 by Ottawa. The Gee-Gees had also played in the CIS third-place game a year ago, falling to Western 17-5.
 
"The girls really bounced back from a tough lost yesterday," said a proud Jennifer Boyd, whose troops dropped a hard-fought 14-8 semifinal against McMaster. "I'm really happy with the leadership of the team this year and they performed really well today."
 
For Stingers coach Graeme McGravie, it was a tough way to finish their season. "Well, they were just way better than us, we didn't compete very well at the breakdown from the beginning and that was tough. They had another level we couldn't match today."
 
It was the Gee-Gees' game from the kick-off. Ottawa struck early with two quick tries, first from Elizabeth Boudreault (Montreal) and then Danielle Erdelyi (Chesterville, Ont.) to take a 12-0 lead after they missed one of the two conversion attempts.
 
The absence of Concordia all-Canadian centre Frederique Rajotte (Markham, Ont.), who was injured in yesterday's semifinal loss to Queen's, weighed heavily on the Stingers' shoulders as Ottawa kept the ball rolling with Erdelyi returning to the line in the 24th minute putting down her second try of the afternoon. With the matching convert by all-Canadian Irene Patrinos (Mississauga, Ont.) Ottawa led 19-0.
 
The seams in the Concordia defence started to open up as Gee-Gee Courtney Mastine (Pembroke, Ont.) headed to the line only to be caught at the five metre mark with a key tackle by Lianne Bragg (Pointe Claire, Que.). Patrinos finished the play with a 20-metre run of her own immediately after, putting a try and conversion on the board.
 
Before the half was done, Ottawa managed to push through one more try, putting them comfortably ahead 33-0 with a bronze medal in sight.
 
The Gee-Gees ran away with their win in the second half, getting a try down five minutes in by Alexandria Ellis (Ottawa) followed by three more tries and a penalty goal.
 
Concordia found some traction late in the match forcing Ottawa to concede their shutout score as Mercedes Martino (Vaudreuil, Que.) pushed across the Stinger's first try 33 minutes deep in the second half. It was a quick response from Gee-Gee Patricia Mandon (Rockland, Ont.) who put a final try to finish off Ottawa's CIS championship weekend. 
 
Patrinos was selected as player of the game for Ottawa. Captain Samantha Ewing of West Bolton, Que., received the same honour for Concordia. 
 
Official championship website: http://english.cis-sic.ca/championships/wrugby/index    
 
SCORING SUMMARY
OTT 33- 32: 65
CON 0-7: 7
 
First half
OTT - Elizabeth Boudreault try (Irene Patrinos convert) 2nd minute (CON 0 - OTT 7)
OTT - Danielle Erdelyi try 9th (CON 0 - OTT 12)
OTT - Danielle Erdelyi try (Irene Patrinos convert) 24th (CON 0 - OTT 19)
OTT - Irene Patrinos try (Irene Patrinos convert) 32nd (CON 0 - OTT 26)
OTT - Breanna Phillipps try (Irene Patrinos convert) 39th (CON 0 - OTT 33)
 
Second half
OTT - Alexandria Ellis try (Irene Patrinos convert) 4th (CON 0 - OTT 40)
OTT - Irene Patrinos try 7th (CON 0 - OTT 45)
OTT - Irene Patrinos try 17th (CON 0 - OTT 50)
OTT - Chanelle Fortin try (Brianna Miller convert) 22nd (CON 0 - OTT 57)
OTT - Brianna Miller penalty goal 30th (CON 0 - OTT 60)
CON - Mercedes Martino try (Alexandra Ste Marie convert) 33rd (CON 7 - OTT 60)
OTT - Patricia Mandon try 39th (CON 7- OTT 65)
 
Players of the game
OTT: Irene Patrinos (Mississauga, Ont.)
CON: Samantha Ewing (West Bolton, Que.)
 
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: McMaster 62, Lethbridge 14
17:00 Quarter-final 3: Concordia 34, Victoria 12 
19:00 Quarter-final 4: Queen's 24, Acadia 17
 
Friday, Nov. 6
Rest day
 
Saturday, Nov. 7
11:00 Consolation 1: Lethbridge 20, StFX 12,
13:00 Consolation 2: Victoria 55, Acadia 12
15:00 Semifinal 1: McMaster 14, Ottawa 8
17:00 Semifinal 2: Queen's 27, Concordia 13
 
Sunday, Nov. 8
11:00 Fifth place: Victoria 27, Lethbridge 24
13:00 Bronze medal: Ottawa 65, Concordia 7
15:00 Championship final: McMaster vs. Queen's (CIS-SIC.tv)