KINGSTON, Ont. (October 6, 2017) – The No.8 Queen's Gaels (2-2) squared off against the Trent Excalibur (3-1) in the opening quarterfinal round of the OUA playoffs on Friday night in Kingston. The Gaels finished as the third seed in the Shiels division and took on the second-seeded Russel division Excalibur coming away with a 109-0 shutout win.
GAME FLOW
The Gaels proved to be much stronger and faster than the Excalibur, breaking tackles and beating defenders early and often.
Sophie de Goede (Victoria) was the first to score, followed soon by
Nadia Popov (Newmarket, Ont.).The Gaels also showed off their impressive defence, not allowing Trent to enter their zone for most of the opening half while controlling the majority of possession.
Mid-way through the first half, de Goede managed to score back to back tries, forcing her way past the Excalibur defence, who could not keep her down.
In the final minutes of the opening half, de Goede punched in her fourth try of the game, as the Gaels managed to win a scrum near the Trent zone decisively. Not to be out-done, Popov outran the entire Excalibur defence again, to put up another try of her own.
Trent was finally able to push the ball deep into the Gaels end as the final seconds ticked off the first half. Queen's held their ground defensively though and managed to keep the Excalibur off the scoreboard.
The Gaels started slowly in the second half, but a nice goal-line run by
Lydia Salgo (Ottawa) put the Gaels on the board again.
Even with a huge lead, the Gaels did not slow down.
Emma Frey (Uxbridge, Ont),
Jordi Di Nardo (Toronto),
Molly Labenski (Oakville) each managed to get in the end-zone early in the second half.
The Gaels cruised their way to an easy 109-0 shutout victory and advance to the OUA semi-final where they will take on the McMaster Marauders in Hamilton.
BY THE NUMBERS
109 - Points for Queen's, the most scored in team history topping the 106 against Toronto in 2015
4 - Tries for
Sophie de Goede, tying the amount she scored in the OUA regular season
14 - Straight wins for Queen's over Trent
12 - Gaels scored tries on the night
46 - Points combined from Popov and de Goede
FINAL SAY
"We have always had the potential to put up big numbers. Tonight we executed in almost all aspects of the game so not surprised that we were able to score." - Head coach
Dan Valley
UP NEXT
The Gaels now advance to the OUA semifinal where they will take on the McMaster Marauders in Hamilton next weekend.
