Guelph, ON – Friday night at Varsity Field in Guelph, the No. 2 Gryphons Women's Rugby team won 48-7 over the No. 3 Queen's Gaels in a matchup of undefeated teams. With the win, the Gryphons finish the season with a 5-0 regular season record while the Gaels fall to 4-1. The Gryphons will now host an OUA Quarter-final playoff match on Saturday, October 17 at 12pm.

All eyes were on this match on Friday night as two of the top teams in the CIS renewed their rivalry at Varsity Field. After Bronwyn McCrone and Brittany Kassil set the tone early with some huge hits, the Gryphons were able to score first with Alexandra King picking up a try and a convert to put 7 points on the board early on. The Gryphons would tack on another 7 points with a try from Brittany Kassil and a convert by King as the momentum early on clearly belonged to the home team.
 
Queen's did their part to battle back, particularly Emma Chown. With a breakaway, Chown raced down the field and landed her team their first try of the night to get the Gaels on the board. But it was a lone bright spot on a night in which the Gryphons made a statement to the entire CIS by taking it to one of the top teams in the country.
 
Gryphons rookie Julia Schell (Under 20 National team member) struck with a try, and Alexandra King followed up with a successful convert to pile on another 7 points. Cara Humenuick drove past the Queen's defence and increased the lead by 5.  The Gryphons, who led 14-7 at the half, would break things wide open in the 2nd half. The Gryphons would pour in 27 more points in the 2nd half with the usual suspects once again producing some big performances. Alex King led the Gryphons in scoring with 21 points while Daria Keane and Kendra Blackbourn, who were #2 and #4 respectively for points in the OUA coming into the match, both scored a tries, with Blackbourn adding a convert to up the Gryphon lead to 48-7 in the closing moments of the game.
 
Gryphons assistant coach, Dave Neil, was pleased with the team's performance saying, "It was a great defensive effort, and we turned consistent pressure into points, constructing a lot of tries and generally controlled the game. I am happy with the effort in our first real test, and will pick apart the video to improve heading into the playoffs." 
 
Perhaps Guelph Gryphons veteran prop, Lindsay Yuen, summed it up best, "We wanted to play with some BOOM, and I think we accomplished that."

Scoring Summary

1st Half
Guelph Try - A. King 5, Convert - A. King 2
Guelph Try - B. Kassil 5, Convert - King 2
Queen's Try - E. Chown 5, Convert - L. McEwen 2

14-7 Gryphons at Halftime

2nd Half
Guelph Try - J. Schell 5, Convert - King 2
Guelph Try - C. Humenuick 5, Convert no good
Guelph Penalty Kick - A. King 3
Guelph Try - A. King 5, A. King 2
Guelph Try - D. Keane 5, Convert no good
Guelph Try - K. Blackbourn 5, Convert - Blackbourn 2

48-7 Gryphons Final