For the vast majority of the game, the matchup between the St. Francis Xavier University (STFX) X-Women and the University of Guelph Gryphons went as you might expect for a bout between two similarly-ranked teams. The fifth-ranked Gryphons and fourth-ranked X-Women fought hard, trading possession, momentum and scores back-and-forth. Yet, what blew this game wide open was a spectacular stretch in the first half for Guelph, taking advantage of a yellow card called on STFX, and, including the penalty try that was conceded as a result of the card, scoring 19 points in the 10 minutes that the X-Women were short-handed.
After that run, the Gryphons were never really threatened, taking a 26–0 lead into the half. While the X-Women battled back to make it a game, outscoring the Gryphons in the second half of the contest 21–19, the Gryphons would routinely answer any STFX scores with points of their own. While perhaps not a blowout like their Ontario University Athletics (OUA) counterparts would hand to the Acadia Axewomen in the following game, 90–10, Guelph had to be proud of their overall performance, taking advantage where they could and maintaining their lead the rest of the way. For Gryphons assistant coach Dave Neill, the strength of the team was evident in their consistency.
“They had a goal in mind to come out and play really hard for a full 70 minutes,” he said. “We were able to get everybody on our team sheet in, which is a big piece for us — to be able to rest some players, to play some minutes deeper into the tournament and to get some of our young kids some experience on this stage.”
Neill and others on the coaching staff know the value of giving their players a rest because they’ve been here before. A regular stalwart in the OUA for women’s rugby, the Gryphons have qualified for the U Sports tournament every year since 2015. While Guelph hasn’t won the tournament in that stretch — only coming as close as second in 2018, losing, ironically, to STFX — they’re never a team you can count out.
Especially so this year. The Gryphons went a spectacular 5–1 in conference play, only losing to Queen's University, who would also be the team to best them in the OUA championship. Their opponents, on the other hand, while they boasted a similarly impressive 5–0–1 record, have had a bit of a rockier road toward national title contention.
Perhaps most notably, the X-Women were absent from the tournament last year — the only new entrant in a group of eight that otherwise saw the same teams who competed in last year’s national championship. This is because, while the X-Women were the top team in Atlantic University Sport (AUS) during the regular season, they fell to Acadia in the conference final, losing out on their spot, since UPEI received the other AUS bid as a tournament host. STFX got revenge on the Axewomen this year, taking home a 33–31 victory in the conference title game — capping off a successful year, only marred by a strange draw with UPEI back in September.
Really, aside from the Gryphons’ two clashes with Queens, neither of these teams were tested much throughout conference play. Perhaps, then, it made sense that the game started tentatively, with both sides figuring themselves out.
While both teams briefly took expeditions into opposing territory early, neither was really able to make much of the opportunity, at least initially. STFX was the first to make a push on offence, doing well to maintain possession and apply consistent pressure to the Guelph defence in the first five minutes. Yet, despite the X-Women’s early attack, the Gryphons held strong, and STFX wasn’t able to break through the Guelph line.
As the field started to flip, with Guelph marching, it looked to be a similar story on the other end. The Gryphons pushed to open the scoring, but the X-Women initially rebuffed the threat, holding off a maul within 10 metres before making a couple goal-line tackles. Yet, that defensive stand wouldn’t last long, with Guelph team captain Taylor McKnight showcasing a burst of quickness to break through the STFX line, diving in for the first try of the game.
On the offensive side of the ball, Neill was complementary of McKnight’s play — not just in how she performed on the day individually, but what her efforts meant for the team as a whole.
“She's a bit of a spark plug,” he said. “Any time the ball is in her hands, she's going forward and the rest of the team just rallies around that.”
By opening the scoring, just as Neill emphasized, McKnight provided a huge boost to the Gryphons. While the game was still somewhat tentative, the Gryphons had momentum and were rolling downhill. With each possession, it seemed like the X-Women had less and less resistance, and eventually, close to the 20-minute mark, STFX started to show some cracks in the foundation. For the Gryphons, it was again McKnight helping provide the spark.
As Guelph drove into the STFX end of the field, McKnight delivered a neat over-the-shoulder off-load pass to a teammate before picking the ball up again herself after a ruck, diving ahead another five metres. From this push, the Gryphons were in position to attempt a kick to gain some more crucial ground, and in doing so, they unwittingly forced the X-Women into a crucial error.
With the Guelph kick soaring in the air, while it looked like it would land comfortably in the arms of STFX fullback Alison LeBlanc, she had trouble fielding the ball — it went through her arms, forcing her to retreat back into her own try zone, touching the ball down before she could be tackled. In doing so, STFX gave the Gryphons a scrum within five metres of their try zone.
While the X-Women would actually get the ball back after the scrum, with Guelph being called for a penalty, another unforced error on the ensuing lineout gave the Gryphons a chance at it. Guelph stole the STFX lineout cleanly, getting possession back deep in X-Women territory. This time, Guelph cashed in on their free opportunity — and then some. Gryphons back Grace Jenkins, trying to punch the ball in after McKnight was tackled by the goal line, seemed to have dived ahead for what looked like a try.
Instead, it was potentially even better for Guelph. The tackler on Jenkins, Val vonMuehldorfer, was called by the referee for tackling from the ground, an action that prevented a would-be try. In doing this, vonMuehldorfer was called for a yellow card, being forced to sit out for 10 minutes of action, while conceding a penalty try to the Gryphons.
To say that Guelph took advantage of this would be an understatement. Four minutes after benefiting from the penalty try, the Gryphons were back on it again. After a STFX penalty for not releasing, the Gryphons immediately took advantage with a great play off the ensuing lineout. It was Jenkins again who pushed play for Guelph, getting the ball right off the lineout, catching it with lateral speed to get around the forwards before making a well-timed cut to break through the X-Women line. Using STFX’s momentum against them, Jenkins’ quick move caught the X-Women off guard, and as she broke away for a nearly 30-metre run, she was barely even touched.
The Gryphons wouldn’t stop there. Only about two minutes after Jenkins’ try, Guelph got another shot of momentum, this time thanks to a great defensive play. On a STFX lineout on the Guelph side of the field, the Gryphons again managed to steal the ball, quickly converting that possession into field position when scrum half Halle Woodcock managed to sneak through and break up the sideline. While Woodcock would eventually be tackled and lose the ball, with her run, Guelph had completely flipped the field.
Even though STFX would get the ball back after Woodcock’s run, the Guelph defence again would pressure the X-Women into a crucial mistake. Attempting to take the ball out of their own end after a ruck, STFX was distributing the ball out wide when the Gryphons’ Abby Auger intercepted a pass — immediately breaking through the STFX line with speed. Guelph would make no mistake after Auger’s play, quickly advancing downfield and capping the drive with a beautiful long pass out wide to Adelaide Holmes for the score.
While Guelph’s run of points before the half is absolutely a credit to their offence — with the Gryphons scoring at will — the sequence of events that led to the Holmes try highlights how opportunistic the Gryphons defence was. Even when Guelph would make a mistake, coughing up the ball or losing offensive momentum, they would be able to get the ball back, being aggressive whenever STFX tried to make headway. This success was incredibly rewarding for Neill and the coaching staff — he highlighted the defensive side of the ball as where he felt the team really gelled, playing hard for each other.
“Oh, [it’s] a commitment to defence. I mean, it's been a long season for us,” he said. “Everybody at this point is a bit banged up, but we're missing one member of our team. And we were definitely out there to play it for her.”
Coming out of the half with a 26–0 lead — while Guelph would no longer have the yellow card-aided advantage that allowed them to rack up points in the final minutes of the first, they still looked to put the X-Women away. Only two minutes in, it looked like Guelph had scored yet again to essentially put the dagger in the X-Women, getting a good bounce that went straight to Auger, who had the entire left sideline open for the try — but as Auger stepped into the try zone, the play was whistled dead for a forward pass.
That setback didn’t seem to bother the Gryphons. Shortly after the forward pass, STFX was called for a penalty, giving the Gryphons a lineout deep in X-Women territory. Like they had all day, the Gryphons capitalized after making an earlier mistake. They quickly moved the ball up the field, getting it within five metres of the try zone, before pushing it back out wide to Holmes, who danced in for an easy try.
On the Holmes play, while it’s hard to know their mindset, down 33–0, it seemed as if STFX was relenting a little bit. There was little resistance on that last Guelph run, and considering they’d need a miracle in the rest of the half to make it a game, it seemed fair to wonder how much the X-Women had left in the tank.
To their credit, however, after the Holmes try, they showed some encouraging signs of life. While they couldn’t get back in it, given their deficit, the resolve that STFX played with for the final 30 minutes should give them some momentum heading into the consolation bracket.
Quickly getting the ball after the try, the X-Women worked to distribute the ball across the field, passing it from sideline to sideline before LeBlanc saw an opportunity, bursting through the line for a nearly 40-metre run. STFX back Skye Koyote would push ahead a minute later to put the X-Women on the board for the first time in the game.
Even though the Gryphons would answer the STFX try with a score of their own, the X-Women kept fighting, down 38–7. In the 53rd minute, the X-Women would score one of the nicest-looking tries of the day: receiving a pass at midfield, STFX prop Jessie Penney — a second-team all-Canadian — laid an aggressive hit on a Guelph defender, trucking through them to open up space. After that hit, the X-Women did an excellent job to keep their momentum, with a couple quick passes out to wing Courtney Gottselig, who made a precise step inside to get around the last Guelph defender, racing 50 metres for the try.
While that score may have boosted morale for STFX, it wasn’t enough to overcome their deficit. The Gryphons would again answer with a score, and while the X-Women would put one more try on the board in the final few minutes, Guelph could walk away with a victory.
For the Gryphons, this win has to be encouraging on multiple levels. With their run of points at the end of the first half, they proved they can score in bunches. By answering every STFX second half try with a try of their own, they showed they can maintain a lead. Through their first half shutout, they were able to assert their strength on the defensive side. And, as Neill mentioned earlier, they did so while playing their entire team.
The question is, will that be enough? By virtue of losing their conference, the Gryphons have an incredibly tough draw in the semifinals, being put up against the No. 1 team in the country, the University of Victoria Vikes. The Vikes are first for a reason — the Gryphons will need to bring another complete game to take them out and advance to their first national final since they lost to STFX in 2018. Yet, for Neill, his team is ready to take on that challenge.
“Oh, they're a great team — and we've seen them a few times at this tournament,” he said. “We're definitely going to have to be at our best to beat them. But that's why we're here.”
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