Mustangs beat Ottawa for bronze, win first CIS medal since 2007

GUELPH, Ont. (CIS) – Freshman Nikki Case of Toronto scored a pair of tries to lead the Western Mustangs to a 17-5 win over the Ottawa Gee-Gees in the bronze-medal game of the CIS women's rugby championship at the University of Guelph's Alumni Stadium, Sunday afternoon.

The Mustangs, who had claimed OUA bronze last weekend, end the national tournament with a 2-1 record and reach the CIS podium for the first time since a second-place finish in 2007. Western has now won two gold, two silver and two bronze medals at the CIS championship, its Monilex Trophy triumphs coming in 2004 and 2005.

Making its first-ever appearance at the competition, RSEQ champion Ottawa returns home with a 1-2 mark.

The Mustangs were considered long shots to even qualify for the CIS championship. After losing to Queen's 50-19 in the final week of the regular season, they upset the Gaels 22-19 in last week's OUA third-place match and kept that momentum going in Guelph, defeating defending champion Alberta on Thursday and losing to StFX on a last-second try on Saturday.

Ottawa took an early 5-0 lead in Sunday's contest as Allison MacCormack (Orangeville, Ont.) scored a try in the fifth minute of action.

The Mustangs responded quickly however, with Case, the OUA nominee for CIS rookie-of-the-year honours, showing off her game-breaking speed with a 40-metre sprint for a try in the 14th minute.

Western took the lead before the halftime break thanks to a heads-up play from CIS player of the year Lori Josephson (Beaverton, Ont.), who would pick-and-go off a ruck on the one-metre line. It was a gutsy play by the undersized scrum-half, who showed great courage to drive through the big Gee-Gees forwards for the score. 

Breanne Nicholas (Blenheim, Ont.) was good on the conversion to make it 12-5 Mustangs.

In the second half, Case rounded out the scoring in the 55th minute, this time blazing through the Ottawa defence for a 20-metre try, her third of the tournament. 

The Gee-Gees had several good scoring chances after that point but were unable to translate their possessions into tries thanks in part to some solid Western defence. 

Case was named player of the game for the winners, while Allison MacCormack took home the same honour for Ottawa.

After the match, Western head coach Natascha Wesch admitted that the loss to Queen's late in the regular season was "the best thing that could have happened to us. It made us realize that we needed to change our game plan and adapt the way we play versus the top teams. Once we beat Queen's to qualify, we felt like we could play with anybody." 

Ottawa's Jennifer Boyd, the CIS coach of the year, is optimistic about the direction of the Gee-Gees program.

"Hopefully, after our performance this season, we will be able to attract more quality players to allow us to compete at this level."

Source: CIS