The Carleton Ravens women’s rugby team extended their winning streak to five straight games with a 28-0 win against the Bishop’s University Gaiters on Saturday, the final game of the regular season.
The weather was particularly challenging, especially at halftime, with heavy rain stopping and starting. Despite the conditions, the Ravens remained in control of the plays with the majority of the first half played on Bishop’s side of the pitch.
“My message has always been that we’re going there to do a job and we need to complete the job, regardless of the obstacles,” head coach David Luong said.
After a strong start, the Ravens led 14-0 at halftime.
Shortly after, Carleton flanker Zoe Totten-Coulter took a hit and the game was put on hold while the team waited for an ambulance. Roughly 20 minutes later, Totten-Coulter was taken to the hospital to be evaluated.
“She’s a bit sore,” Luong said. “It was more for precautionary reasons that we wanted her to go to the hospital to ensure that we didn’t miss anything on the field.”
When the game restarted, it was already dark on the pitch and rain continued to pour down, but the team pulled through the second half with a strong defense and several tries.
“We can only control what we can control,” Luong said. “We can’t control the weather, we can’t control injuries, we can’t even control the start time of the game. What we are able to control—that’s our main focus.”
Carleton fly half Vanessa Chiappetta had a particularly strong game, scoring a try and three conversions. Chiappetta, in her second year of eligibility, was part of a young Ravens lineup in the game, with three rookies and only two seniors on the pitch.
Although the team didn’t defeat Bishop’s by as large a margin as their first game against them, which Carleton won 48-0, Luong said it was still a strong match.
“Maybe we didn’t score as many points, but the main focus was not having points put on against us,” Luong said.
With the win, the Ravens finished second in the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ) B division and will travel to play the Concordia University Stingers in Montreal next weekend for the RSEQ quarterfinals.
Featured image by Spencer Colby.
