The Carleton women’s rugby team lost their third straight game of the season Sept. 16, falling to the Concordia Stingers by a score of 41-7.
It was a beautiful day for rugby, and the Ravens started the game strong by owning possession in the opening minutes of the match. The Ravens were doing a great job of taking advantage of the Stingers’ early mistakes by intercepting passes and forcing Concordia to commit fouls.
Though the Ravens found themselves yards from the Stingers’ end zone on a few occasions, they could not take advantage, and it remained scoreless through the first 20 minutes of play.
In the 23rd minute, the scoring drought was broken, as Concordia intercepted an errant pass and ran it in for the first try of the game. They also made the extra kick, leaving the score at 7-0.
In the 32nd minute, Carleton got the scoring spark that they needed from winger Natasha Smith. Smith intercepted a pass and spotted a gap in the Stingers’ defense, as she sprinted half of the field for the Ravens’ first try of the match. Carleton’s fly-half Jess Harvey converted on the kick as well, tying the game up at 7.
Unfortunately for the Ravens, their score remained at 7 until the clock ran out. After the Ravens’ only try, Concordia asserted themselves and took over the game.
Scoring one more try in the first half, along with 5 more in the second half, Concordia won by a final score of 41-7.
Head coach Denis Blondin was very proud of his team after the game. When asked what the best part of the team’s game was, he quickly responded with “tackling”.
“The team only missed one tackle all half, and we’re very happy with that,” he said.
Throughout the game, the Ravens had a few moments when they were on the brink of scoring, but could not break through.
“We need to have more confidence in ourselves,” Blondin said. “We shouldn’t be surprised that we have the ball in their end, and at this point it’s more a question of maturity.”
Next week, the Ravens travel to the Université de Montréal to face the Carabins on Sept. 23.
“We are going to focus on the little things we did wrong,” Harvey said. “We’re going to train hard this week and come hard against the University of Montreal.”
