The Carleton Ravens women’s rugby team topped the Bishop’s University Gaiters 65-8 on Sept. 4 in their season opener at Coulter Field in Lennoxville, Que.
“It’s always nice to start the season with a win,” said Ravens head coach Patrick Thompson.
“Getting the win is obviously important for us, but we are also using the game to gauge where we are at after our two-week training camp,” he said. “There are a lot of positives to take away. Full credit to Bishop’s, who stuck in for the full 80 minutes. They made us work defensively.”
The Ravens got started quickly as Melanie Judges scored in the third minute on a 25-yard run. Not long after, Ella Collings added another score to double the lead.
Olivia Merritt followed up Collings’ score by weaving through the Gaiters defence to stretch their lead to 17-0.
Moments later, Ellen Spannagal added the first of her three tries of the game to put the Ravens up by 22. Spannagal added her second try of the game after speeding down the sidelines away from Bishop’s defence.
Maria Godfrey added one more score in the first half after the Gaiters’ lost possession of the ball deep in their own territory. Bailey Dean kicked a conversion and the half ended with Carleton holding a commanding 34-0 lead over Bishop’s.
The Ravens continued to pressure the Gaiters when the second half began. Nearing four minutes into the second half, following a scrum in Bishop’s end, rookie Sarah Poudrier added a try to the Ravens flurry of points and Dean tacked on a conversion to put the Ravens up by 40.
In the 50th minute, the Gaiters pushed hard towards the end zone, but were denied after the Ravens were able to recover the ball and run it out of harms way.
Six minutes later Claire Traversa would find the ball and go for a run down the sidelines to score yet another try for the visitors.
The game would see a slight time delay due to an injury before Spannagal added her third try of the match after her 30-yard scamper down the sideline.
The game continued smoothly until the action was stopped by the referee at the 70th minute to give Kaitlynn Kuria of Bishop’s a yellow card.
The yellow card gave the Ravens possession deep in the Gaiters end, allowing Merritt to add another try, and Dean to add the conversion. Soon after, Merritt added her third try to put the game out of reach for the Gaiters.
But Bishop’s would not be shut out after being stopped at the doorstep, the Gaiters’ Gillian Simpson would add a try before time expired.
Carleton will head to the practice field next to prep for their home game on Sept. 11 at Raven Road Field against the McGill Martlets.
