The Ravens women’s rugby team beat the Concordia University Stingers 56-0 on their way to a 1-0 record in their home opener.
The Ravens controlled the game up front and spread the ball out.
The Stingers had no answer for winger Maya Addai’s speed. Addai scored two first half-tries in quick succession and the Ravens were quickly up 12-0.
The game slowed later into the first half becoming a more physical affair, with the Ravens breaking few long runs and the Stingers even fewer. The result was largely the same, with Carleton getting offence from all angles with flanker S.J. Vezina cashing in.
The Ravens went to the locker room at halftime up 29-0.
The second half yielded largely the same results, with the Stingers, who usually point to their front line as a strength, being no match for the Ravens. Concordia had difficulty moving the ball and even more difficulty scoring, getting close but never being able to break past Carleton’s front line to score.
“We really focused all training camp on that we have to bring it to them. We set goals, we met those goals.” Sonia Hassan, second-year prop, said after the game.
Good starts are a focal point of the team, according to Patrick Thompson, the team’s head coach.
“A big thing for us is playing with tempo and playing with pace,” Thompson said after the game. “We know to do that we have to have a good start. We know momentum in rugby is a big thing. It’s hard to come back once you’re down.”
Last year, the Ravens had a 91-0 loss at the hand of the Stingers and finished just outside of the playoffs and a roster with 10 new players.
Team captain and fourth-year player Ellen Spannagel talked about the growth of the team after the game.
“It’s indescribable, just to see the team grow, going from a team that would be getting beat 90 nothing, 80 nothing, 70 nothing in almost all our games in my first year, to now a team that is dominant,” Spannagel said. “We’re a team that is ready too. We’ve started this momentum high, and we’re going to keep it going into the next game and the game after. This is going to be the best season that this program has ever had.”
The Ravens’ next game is Sept. 7 at Université du Québec à Montréal.
Photo by Aaron Hemens
