Saturday, October 21
1pm
Varsity Field, University of Guelph
Guelph Gryphons vs Queen's Gaels
Online:  www.oua.tv
 

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GUELPH – The Guelph Gryphons women's rugby team is used to looking forward and not back. The ethos instilled in the Gryphon players is to focus on short-term goals and take personal responsibility to achieve them. But it can be hard to completely ignore the past. The defending OUA champs have a history like no other school – 14 titles in 23 years, including two national championships.

When the No. 2 ranked Gryphons host the Queen's Gaels in the OUA gold medal match Saturday afternoon at Varsity Field, it will be nothing new for the program. But Guelph's players know that cashing in on the opportunity is up to them.

"We have to turn any nervousness into really good energy," says Colette McAuley, who was just named Shiels Division OUA Coach of the Year after leading the Gryphons to an undefeated regular season. "That's what we're working on this week.

"What I want them to realize is that what's new is the team around them. Every team is different from year to year. What makes this team click and what drives them? They can't rely on what they did in the past game or what a team did in the last year."

McAuley says that the girls are on a high this week after implementing some new offensive looks during a one-sided 55-0 win over the York Lions in last week's OUA semi-final win. The coach stressed the concept of being deliberate in executing one of many options from each part of the pitch. McAuley entrusted her players to make good decisions and they did just that, ripping through York early and often with speed and precision.
 

The Gaels present their own problems. Guelph defeated Queen's in the season opener on Sept. 2, a tight 38-31 affair that forced McAuley to preach the importance of defence the rest of the season. The Gryphons have listened. The focus has to be there in order to defeat a fluid Queen's side that features three Shiels Division all-stars, including the rookie of the year, Sophie de Goede.

McAuley says that facing Queen's is "almost like playing ourselves."

"We both have a mobile pack and play a fast, wide-open game that's fun to watch," she says. "It will be a great contest and come down to who is more accurate on the day. We have to be accurate in contact, accurate with our passes. That will be the difference, who can minimize the errors."

The Gryphons have talent and depth at many positions. They led all Shiels Division sides with five all-stars, including third-year fly half Julia Schell (the Shiels MVP in 2016), fourth-year 8^th man Kylie Shaughnessy, fourth-year centre Madison Brattan, second-year lock Emilie Nicholl and veteran fifth-year scrum half Chloe Runge. Guelph will be without third-year Alexandra Everett, who unfortunately tore her quad against McMaster a couple weeks ago but against York, the defending champions added a new weapon. Third-year wing Emmanuela Jada made a splash in her Gryphon debut, racing for three tries en route to Gryphon and OUA Female Athlete of the Week honours.

Jada played two years for the Lions and then transferred to Guelph. She had been out with a shoulder injury she suffered last season in the Olympic 7s program.

"Emmanuela gives us a different look," McAuley said of the fast, athletic Jada, who played outside centre last week.

The coach expects to see urgency and intensity from her side when on the big stage. The players can't add to the program's storied history, and their own personal legacy, without that focus.

"As coaches, we're just trying to reinforce the fact that we can't let our foot off the gas pedal," McAuley says. "We can't go into a mode where it's just going to happen for us automatically. We have to work harder than the opposition, we have to want it more than the opposition, and we have to be more physical than the opposition.

"They should have a sense of calm but also a sense of excitement."