GUELPH, Ont. – Constant improvement is one of the traits of a championship team. The Guelph Gryphons women's rugby side clearly has that desire to get better and they tend to evolve throughout each season. It was evident again on a clear Saturday afternoon at Varsity Field as the two-time defending OUA champions Gryphons defeated the McMaster Marauders 41-7 to cap the regular season a perfect 4-0.
 
Third-year prop Brodie Schmidt had two tries, while Rebecka Sundell, Emmanuela Jada, Madison Brattan (three converts), Alexandra Everett, and Talia Hoffman each touched down once in a one-sided match.
 
The Gryphons have had to find ways to mount different attacks against each of their opponents this season and against McMaster, a tough team that can defend well, the idea was to be more compact. It took a while to seize the momentum but once Sundell opened the scoring in the 15^th minute, the defending champs were off and running.

Jada scored her try a couple minutes later and Brattan followed in the 22^nd minute. Schmidt would add her first try of the day in the 18^th minute to send Guelph into the half up 20-0, the only blemish being four missed converts.
 
McMaster scored its lone try of the day immediately after the restart but Schmidt responded right away, crossing the line for the second time on the afternoon.
 
The win keeps Guelph atop the OUA's Shiels Division and earns the side a bye in the opening round of the playoffs. The Gryphons outscored opponents 274-41 through four regular season matches.
 
 
Turning point
McMaster came storming out of the half to record its first and only try of the day, which had them down by just 13 points. With Guelph having missed all four of its first-half converts, the visitors my have had some hope. But that was fleeting. Everett, who scored six trys in last week's demolition of York, put the nail in the coffin when she touched down two minutes after the Marauders did.

 
Gryphon Take
"McMaster is very well known for their ability to turnover ball on defence. We had to be very diligent in retaining ball and making sure we worked hard to keep that ball. We had to make a couple adaptations in the first 15, 20 minutes because we were still losing ball. We had to change up our game plan and keep the ball out of contact as a much as possible. The girls did a good job of changing the plan, being closer (to each other). They did what was necessary to get the ball down the field and score tries. I was happy with the work rate of our forwards and our organization defensively. Our backs did a great job of communicating and really shutting them down."
 
"In regular season, you're focusing on your own team much more than the opposition. We work on things we want to see. There is a lot of talent in this group. We want to be able to make adjustments and attack in each channel proficiently. We did it. We were able to attack close when we needed to against Queen's and a little bit further out wide against Western and York. And here just had to find the gap up the seam. If our support is just a little quicker, and we'll work on that, we will see the scores improve." – head coach Colette McAuley

 
The Record
Guelph is 4-0.

 
Next up
Opponent TBD, Saturday, Oct 13, OUA Semi-final @ Varsity Field
 

---

Scoring Summary
 

Minute	University	Type of Score	Player	Convert	Match Score
15'	Guelph	Try	R. Sundell	Missed	5-0 Guelph
17'	Guelph	Try	E. Jada	Missed	10-0 Guelph
22'	Guelph	Try	M. Brattan	Missed	15-0 Guelph
28'	Guelph	Try	B. Schmidt	Missed	20-0 Guelph
41'	McMaster	Try	S. Svoboda	Good (Svoboda)	20-7 Guelph
43'	Guelph	Try	A. Everett	Good (Brattan)	27-7 Guelph
49'	Guelph	Try	B. Schmidt	Good (Brattan)	34-7 Guelph
75'	Guelph	Try	T. Huffman	Good (Brattan)	41-7 Guelph