There were blood, sweat and tears poured into the season but it could not have been more worth it for the uOttawa women's rugby squad as they finished the regular season with their record unblemished. The Gee-Gees had never gone 7-0 in the history of the program until tonight when they shut-out the Carleton Ravens 28-0 at Matt Anthony Field.
It was all Gee-Gees all game on the brisk Friday evening as they dominated the Ravens, spending most of the game in Carleton's end. The country's leading scorer, Natasha Smith was held scoreless in the contest as the Gee-Gees were able to bring her to the ground on most of her runs.
Megan Copeland-Dinan and Simone Savary each added a try for the Gee-Gees while Danielle Erdelyi capped off her second game in a row with two tries. Irene Patrinos continued her solid conversion play, going three for four on the night and finishing with six points.
Chanelle Fortin took home player of the game honours as she made many big tackles on defence including a big tackle on Smith in the opening minutes of the game which put a stop to the Ravens' best scoring opportunity. The first-year wing has had a good rookie season for the garnet and grey, starting every game.
"It feels pretty amazing to have this type of season. I am so grateful to be part of this team and be under the tutelage of Jen [Boyd] because I have known her for a few years now and could not ask for a better coach. Her intensity is just so high and I don't expect anything less from her. We will go home and celebrate tonight because we have worked so hard for this," said Fortin.
In only her second year as head coach of the Gee-Gees Jen Boyd was able to lead her team to an undefeated record and seemingly changing the culture of the program. The team finished the regular season with a RSEQ best 50 points allowed and 250 scored.
"It's pretty emotional because you never really realize that you can have a perfect season until it is done. One thing that's for sure is that I could never have done this alone. Ducan [McNaughton] deserves so much credit for his work with the forwards because it has won us so many games," said Boyd after the game. "We are really happy about the way our defence has played this season. We think of it as a stampede and tonight all these girls are proud to be Gee-Gees."
The Gee-Gees will host an RSEQ semi-final match-up next Saturday, October 18 at 4 p.m. against the McGill Martlets. McGill finished the regular season in fourth place with a 4-3 record.
