RECAP: Women’s rugby thrashes Stingers in season opener

The Ottawa Gee-Gees women's rugby team spoiled the Concordia Stingers home opener in Montreal Sunday, downing the Stingers 59-6.

Ketsia Kamba led the way with three tries, while Mercedes Cole, Claire Gallagher, Talia Hennessy, Julia Latremouille and Mikayla Sweeting each found paydirt. Gallagher converted all eight tries, accounting for 21 total points. 

"This is the most prepared we've ever been for our first game, and it showed at the start," said Gee-Gees head coach Jen Boyd, referencing the program's work during the offseason.

The Gee-Gees opened the scoring early and didn't look back. It took all of two minutes for Kamba to get Ottawa on the board, with Sweeting doubling the lead a few moments later with her first points in Garnet and Grey.

"We've been playing with each other since June – we've really meshed together and have been playing hard," said Kamba, a communication and sociology student. "It felt like another day on the pitch with the girls."

If the Stingers had any hope erasing the 35-point deficit coming out of the half, those hopes were quickly dashed when Latremouille darted 65 yards down the field for a long try.

The lone points for Concordia came via a Mahalia Robinson penalty kicks.

Curiously, this was the second consecutive year that a Gee-Gee scored three tries in the season opener. Both Maddy Grant and Alex Ondo earned hat tricks in a 70-0 season-opening win over Sherbrooke in 2021.

By scoring four or more tries in a game, the Gee-Gees earn a bonus point in the standings – part of a new standings structure implemented prior to the 2022 season by the RSEQ. 

Ottawa (1-0) now sets their sights on the home opener on Saturday, Sept. 10 at Matt Anthony Field. Kickoff is at 1:00 p.m. against the Montreal Carabins (0-1) and tickets are on sale at tickets.geegees.ca.

"We're excited," said Boyd when asked about the home opener. "We're going to recover and enjoy the win, but it's a short week with a really quick turnaround. We haven't thought about Montreal too much, but we'll start preparing."

Concordia (0-1) visits Bishop's (1-0) on Sunday, Sept. 11.