The Marauders ended their regular season in style and served notice to their quarterfinal opponents with a dominant win on Sunday. McMaster's women's rugby team defeated the York Lions 64-7 in the final game of the OUA season, to set up a conference quarterfinal against the same team in a week's time.
McMaster (3-2) secured second place in the OUA's Russell Division with the victory, and a home playoff date in the quarterfinal round. York (2-3) fell to third in the divsion, meaning that the Lions will return to Hamilton for a Friday rematch.
The Marauders had ten tries from seven different scorers on the afternoon, with Stephanie Black, Rina Charalampis and Madolyn Vande Pol each scoring a pair. Lauren Crampton, Cindy Nelles, Emily Ricketts and Emily Cameron had individual tries, while Black led all scorers with 24 points, adding seven converts to her pair of tries.
McMaster scored early and often on Sunday, and scored 24 unanswered points between the fifth and 23rd minutes on the strength of both of Charalampis' tries, a try from Vande Pol, Ricketts and a pair of converts from Black. York put an end to the run with its only try of the afternoon, courtesy of centre Kadi Koroma in the 28th minute. A successful convert from Alexis Boltsis brought the Lions within 17 points at the conclusion of the first half. That's as close as the game would get.
The Marauders reeled off another run after the break, this time to the tune of 40 points, to cap a dominant afternoon. Black exploded for 20 points in the second-half rout, breaking through for both of her tries on the afternoon and notching five converts as McMaster rolled to victory. Vande Pol had her second try in the 57th minute, while Crampton, Cameron and Nelles each crossed the goal line in the period.
The demolition brought an end to McMaster's regular season, but the team will have a quick turnaround as it looks to the postseason. The Marauders welcome the Lions back to Back 10 Field on Friday, October 11 for an OUA quarterfinal matchup slated to get underway at 1:00 p.m.
