A healthy lead at the break saw the Marauders through a turbulent second half on Saturday, as McMaster defeated the Ottawa Gee-Gees 17-12 to advance to the CIS final. The Sunday gold-medal match will mark McMaster's second appearance in the final, having advanced to that stage when the Marauders hosted the inaugural tournament in 1998.
Rina Charalampis, Saffara Whiteley-Hoffelner and Abi Moody had tries for the Marauders, all coming in the team's 17-point first half. Danielle Erdelyi and Casey Jones both crossed the end line for the Gee-Gees in a losing effort.
It was a dream start for McMaster when the Marauders grabbed possession early and made it count, as Emily Ricketts found Charalampis wide left with a pass and the fullback turned the corner on the Gee-Gees and touched down in the middle just three minutes in. Stephanie Black's convert was good from a favourable position, and McMaster took an early 7-0 lead.
Perhaps helped by a day off on Friday, the Marauders brought pace and continual pressure in the first half, and were rewarded with a second try inside ten minutes when Saffara Whiteley-Hoffelner put her running on display. The veteran wing made several would-be tacklers miss as she deked her way through the Ottawa defence and across the end line with a spectacular individual effort to swell the Marauders lead to 12-0.
A tactical change for the Gee-Gees reaped benefits on the scoreboard, as they worked their way downfield on a series of touch-and-go plays before Erdelyi punched the ball into the try zone to get Ottawa on the board. The convert attempt was no good, and McMaster led 12-5.
The Marauders answered with a tactic that worked time and time again on Saturday, as Sara Svoboda took down a line-out and McMaster pushed a maul over the end line with Abi Moody clutching the ball. That gave McMaster a 17-5 lead, which the Marauders would hold into the halftime break.
Ottawa came out with purpose in the second half, and controlled possession for the majority of the 35-minute period. With Ricketts in the sin bin, the Gee-Gees capitalized and clawed a try back courtesy of Casey Jones with 15 minutes to play. The convert was good, and put Ottawa within an unconverted try of the tie at 17-12.
But McMaster defended well into the wind as the half wore down, and after Ricketts returned to play, Ottawa's Allison MacCormack was sent to the bin to put the Gee-Gees down a player with eight minutes to play.
That was all the advantage that McMaster needed, and the Marauders saw out the remainder of the clock — and a generous portion of extra time — to clinch the win and the berth in the national final.
