The McMaster women's rugby team took its first step toward defending its OUA Championship by defeating the Trent Excalibur 88-8 in quarterfinal playoff action held Saturday afternoon in Hamilton.

Before the game was 10 minutes old,  McMaster had crossed the touchline three times with Katie Svoboda going over twice and Cindy Nelles once.  Steph Black converted all three maroon tries and the Marauders were in front 21-0, as fans were still finding their seats.

Trent managed a penalty goal by Karlie Robinson, but the McMaster onslaught continued as Ashley Gordon scored on three long runs, Lauren Walkden had two tries, and Emily Ricketts crossed the line just before halftime to put the Marauders ahead 61-3 at the break.

McMaster coach Shaun Allen took advantage of the big lead and made several substitutions for the second stanza. 

Trent started the second half with some good work and Robinson took it over the touchline in the early minutes to make it 61-8.

The Marauders kept up the pressure and got two second -half tries from MacKenzie Wiens, and single scores from Keyara Valencia-Hinds and Selena Seguin.  Steph Black added three more conversions and a drop goal to complete the scoring, finishing with a total of 25 points for the game.

With the win McMaster advances to host an OUA semi-final against the Western Mustangs on Saturday, October 24.  The start time for the semi-final at Ron Joyce Stadium will be 7 p.m.