Late penalty trouble derailed the first step of the Marauders OUA title defence on Sunday, as McMaster coughed up a late lead in losing a 15-14 to Queen's in Kingston.

Leading 14-10 with just over ten minutes to play, the Marauders saw consecutive yellow cards issued against captain Cindy Nelles and veteran Christine van Beest, putting them at a two-player disadvantage for much of what remained to be played.

Queen's made the most of the numerical advantage, scoring the game-clinching try after several minutes of stout defence from McMaster. Nelles and van Beest returned to play, but not in time to salvage the result, as Mac's final drive ended with a forward pass and the referee blew an end to the contest.

Steph Black and Selena Seguin had tries for the Marauders in the low-scoring, defensive battle between the last two champions of the OUA.

The visitors began brightly on Sunday, scoring the game's opening try just five minutes in, when Black found a seam in the Queen's defensive line and scampered through the middle to touch down under the goal posts. Black followed with the convert from a great position, making good on it to give McMaster the early 7-0 lead.

With 10 minutes to play in the opening half, Queen's cut into the deficit with a penalty goal, and had a chance to draw within a point in the dying stages when they were awarded another penalty, but could not make good on it. McMaster carried a 7-3 lead into the break, having defended for much of the first half.

The Marauders struck to extend their lead midway through the second half, when Britni French broke several tackles to take McMaster deep into Queen's territory before dumping the ball off to Seguin, who completed the move for the try. A successful convert gave Mac a 14-3 lead.

It didn't last long, however, as a promising offensive drive quickly turned sour. A pass out wide was intercepted by the Gaels Emma Chown, who ran the length of the field unopposed to cut McMaster's advantage to four points after a convert.

The hosts completed their comeback when McMaster's disciplinary issues arose in the late stages.

Looking for a bounce-back, the Marauders will return to action in a week's time, when they travel to Waterloo to take on the Warriors on Saturday, September 19.