With the pedal to the floor and the game within reach, the Marauders ran out of gas Sunday. McMaster fell short in the consolation final of the CIS championship, losing out to the Concordia Stingers 29-22 in the first game of the final day in Victoria.

The result saw the defending national champions finish sixth. In Sunday's final, the St. Francis Xavier X-Women won their fifth national title over the Ottawa Gee-Gees, while Calgary topped Guelph for bronze.

Abi Moody's try just a few short minutes into the second half pulled Mac within two points of Concordia at 19-17, but the comeback was not to be, as the Stingers pulled away to score 10 of the final 15 points.

Marauders veteran Saffara Whiteley-Hoffelner, who was named as a CIS Tournament All-Star in the wake of Sunday's loss, had a pair of tries, while Colleen Irowa concluded an exceptional showing at the national tournament by scoring her third try of the weekend.

McMaster head coach Shaun Allen admitted Sunday that his team was taxed to its physical limit by the challenge of playing three physical, up-tempo matches over the course of four days on the road.

"We were really looking to push the pace of the game probably beyond what we were physically able to do today given the fact that we played three games in four days and I think it led to too many errors," said Allen.

"Credit Concordia—they played 90 minutes yesterday and they defended like crazy and did a really good job on their attack and maintaining possession."

In addition to Whiteley-Hoffelner, First Team All-Canadian Sara Svoboda was named as a Tournament All-Star at the eight position, with her one try in the tournament coming in Saturday's consolation semi-final victory over the Acadia Axewomen.