The defending OUA Champion McMaster Marauders women's curling team fell to the host Waterloo Warriors, 9-4, in the quarter finals of the OUA Championship on Saturday.
 
After going 1-1 on Friday, the Marauders began day two of the tournament with a 9am match in which they defeated the Toronto Varsity Blues 9-0.
 
McMaster held the hammer through a scoreless first end before scoring two points in the second. Going into third end, Toronto had the advantage, but the determined Marauders stole a point to push their lead to 3-0.
 
The women in maroon kept this trend going for the rest of the match, stealing two points in the fourth end, three in the fifth, and one in the sixth. With the score at 9-0 after six ends, the match was conceded early, and the Marauders added a win to their record.
 
Just hours later McMaster took on the Rams in their final match of qualifying play but fell to them 11-4.
 
After winning the draw, the Marauders went into the game with the last stone in the first end for the fourth time of the tournament.
 
Though there was no score in the first, McMaster came out strong in the second, earning two points. However, with the hammer in the third, the Rams tied it up.
 
In the next two ends, each team came away with a point, keeping the game tied, until the Rams began to pull ahead, stealing two points from the Marauders in the sixth.
 
McMaster was able to maintain a close game in the seventh end, scoring one point and making it a 5-4 game.
 
With one end to go, the Marauders only needed two points to take the victory, but unfortunately the Rams had incredible accuracy in the final end and racked up six points, more than doubling their score to win the game 11-4.
 
Sitting at a 2-2 after the qualifying round, and in third place in Pool C, the Marauders were set to face off against the Warriors in the quarterfinals — After the qualifiers, Waterloo had earned second place in Pool B with a 3-1 record.
 
The Warriors began the knockout match with the hammer, and it played in their favour as they took an early three-point lead. However, McMaster was there to fight, earning one point in the second and stealing two in the third.
 
Tied at three, Waterloo took the advantage into the fourth end and scored two points. Though McMaster tried to keep the game close in the fifth, securing one more point, the Warriors ran away with it in the final ends.
 
In a tough sixth end for McMaster, Waterloo racked up six points and secured their victory with a final ninth stone in the seventh end, concluding the game early with a 9-4 final score.
 
As the reigning OUA Champions, the Marauders were the team to beat this year and were unfortunately sent home early.