The Brock Badgers women's rugby team is off to the next round of the OUA playoffs after delivering a commanding 43-7 performance against the visiting Toronto Varsity Blues on Saturday, October 14.
Back five Maia Swemmer got the scoring started in the fourth minute with a try and Julie Grohal kicked her first of five converts in the contest to make it 7-0. Matalyn Lee scored her first of two tries in the game at the 16-minute mark. In a span of 11 minutes, the Badgers notched four tries courtesy of Lee, Jess Darby and Chihinga Palata, who scored two. At half, Brock held a 40-0 advantage.
"The first half was really good. We were really rolling, doing pretty much everything right," said head coach Mark Smerdon.
The Varsity Blues scored in the 58th minute to reduce the lead to 40-7. Orly Ferris kicked a penalty kick in the 75th minute for the lone Badger score in the second half.
Sophomore Jessie Contini came off the bench and did a great job tackling and was described by Smerdon as a 'defensive demon'.
Brock's player of the match was tight five Jordyn Pitt who was moving forward with power and made some dominant tackles during the contest and had the game of her life according to Smerdon.
Smerdon and the team are excited for the opportunity to take on Guelph once again with an OUA finals berth on the line.
"Guelph happened to be the first game of the year and they beat us 44-10, but we played a great game against them. We got seven games under our belt, and we've worked on a number of things. The girls want this and are excited. They've all got the right mentality. Everybody has that mentality of 'why not us?'."
Up next, the No. 10 Badgers will take on the No. 5 Guelph Gryphons in the OUA semifinals in Guelph on Saturday, October 21. Brock played Guelph in the first game of the year, falling 44-10 in their initial encounter.
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