PETERBOROUGH, Ont. - The Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) Women's Rugby Sevens Championship presented by belairdirect will take place on Saturday at Fleming College in Peterborough, Ont., under an expanded format.
Six teams made the cut and will play for this year's title, including the Algonquin Thunder, Conestoga Condors, host Fleming Knights, Humber Hawks, Loyalist Lancers and Seneca Sting.
The top two teams during the regular season (Humber and Seneca) earn byes into the semi-finals, while the remaining four teams compete to join them. Losing teams are relegated to the bronze medal competition. Teams are eliminated from medal contention following their second loss.
Humber Hawks (16-0, 1st OCAA)
Humber's next loss will be its first of 2017 as the Hawks look to run the OCAA table with two more victories.
The defending OCAA champions outscored its opponents 531-68 in 16 matches, leading the OCAA in points scored and least points allowed.
Third-year back Christina Branch (Oshawa) led all OCAA players with 180 points scored on 20 tries and 40 converts.
Seneca Sting (11-5, 2nd OCAA)
The Seneca Sting rebounded from a 3-4 record start, winning eight of their final nine regular season matches to take the all-important second seed, and a bye into the semi-finals.
Perhaps overshadowed by Humber's gaudy numbers, Seneca outscored its opponents 317-176 and were second in the league in both points scored and least points allowed.
Fifth-year centre Saffara Whiteley-Hoffelner (Richmond Hill) led all Seneca players with 87 points on seven tries and 26 converts.
Seneca was the OCAA bronze medalist in 2016.
Fleming Knights (11-5, 3rd OCAA)
Fleming lost out on the tiebreaker with Seneca, and will need to win thrice to claim gold in 2017. The Knights were golden in 2016 in the final season of OCAA women's rugby fifteens.
Fleming was led offensively by second-year player Alize Spalding-Lawrence (Hamilton) averaging a try per match.
Fleming takes on Conestoga in the opening round. The Knights won both regular season meetings between the teams by scores of 29-7 and 17-0.
Algonquin Thunder (8-7-1, 4th OCAA)
Similar to Fleming, the Algonquin Thunder competed in their first season of OCAA women's rugby sevens, finishing in the top four.
Algonquin's top scorer during the regular season was first-year forward Ashley McKenzie (Vars) who accumulated 11 tries in 16 matches.
Algonquin takes on Loyalist with a berth in the semi-finals on the line. These teams split the regular season series between each other, with Algonquin losing 24-14 and winning 7-5.
Loyalist Lancers (7-9, 5th OCAA)
The Loyalist Lancers are the third playoff team that just concluded their first season of OCAA women's rugby sevens.
Momentum may be on the side of the Lancers, winning two of their last three matches. The loss was a narrow 14-12 defeat to second-place Seneca.
Loyalist first-year scrum Kierstyn Bennett (Wellington) was second among OCAA players with 90 points with 14 tries and 10 converts.
The winner of the Loyalist-Algonquin match takes on undefeated Humber in the semi-finals.
Conestoga Condors (6-9-1, 6th OCAA)
The Conestoga Condors are the reigning OCAA silver medalists, but have the deck stacked against them as the bottom seed at provincials.
Second-year prop Michaela Knowles (Kitchener) is Conestoga's leader on offence with 15 tries and four converts totalling 83 points in sixteen matches.
The winner of the Fleming-Conestoga match takes on Seneca in the semi-finals.
Championship Website: www.ocaa.com/championships/wrug7/2017-18/index
Live Webcast: www.youtube.com/user/KnightsFleming
Championship Schedule
Saturday, November 4
Game #1: Loyalist vs. Algonquin - 10 a.m.
Game #2: Conestoga vs. Fleming - 10:30 a.m.
Game #3: Humber vs. Winner Game #1 - 11 a.m.
Game #4: Seneca vs. Winner Game #2 - 11:30 a.m.
Game #5: Loser Game #1 vs. Loser Game #4 - 12 p.m.
Game #6: Loser Game #2 vs. Loser Game #3 - 12:30 p.m.
Bronze Medal Match
Game #7: Winner Game #5 vs. Winner Game #6 - 2 p.m.
Winning team presented OCAA Bronze Medal at conclusion of match
Gold Medal Match
Game #8: Winner Game #3 vs. Winner Game #4 - 2:45 p.m.
OCAA Gold and Silver Medals presented at conclusion of match
- OCAA -
ABOUT ONTARIO COLLEGES ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION
The Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) is the recognized leader in intercollegiate athletics in the province, dedicated to student-athlete and sport development. The OCAA has 29 members sponsoring 12 varsity sports.
For additional information please contact:
Josh Bell-Webster
Marketing and Communications
Ontario Colleges Athletic Association
Tel: 416-426-7041
Fax: 416-426-7308
E-mail: bell-webster@ocaa.com