ALYSIA COMTOIS SCORES GAME-WINNING TRY TO TAKE DOWN THE CONCORDIA STINGERS
The fans flooded Matt Anthony Field on a beautiful sunny Saturday afternoon to watch the powerhouse Gee-Gees Women’s rugby squad battle it out against the Concordia Stingers. This game was easily the most exciting, nail-biting, and impressive display of talent put on at Matt Anthony Field by the Women’s rugby squad so far. The Gees would squeeze by with a slim win, 17-14, thanks to an extremely clutch, game-winning try from Alysia Comtois. The team remains undefeated thus far, but will be tested next weekend when they will battle it out against the Laval Rouge.
The Gees showcased their tough defence early on against the Stingers, shutting down three consecutive plays within 10 yards of the try line. The fourth time’s the charm, as the Stingers’ Mahalia Robinson would do a nasty step past the defence for the first try of the game. Her conversion was good as well, and the Gees were down seven.
Robinson would break past the Gees’ defence once again, and all looked well for another Concordia try, but Mercedes Cole turned on the jets, catching up to Robinson and tackling her out of bounds to gain possession, and stopping a try.
Once again, with seconds remaining in the first half, Gees’ speedy winger Cole sprinted past the Stingers’ line, scoring on the far left of the Concordia zone. With the five-point try, the Gees were only down two going into the second half.
Easily the most impressive back-to-back plays of the season, Cole humbly spoke of her phenomenal plays as such: “I feel amazing, I’m so happy the team could execute. As much as I was the one touching it down, it was all of us that got that ball over the line.”
Entering into the second half, the Gees made a clutch stop inside their try zone, forcing a penalty, then clearing the ball from danger.
Ten minutes later, the Stingers would strike again, and a conversion from Robinson put the Gees down 14-5. With only 23 minutes remaining, the Gees would need to overcome a difficult but doable nine-point deficit.
A few plays were all it took for the Gees to get back at the Stingers. Strong center, Ngozi Mosindi, would punch it down for a try, and Claire Bennet’s kick was good, decreasing the deficit to 14-12.
As time wound down, the Gees were hungry to score by any means, with no less than 30 plays and three exchanges of possession, the ball stayed within 20 yards of the Stingers’ zone. With less than a minute left in regulation, the clutch Comtois dove in for the game-winning try, and the Gees would earn a slim victory 17-14 over the Concordia Stingers.
The game-winning scorer, Comtois, was excited to get back on the field for the Gees: “This is my first game of the season, I was so excited but also nervous about the game, but we have been working hard these past few weeks, we have a lot of new players on the field, and we are very happy with the results, plays were good and we executed.”
Comtois, a very humble player, said this about her game winning try, “I scored the try, but I think it was really a team try, I was just the finish line of all the work we had been putting in for the 80 minutes.” Perhaps the team was blessed with a stroke of luck as Comtois entered the roster just in the last week, unknowing that she would be the player to ice the game against Concordia, a top ten program in U SPORTS.
As Head Coach Jack Hanratty’s second season with the team is underway, he is always critical of how the team plays, but is absolutely loving the atmosphere when playing at home — “I don’t think we played well. I think it took us the first half, where I thought we defended amazingly, such willingness. We always say that rugby is a bar fight when you’re defending, so you just got to win a bar fight, and you do it by all means necessary. Our attack let us down today, which is a bit disappointing, because it’s been really good, so we’ll have to work on that.”
Coach Hanratty followed up on the youngsters on the squad and their next matchup; “But I’m happy that they found a way to win, it wasn’t a pretty home game — you’re gonna be nervous, a lot of youngsters. It’s a brand new team, but they found a way to win, and that’s all you can really ask for. We’ve got lots to work on, which is great because we train four times a week, so that helps. And we’re going to have to compete with Laval next week, there’s a reason why they’re multinational winning champions, and if we’re gonna compete with Laval, we gotta go an extra couple of years.”
Rugby has a certain culture that no other sport can replicate; it’s violent and filled with fierce talent, but it is also a game of respect and class. Especially with such a special team like the Gee-Gees women’s team, coach Hanratty describes it best — “This is what’s really special about women’s rugby, and obviously, the University of Ottawa has incredible sports programs. We saw an incredible crowd here last weekend for the men’s rugby home opener, and all the girls were there — they were so excited.”
Coach Hanratty holds a high praise for the exciting atmosphere for women’s sports all across Ottawa, and wants the same for this program — “You look at the Ottawa Charge setting the standard for female sports here in Ottawa, and we want to be the Ottawa Charge for women’s rugby. We want people to come here, and if you look around, there are people of all ages, not just family, but people who want to see quality athletes. If you look at Canada getting to the World Cup semi-final this morning, four of them haven’t played in U SPORTS. So it just shows this is the pathway, and if you want to see great rugby, it’s great to have it locally, and this is the proper time. It’s entertaining, you can grab a beer. So, I’m hoping that as we build this new identity as a team, more and more people can come out and see what we’re trying to do.”
The team will have to gear up and train for next weekend’s opponents, the dominators of the RSEQ, Laval Rouge. Listen to the wise Coach Hanratty and come out to support the Gee-Gees women’s rugby team at home, Matt Anthony Field, 4:00 p.m., Sept. 20. Get your tickets here.
