parpho@rpgers.com

Gaels end CIS Championship run with National Silver
KINGSTON, Ont. (CIS) –The McMaster Marauders lay claim to their first ever Monilex Trophy with a 27-3 CIS championship win over the host Queen's Gaels, who finish with their best championship result as silver medalists, on Sunday afternoon in Kingston. CIS MVP Cindy Nelles was also named the championship MVP finishing with a pair of tries in the victory.

It was a return trip to the national final for the OUA champion Marauders, who dropped a wild 43-34 decision to StFX in last year's title match in Guelph. McMaster had also lost 15-10 to Guelph on hometurf in Hamilton in the final of the inaugural CIS championship back in 1998.

With the win, the new Monilex Trophy champs also avenged their only loss of the season, a 15-14 setback against Queen's in their OUA opener at Nixon Field on Sept. 13.

Four days after being named the CIS player of the year, fourth-year McMaster standout Cindy Nelles was voted championship MVP after scoring two tries in the most important game of the campaign.

"It's absolutely been an incredible journey," said Nelles. "This team has come so far from when I first came to McMaster and it's been absolutely amazing to be a part of that journey."

"It's a huge reward for the amount of work that the players have done this season," said an excited head coach Shaun Allen. "The coaches all of the staff were so well supported by our department, by the school, by the other athletes it's amazing. I'm incredibly proud right now."

Despite the loss, Queen's still achieved the best result in program history, surpassing a CIS bronze medal in 2013. Head coach Beth Barz credited the Marauders for their play but was also proud of her group.

"They worked their tails off the whole game, realistically McMaster had a pick-and-go that we had a hard time stopping even though we certainty worked to do it and had some success at times. It sure was fun to watch our team this tournament and man they played with a lot of heart today."



The OUA teams traded penalty kicks early in the Gold Medal match with McMaster's Ashley Gordon (Brampton, Ont.) missing theirs while Lauren McEwen (Wasaga Beach, Ont.) kicked through the goal for the Gaels giving them the advantage of an early three point lead.

The Gaels fell back on the defensive as McMaster powered forward, handing the ball off to Colleen Irowa (Innisfil, Ont.) who fought through to smack down the first try of the match. Off the good convert by Stephanie Black (Oakville, Ont.) McMaster pulled ahead 7-3.

Queen's drew the Marauders out of their end with strong drives forward by Pippi McKay (Toronto) but McMaster wouldn't let them see the five metre line, keeping play at midfield for the majority of the half.

Gordon took off from the pack, running deep into the Gaels end only to be stopped by Queen's flanker Emma Chown (Barrie, Ont.) who caught her just before she could reach the try zone. The fight was along the Gaels try zone as McMaster boasted big offensive attacks against the Gaels defensive line. In an impressive showing of tight defence, the Gaels held off McMaster until the halftime whistle keeping the deficit at just four points.

McMaster finished what they'd started at the end of the first with Irowa bursting onto the pitch to push across her second try two minutes into the beginning of the second half. The Marauders didn't stop there, as they returned to the Queen's try line sending CIS All-Canadian Cindy Nelles (Belleville, Ont.) through a seam in the Gaels defence to put down another try, stretching their lead to 17-3.

The gold medal was in the grasp of McMaster as they returned to the Gaels end, mauling over the try line with Katie Svoboda (Belleville, Ont.) touching down the score. Nelles followed her lead eight minutes later heading another matching maul try.

Late in the half, the Marauders found themselves on their heels for the first time in the match as Queen's charg