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Rugby (M) | 11/5/2016 3:33:00 PM | Posted by: Emily VanderHeyden (Communications Student)

Last Minute Try by Young Sends Gaels to OUA Championship

KINGSTON, Ont. (November 5, 2016) - The Gaels earned the right to defend their provincial title when Dylan Young (Toronto) scored a last minute try to send the tricolour past the Mustangs 28-24 Saturday afternoon on Nixon Field.

GAME FLOW
After Western took an early 3-0 lead on a penalty goal from over 40 yards out, the Gaels dominated the opening 30 minutes of the game, tackling hard and creating some great runs. Local product Patrick Lynott (Kingston, Ont.) snuck through the Western defence to score Queen's first try of the day and take a 5-3 lead. Spending some time in the Western end, the Gaels decided to kick for points, with Alex Colborne (London, Ont.) splitting the uprights twice to increase the Gaels to 11-3. As the half progressed, Kainoa Lloyd (Mississauga, Ont.) made a great run down the wing. The Mustangs were able to respond soon after when their leading scorer from the regular season, Cole Sopik, cut through the Gaels defence from the 20 yard line to score a momentum building try for Western. With a successful conversion, the first half finished with a score of 11-10.

The Mustangs opened the second half strong, taking a try and a conversion inside the first minute. It was Glen Bullock with a breakaway run for Western to put them in front, and Mark Denton hitting his second conversion of the game. Lloyd responded for the Gaels, spinning into the corner with defenders on his back to make it 16-17 with plenty of time to play. Sopik showcased his skill by scoring his second try of the game midway through the second half. Another Denton conversion gave the visitors a 24-16 lead--but that would be the last points the Mustangs could muster. After Western earned consecutive yellow cards and were forced to play a man down for a significant amount of the second half, Matthew Geisler (Toronto) ploughed his way into the tryzone to narrow the margin to 24-21 with about 15 minutes to play. In the last two minutes of play, Angus MacPhail (Vancouver, B.C.) burst through the Western line with a run down the centre of the field, bulldozing a Western defender along the way to putting the ball in Mustang territory. Still trailing by three in the last minute of play, the Gaels were able to work together and pound their way through the Western defenders on their goal line. After several Gaels inched the ball from the 10 yards out all the way to the goal line, Young scooped up the ball and tucked between the posts and punched Queen's ticket to the gold medal game next weekend. After Young also hit the conversion, the final whistle blew with the Gaels ahead 28-24.


BY THE NUMBERS
5 - Queen's will be looking for their fifth consecutive OUA banner
4 - Four Gaels scored tries in the victory
4 - There were four lead changes on Saturday

FINAL SAY
"We didn't get a lot of bounces going our way and we took some silly penalties that we didn't really need to take, but it worked out. We took advantage of the ball when we had it and built some phases without a doubt. We're on quite an energy high after that, and I think we can do anything." - Dylan Young

UP NEXT
The Gaels are going to the OUA finals next weekend at Guelph in a rematch of last year's championship game, where Queen's won 24-2