Adam Prudhomme
Beaver Staff
At any given time, the 15 players on the field representing the Eastern Ontario Rugby Union’s Under-18 women’s team during the Eastern Canadian Championships could have been made up of one-fifth NDSS Golden Hawks.
With the help of a trio of Napanee ladies — Charlotte Elliott, Madelyn Marlow and Jasmina Dennis — the EORU went undefeated to capture gold at the tournament, which was held Aug. 12-19 at Acadia University in Wolfville, N.S.
They punctuated their gold medal run with a thrilling comeback victory, rallying from a 12-0 deficit at the half to stun the home team Nova Scotia club with a 19-12 victory.
Down a pair of tries heading into the break, the coaching staff called for a team huddle before taking the field for the final 20 minutes. Their message was well received.
“It was just like, keeping the composure, making sure nobody does anything silly,” Marlow said of what they talked about before going on their 19-0 run.
“When we were down we get frantic,” said Dennis.
“We just have to go back to the basics, going forward and moving the ball quickly.”
Sticking to their game plan paid off, as the defense held Nova Scotia in check while the offense scored three times to silence the crowd and steal the victory.
In order to earn their way into the gold medal game, EORU first had to get by their provincial rivals from Central Ontario. A missed convert wound up the difference in the game as EORU hit both of theirs while Central only converted on one of theirs, giving EORU a 12-10 win and trip to the finals.
That was the second win of the tournament over their Ontario counterparts, as EORU topped them 19-0 in the round robin. They also bested Quebec 24-5, New Brunswick 29-15, PEI 19-5 and Nova Scotia 28-7 before reaching the playoffs. The players admitted to being a bit banged up after their 7-0 run, as they played those seven games in a span of four days.
Elliott, who was also a team captain, served as forward for team while Marlow and Dennis played back. Marlow was also called upon to kick some extra two point converts as well.
The familiarity they had from playing with the Golden Hawks for the previous three and four seasons was beneficial throughout the Eastern Canadians.
“This was the first time playing with these Ottawa girls,” Dennis said of the rest of the EORU roster. “It’s nice just to have people that you know.”
“Jasmina and I played 12 and 13 last year for Napanee,” added Marlow. “When we were on the field we know each other’s playing style.”
The club’s coaching style was also similar to their Golden Hawk coach Sean Dunleavy’s approach, which allowed the girls to adapt quickly.
Following the gold medal victory Elliott was off to Ottawa to resume training with the Ravens rugby team, with their regular season scheduled to begin on Sunday.
Marlow and Dennis will return to NDSS this fall and come next May will look to lead the Hawks to the KASSAA title that eluded them last June, losing to La Salle in the finals. Prior to that they will train with the Kingston Panthers sevens program.