KINGSTON, Ont. (CIS) – The tournament host Queen's University Gaels erased a 17-0 first half deficit to shock the top-seeded Acadia Axewomen 24-17 in the last quarter-final of the CIS women's rugby championship at Nixon Field, Thursday night.

Following a rest day on Friday, Saturday's semifinals will feature four teams vying for their first Monilex Trophy. Third-seeded Ottawa will face No. 2 McMaster at 3 p.m., followed by No. 8 Queen's versus No. 5 Concordia at 5 p.m.

On the consolation side of the draw, 2014 champion StFX battles Lethbridge at 11 a.m. and Victoria takes on Acadia at 1 p.m. 

"We focused on the fundamentals and did it really well today," commented Queen's head coach Beth Barz, whose team settled for fourth place in the OUA playoffs after an impressive 4-1 regular season. "We were dealing with where the ball was and at the beginning of the breakdown right after the tackle, so the post tackle area was really important for us. We didn't do that well the last two weeks, but a little bit more presence on the backline, McEwen did a great job talking and really directing the troops."

Acadia bench boss Matthew Durant credited Queen's hard play after the game. "I was happy with the way we started getting up 17 points but all the credit to Queen's, they really beat us at our own game."

Things didn't look good early on for the host Gaels, who saw the first-time AUS champion Axewomen built a 17-0 lead after only 15 minutes of play. But they would rebound to score 24 unanswered points, 14 of those from Lauren McEwen on four penalty goals and a convert.

The Axewomen dominated the pitch straight from the kick-off with all-Canadian Maddie MacKenzie (Peterborough, Ont.) breaking away from the Queen's defence to put down the first try at the five-minute mark. The Gaels didn't get the chance to find their bearings before MacKenzie was able to find her way for another try only five minutes later.

Acadia kept up the pressure with Janice Cougle (Lethbridge, Alta.) fighting her way to dive across the try line, and a Jenny Matheson convert made it 17-point affair.

The Gaels pushed back, getting into some physical play to hand McEwen (Wasaga Beach, Ont.) the opportunity she needed to successfully kick her first penalty goal and get Queen's on the board for the first time in the match, in the 19^th minute.

Following her lead, all-Canadian Gillian Pegg (Oro-Medonte, Ont.) got the ball out to Lauren Murray (Lindsay, Ont.) on the far sideline, and Murray found an edge to get by the Axewomen and score the Gaels first try to cut the deficit to 17-8 after 22 minutes of action.

The two teams met in the middle as Acadia pushed back against the new found Gaels pressure, fouling Queen's twice more before the half was through. McEwen kicked true another penalty goal to meet the halftime whistle trailing Acadia 17-11.

The second half opened with McEwen jumping on the ball and getting the Gaels the early possession. The Axewomen scrambled to regain their first half momentum, fouling Queen's in the process and setting McEwen up with two consecutive 25-metre penalty goals allowing her to tie the match up at 17 all 15 minutes into the second period.

The locals didn't slow down as they made their way into the Acadia end, fighting along the try line to break through the Axewomen defence. Finally, getting the ball free on the left side, Emma Chown (Barrie, Ont.) took advantage of an open lane to smack down a try, culminating 24 unanswered points for the Gaels as they stole the lead with nine minutes left in regulation.

All-Canadian Veronique Russel (Markham, Ont.) kept the Axewomen alive, putting her head down and forcing her way through the Queen's players. Feeding off their offensive presence, Lauren Humby (St. Philips, Nfld.) crossed the line for Acadia but, with a crushing tackle by McKinley Hunt (King City, Ont.), the Axewomen were denied their possible comeback try as she Humby out of bounds from the hit.

McEwen was selected as player of the game for Queen's. For Acadia, MacKenzie received the honour.

Official championship website: http://english.cis-sic.ca/championships/wrugby/index    

SCORING SUMMARY

QUE 11-13: 24

ACA 17-0: 17

First half

ACA - Maddie MacKenzie try 5^th minute (QUE 0 - ACA 5)

ACA - Maddie MacKenzie try 10^th (QUE 0 - ACA 10) 

ACA - Janice Cougle try (Jenny Matheson convert) 15^th (QUE 0 - ACA 17)

QUE - Lauren McEwen penalty goal 19^th (QUE 3 - ACA 17)

QUE - Lauren Murray try 22^nd (QUE 8 - ACA 17)

QUE - Lauren McEwen penalty goal 34^th (QUE 11 - ACA 17)

Second half

QUE - Lauren McEwen penalty goal 4^th (QUE 14 - ACA 17)

QUE - Lauren McEwen penalty goal 15^th (QUE 17 - ACA 17)

QUE - Emma Chown try (Lauren McEwen convert) 26^th (QUE 24- ACA 17) 

Players of the game

QUE: Lauren McEwen (Wasaga Beach, Ont.)

ACA: Maddie MacKenzie (Peterborough, Ont.)

Legend:

Try: 5 points

Penalty goal: 3 points

Convert: 2 points

PRE-CHAMPIONSHIP SEEDING

1. Acadia (AUS champions: 5-1 regular season / 2-0 conference playoffs)

2. McMaster (OUA champions: 4-1 regular season / 3-0 conference playoffs)

3. Ottawa (RSEQ champions: 7-0 regular season / 2-0 conference playoffs)

4. Victoria (Canada West champions: 2-2 regular season / 2-0 conference playoffs)

5. Concordia (RSEQ finalists: 6-1 regular season / 1-1 conference playoffs)

6. StFX (AUS finalists: 5-1 regular season / 0-1 conference playoffs)

7. Lethbridge (Canada West finalists: 0-3-1 regular season / 1-1 conference playoffs)

8. Queen's (Hosts: 4-1 regular season / 1-2 conference playoffs)

SCHEDULE & RESULTS

Thursday, Nov. 5

13:00 Quarter-final 1: Ottawa 29, StFX 7

15:00 Quarter-final 2: Lethbridge 14, McMaster 62

17:00 Quarter-final 3: Concordia 34, Victoria 12 

19:00 Quarter-final 4: Queen's 24, Acadia 17

Friday, Nov. 6

Rest day

Saturday, Nov. 7

11:00 Consolation 1: StFX vs. Lethbridge (CIS-SIC.tv) 

13:00 Consolation 2: Victoria vs. Acadia (CIS-SIC.tv)  

15:00 Semifinal 1: Ottawa vs. McMaster (CIS-SIC.tv) 

17:00 Semifinal 2: Concordia vs. Queen's (CIS-SIC.tv) 

Sunday, Nov. 8

11:00 Fifth place (CIS-SIC.tv)

13:00 Bronze medal (CIS-SIC.tv)

15:00 Championship final (CIS-SIC.tv)