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A quick roundup of Queen’s gaels teams and athletes in action over the weekend:

FOOTBALL

The Queen’s Gaels (4-4) went into Toronto (1-7) and closed out the OUA regular season with a 59-38 win over their Old Four rivals the Varsity Blues on Saturday. The Gaels win, teamed with a Carleton loss to Guelph, secured the Tricolour the sixth and final playoff spot.

It was all Toronto early on as the Gaels were forced to punt on their first two possessions and Toronto capitalized with touchdowns each time for a 14-0 lead. The Gaels were quick to respond as Nate Hobbs connected with Chris Osei-Kusi for a 73-yard touchdown.

With their playoff hopes on the line, the ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥ offence turned up the heat on Toronto. Hobbs connected with Connor Weir near the end of the first quarter and opened up the second frame with touchdown passes to Matteo Del Brocco and Jake Puskus giving ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥ a 28-14 lead.

The defence then got themselves on the board as Nelkas Kwemo picked off Christian Krcilek and took it 61-yards for a touchdown. 

Heading into halftime Queen’s was ahead 38-21.

The Gaels added another three scores in the second half as Osei-Kusi picked up his second major while Hobbs and Puskus each ran in scores of their own.

On the day, Hobbs finished with five touchdown passes and one rushing score. 

WOMEN’S RUGBY

The No. 7 Queen’s Gaels were in Guelph for the OUA Championship against the No. 2 Guelph Gryphons and the hosts took a 43-17 win to claim the title.

After some back and forth play early, Guelph scored the first and kicked a successful conversion for an early 7-0 lead. ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥ responded just a few minutes later as a pile of Gaels helped push McKinley Hunt past the try line for five points. A tough conversion attempt was missed, and the Gaels were down by two.

A big run set up another Guelph try and they followed up with a penalty goal kick for another three points to give them a 15-5 lead on the Gaels. Nadia Popov put together big runs for the Gaels, but they fell just short of the try line as the Guelph defence held strong. The Gryphons closed out the half with a try and a missed penalty goal kick and held a 22-5 lead over ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥ after the first 40 minutes.

In the second half, Queen’s was finally able to find their stride and put some points on the board. First, it was a great 20-metre run from Janna Slevinsky followed by Popov pushing through for a try. Popov connected on a conversion to cut the lead to 22-17. But Guelph continued to challenge and held the Gaels off the board the rest of the way for the 43-17 win.

MEN’S RUGBY

The Queen’s Gaels men’s rugby team (8-0) closed out their regular season undefeated with a big win in Hamilton over the McMaster Marauders (5-3) with a final score of 62-18. The Gaels finish the season first in the OUA and will get a bye from the opening round of playoffs along with securing home field throughout.

Kainoa Lloyd led the team fresh off a stint with the Rugby Canada National team as he put down three tries for the Gaels.  Will McArthur also found the zone twice. Overall the Gaels managed to score 10 tries, continuing their run of high-scoring games.

McMaster also managed to find some holes in the Gaels defence, putting up three majors themselves.

WOMEN’S SOCCER

The ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥ Gaels (12-3-1) defeated the Toronto Varsity Blues (7-7-2) 3-2 on Saturday in Toronto and secured themselves not only a six-point weekend but the second overall spot in the OUA East. With that comes a first round bye, the Gaels will host an East semifinal game on Saturday Oct. 28 at 1 pm.

Alexandra Doane, Jenny Wolever and Laura Callender put the Gaels ahead 3-0 and the team held on for the win.

On Friday, the Gaels took down the Ryerson Rams (6-6-3) 1-0 score in Toronto.

Callender scored the game’s lone goal in the closing minutes of the first half.

MEN’S SOCCER

The Queen’s Gaels (6-7-3) dropped a 2-1 decision to the Toronto Varsity Blues (10-2-4) on Saturday at Varsity Stadium.

The Blues finished the first half with a 2-0 lead and Gaels captain Jacob Schroeter closed the gap with his 12th goal in the 83rd minute. But Queen’s could get no closer.

On Friday the Gaels fell 2-1 to the Ryerson Rams (9-6-1) on Friday as the hosts scored a late winner. Tonko Bacelic scored for the Gaels in the 78th minute,

The Gaels will now play Wednesday night against the Ryerson Rams in the first round of the OUA playoffs.

MEN’S HOCKEY

The No. 10 Queens Gaels (3-1-0) secured a 4-3 win over the No. 7 Ryerson Rams (3-1-0) on Saturday. Ben Fanjoy scored the game-winner at 8:06 of the third period. Other Gaels goals were scored by Warren Steele, Jaden Lindo and Eric Ming. Kevin Bailie made 31 saves.

On Friday, the Gales  suffered a 2-1 overtime setback at the hands of the Toronto Varsity Blues (2-1-0). Luke Bertolucciscored scored in the third to force overtime. Jacob Brennan turned aside 22 shots.

WOMEN’S HOCKEY

The Queen’s Gaels (2-0-0-1) lost 3-2 in overtime on Sunday to the Waterloo Warriors (0-1-1-0). Two goals from Katrina Manoukarakis wasn’t enough to propel the Gaels to victory. 

On Saturday, the Gaels used a third period push to outlast the Brock Badgers (1-0-1-0) 2-0. The Gaels heavily outshot the Badgers from the second period onward en route to the shutout victory. Stephanie Pascal made 22 saves.