Banner Season: Trent wins fourth OUA gold at 2025 OUA women’s lacrosse championship

Waterloo, Ont. (via Dan Polischuk, Laurier Athletics) – The Trent Excalibur capped off a dominant season with an 8–4 victory over the defending champion Queen's Gaels on Sunday to claim the 2025 OUA women's lacrosse gold medal.

Despite wet and windy conditions at Ansley Alumni Field in Waterloo, the Excalibur secured the fourth conference title in program history, with the last one coming in 2021.

After a regular season in which they lost just once in eight games, the #1-seed Excalibur averaged 13 goals over three straight wins at the OUA championship en route to hoisting the trophy.

In a close game from start to finish, it was the Guelph Gryphons winning the bronze medal over their Highway 7 rivals from Laurier. Western secured a fifth-place finish with a victory over Brock in the day's opening match-up.

GAME 11 (Fifth-place game):

#5 Western 12

#7 Brock 5

Western's offence came alive in the second quarter as the Mustangs powered past the Brock Badgers 12–5 in Sunday's fifth-place game.

After a 2–2 opening frame, Western erupted for six goals in the second quarter — highlighted by a hat trick from Reese Wilkins — to take control of the game.

Wilkins finished with four goals and an assist, while teammate Lexie Delisle notched a hat trick of her own. Georgia Bordignon added two goals and two helpers for the Mustangs, who outshot Brock 22–10. Brock's offence was led by Aisha Hoover and Abby Holliday, each tallying twice in the loss.

GAME 12 (Bronze Medal Game):

#2 Guelph 10

#4 Laurier 8

The Guelph Gryphons captured the bronze medal with a hard-fought 10–8 victory over the Laurier Golden Hawks in the second game of the day.

Guelph built an early lead and held off a late Laurier surge to secure the hardware. Kate Donaldson and Kassi Hogan paced the Gryphons' attack with two goals apiece, while Aimee Evans also struck twice.

After Guelph's starting goalkeeper Madison Hungerbuhler was forced to leave the game in the first half after a collision with a Golden Hawk, Sara Silano came on in relief and shut the door down the stretch, helping the Gryphons preserve their two-goal advantage.

For Laurier, Tineke Gedge scored twice and added an assist, while Delaney Keen and Tori Nascimento each tallied two goals as Laurier settled for a fourth-place finish.

GAME 13 (Gold Medal Game):

#1 Trent 8

#3 Queen's 4

Trent's balanced attack and relentless tempo powered the top-seeded Excalibur to an OUA title, as Maddy Baxter and Tyler McDonald each scored twice to pace the offence.

Baxter opened the scoring for Trent midway through the first quarter and added another just before the buzzer to give her team a 2–1 lead. McDonald extended the advantage in the second with a solo marker before setting up Natalie Fournier to make it 4–2 at halftime.

The Excalibur continued to pull away in the second half, with McDonald's go-ahead goal at 7:22 of the third standing as the game-winner.  Baxter and Fournier each added insurance tallies in the final frame, while Abby Hiltz also scored on the power play.

Tara Meikle led Queen's with a hat trick in a losing effort, while Abby Lee rounded out the scoring for the Gaels. Goalkeeper Kieran Gerow was steady in net for Trent, turning aside several key opportunities from a Queen's offence that generated 13 shots.

All-stars and major award winners were also announced on Sunday after each match: