RUGBY: Thunderbirds repeat as champions
October 31, 2021
CALGARY - The University of British Columbia Thunderbirds rattled off 40 consecutive points to take down the University of Victoria Vikes, 47-13, in the Canada West Women's Rugby Championship Sunday afternoon from McMahon Stadium.
A close match in first half, the T-Birds exploded out of the gates in the second half to run away with their second straight CW title.
"In the first half, we were kind of there, but we were just doing somethings that weren't right," UBC head coach Dean Murten said. "We just had a few things that we needed to fine tune. The girls are getting better at fixing things and I'm really happy with the way they played. Great performance."
Victoria opened up the scoring on the day, marching down the field and getting on the board with a penalty goal from Alexia Pusch in the ninth minute.
The T-Birds answered right back just three minutes later as Alayna Scramstad inched across for the first try of the day, followed by Savannah Baunder's first of her five converts to make it 7-3.
As the Vikes were driving in an attempt to answer, UBC's Madi Gold perfectly played the passing lanes and picked off a lateral and was able to hold off the pursing Victoria players for the try to up the lead to 14-3.
Savannah Bauder added a try of her own with a 55-yard sprint, splitting the defense at midfield and leaving the defence chasing as UBC held a 19-3 lead at the break.
Early in the second, Florence Symonds got on the edge and out-muscled her defender before another long-distance run to quickly make it 26-3.
The T-Bird offence continued to find success everywhere it looked as Mikiela Nelson blew past the defence for another try, before Piper Logan added another 40-yard run to up the lead to 40-3 at the 54-minute mark.
The Vikes continued to show their fight, adding tries from both Bethany Cudmore and Emerald Maze midway through the second half, but it wasn't enough to overcome Victoria's lack of depth as 10 players were called up to the Canadian National Team prior to this weekend.
"I thought it was a hard-fought match for both teams," Vikes head coach Brittany Waters said. "In the beginning, especially, things were really going back and forth, and then UBC just ran away with it in the end. I thought we had a strong start - just could not finish our opportunities. We left a lot of tries out there. We got into their endzone, right by their try line, but unfortunately just could not capitalize on our opportunities today."
The gold medal is the second in program history for UBC, now winning two in a row as they prepare for a return trip to Nationals.
"We're in a good place," Murten said. "We've recruited hard. The girls have worked really hard. And we've got a great coaching staff and supporters - administration support and such. We're going in the right direction and the next challenge again is to go out to Nationals and do better than the last time we were there. I think we're better prepared for it, but who knows what's going out east."
Meanwhile, the Vikes build off a bronze-medal finish one season ago and are excited as they head to this year's U SPORTS Championship.
"Going into this year, we wanted to get to Nationals. That was our goal," Waters said. "We've had a bit of bad luck with injuries and we've had a number of players in and out, going off to play for the National Team. We relied on some impact subs to step up throughout the whole season, and the fact that we're going off to Nationals is going to be so great for this team's development going into next year."
This year's U SPORTS Women's Rugby Championship begins Nov. 11 and is hosted by Queens University in Kingston, Ont.
SCORING SUMMARY
First Half
9' UVIC - Alexie Pusch penalty goal, 0-3
12' UBC - Alayna Scramstad try (Savannah Baunder convert), 7-3
24' UBC - Madi Gold try (Savannah Baunder convert), 14-3
35' UBC - Savannah Bauder try (Savannah Baunder convert), 19-3
Second Half
48' UBC - Florence Symonds try (Savannah Bauder convert), 26-3
51' UBC - Mikiela Nelson try (Savannah Bauder convert), 33-3
54' UBC - Piper Logan try (Shoshanah Seumanutafa convert), 40-3
57' UVIC - Bethany Cudmore try, 40-8
61' UBC - Shoshanah Seumanutafa try (Savannah Bauder convert), 47-8
68' UVIC - Emerald Maze try, 47-13
A close match in first half, the T-Birds exploded out of the gates in the second half to run away with their second straight CW title.
"In the first half, we were kind of there, but we were just doing somethings that weren't right," UBC head coach Dean Murten said. "We just had a few things that we needed to fine tune. The girls are getting better at fixing things and I'm really happy with the way they played. Great performance."
Victoria opened up the scoring on the day, marching down the field and getting on the board with a penalty goal from Alexia Pusch in the ninth minute.
The T-Birds answered right back just three minutes later as Alayna Scramstad inched across for the first try of the day, followed by Savannah Baunder's first of her five converts to make it 7-3.
As the Vikes were driving in an attempt to answer, UBC's Madi Gold perfectly played the passing lanes and picked off a lateral and was able to hold off the pursing Victoria players for the try to up the lead to 14-3.
Savannah Bauder added a try of her own with a 55-yard sprint, splitting the defense at midfield and leaving the defence chasing as UBC held a 19-3 lead at the break.
Early in the second, Florence Symonds got on the edge and out-muscled her defender before another long-distance run to quickly make it 26-3.
The T-Bird offence continued to find success everywhere it looked as Mikiela Nelson blew past the defence for another try, before Piper Logan added another 40-yard run to up the lead to 40-3 at the 54-minute mark.
The Vikes continued to show their fight, adding tries from both Bethany Cudmore and Emerald Maze midway through the second half, but it wasn't enough to overcome Victoria's lack of depth as 10 players were called up to the Canadian National Team prior to this weekend.
"I thought it was a hard-fought match for both teams," Vikes head coach Brittany Waters said. "In the beginning, especially, things were really going back and forth, and then UBC just ran away with it in the end. I thought we had a strong start - just could not finish our opportunities. We left a lot of tries out there. We got into their endzone, right by their try line, but unfortunately just could not capitalize on our opportunities today."
The gold medal is the second in program history for UBC, now winning two in a row as they prepare for a return trip to Nationals.
"We're in a good place," Murten said. "We've recruited hard. The girls have worked really hard. And we've got a great coaching staff and supporters - administration support and such. We're going in the right direction and the next challenge again is to go out to Nationals and do better than the last time we were there. I think we're better prepared for it, but who knows what's going out east."
Meanwhile, the Vikes build off a bronze-medal finish one season ago and are excited as they head to this year's U SPORTS Championship.
"Going into this year, we wanted to get to Nationals. That was our goal," Waters said. "We've had a bit of bad luck with injuries and we've had a number of players in and out, going off to play for the National Team. We relied on some impact subs to step up throughout the whole season, and the fact that we're going off to Nationals is going to be so great for this team's development going into next year."
This year's U SPORTS Women's Rugby Championship begins Nov. 11 and is hosted by Queens University in Kingston, Ont.
SCORING SUMMARY
First Half
9' UVIC - Alexie Pusch penalty goal, 0-3
12' UBC - Alayna Scramstad try (Savannah Baunder convert), 7-3
24' UBC - Madi Gold try (Savannah Baunder convert), 14-3
35' UBC - Savannah Bauder try (Savannah Baunder convert), 19-3
Second Half
48' UBC - Florence Symonds try (Savannah Bauder convert), 26-3
51' UBC - Mikiela Nelson try (Savannah Bauder convert), 33-3
54' UBC - Piper Logan try (Shoshanah Seumanutafa convert), 40-3
57' UVIC - Bethany Cudmore try, 40-8
61' UBC - Shoshanah Seumanutafa try (Savannah Bauder convert), 47-8
68' UVIC - Emerald Maze try, 47-13