VANCOUVER (CIS) – Brittany Benn's 50-yard dash to the end zone against the flow of play got the No. 2 seed Guelph Gryphons by an impassioned UBC Thunderbirds side by a score of 5-0 during round robin play Friday afternoon on at the 2009 CIS Women's Rugby National Championship.

The win moves the OUA champion Gryphons into the semi-finals tomorrow while the host Thunderbirds will play for the fifth spot on Sunday against the Western Ontario Mustangs.

UBC, the tournament's sixth seed, controlled the play for the majority of the match rarely letting the Gryphons cross midfield.

Then, with the Thunderbirds pressing midway through the second half, the Gryphons stole a line out on their side of half. The ball then came to two-time CIS first-team All-Canadian, Benn, who beat a tackler on her side of the line then sprinted to the sideline away from the UBC tacklers. The speedy Benn eluded the final tackler and made her way across the try line.

Neither team could establish an effective attack due in part to the muddy fields at Thunderbird Park.

"It was an ugly win. The momentum was non-existent, partly due to the conditions," explained Guelph head coach Collette McAulay. "We have to leave that game behind us. Going forward we need to step up, play the conditions and follow the game plan that we've given them."

Unable to capitalize on the imbalanced time of possession, a resilient Thunderbirds side continually threatened in their opponents end. The Gryphons were equal to the task and used strong tackling to continuously thwart their opponents' persistent attack.

"It was an amazing effort by our girls today. We had two tough teams in our pool and we played them hard.  I think it's a testament to the strength of the Canada West conference," added UBC head coach Lesley McKenzie whose side had been defeated by AUS champion St. Francis Xavier an hour prior to taking on the Gryphons.

The Gryphons were handed three yellow cards throughout the match but UBC was unable to take advantage of the extra player.

This was the second time these two sides have met at the CIS championships with Guelph taking the first meeting 15-0 in 1998.

SCORING SUMMARY
GUE 0-5: 5
UBC 0-0: 0
 
First half
No Scoring

Second half
1. GUE: Brittany Benn (try, 5 pts)
 
Players of the game
GUE: Jacey Murphy (Alliston, Ont.)
UBC: Radha Jain (Mississauga, Ont.)