VANCOUVER - The UBC Thunderbirds held strong for 80 minutes, shutting out the Calgary Dinos 19-0 at Wolfson Fields. The 'Birds defense came up especially big while two UBC players were in the sin bin, keeping the Dinos off the board even while at a two-man disadvantage.
Thunderbird head coach Lesley McKenzie expressed her satisfaction with UBC's performance.
“I'm proud of the fact that it's a zero in the scoreline,” said McKenzie.” I'm happy that we put points on the board because you need to do that to win. But having two coinciding yellow cards, it was a testament to their composure that we were able to keep them out.”
The Blue and Gold's first try came after a tenacious 10 minutes in the red zone. Prop
Carolyn McEwen finally scored after several possessions and steals from five metres out.
The 'Birds final try was the result of a stolen line out, with hooker
Jennifer Brule completing the score. Veteran centre
Radha Jain laid down a strong run for UBC's second try.
“The weekend went more or less the way I expected it to,” said McKenzie. “We were able to clean up some of the issues we had in Friday's game – specifically ball-in contact and coming up flat in defensive organization. We're working off the ball to shut down opportunities that we were giving away.
“This is a building block on our road to the Canada West tournament,” continued McKenzie. “It's good that we're starting to implement some of the things we've been working towards.”
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