VANCOUVER – A strong start propelled the UBC women's rugby team to a 47-10 victory over the visitors from Stanford University on Sunday.
 
The Thunderbirds got tries from Megan Hamm (8:00), Cassidy Gale (11:00) and Cat Ohler (18:00) before the 20-minute mark.
 
"The players have been in the gym and about half have been getting minutes with the local clubs.  I've been really happy with the progress they've made and also with the work done at training camp this past week," said UBC head coach Lesley McKenzie.
 
"Stanford has always been one of the stronger US university programs and a good gauge of where we're at. Although we have a long and successful history with them, they're always a test. They have been training at Shawnigan on the Island all week in preparation for their run up to Nationals, and they put us back on our heels for the first five minutes."
 
The Thunderbirds scored two more tries before halftime, getting scores from Erin Ryan (35:00) and Carolyn McEwen (38:00) before Stanford got on the board at the 40-minute mark.  There were no conversions in the first half and the teams went into the break with UBC ahead 25-5.
 
Hamm scored again 13 minutes into the second but Stanford replied just three minutes later.
 
McEwen (62:00) and Ohler (75:00) both recorded their second tries of the game, bookending a score from Sagal Kahin at (67:00), which McEwen converted.
 
"We were able to work them from touchline to touchline, and then start picking when we wanted to bring it back against the flow opposite tired forwards," said McKenzie.  "A good day for the backs. Forwards gave us the support play and the tight offloads needed to convert line breaks into points."
 
"It was good to get the players back together and bring in some new stuff for next season. Everyone's a little more mature and a little more realistic about what it's going to take to beat the big teams in Can West this year."
 
"Stanford was very big in the forward pack and we had good pressure from flankers Paniz Pahlavanlu, Sagal Kahin, and hooker Tanya Bennet that helped get the possession that we needed. Tanya and freshman tighthead prop Heather McEachern were my forwards of the match.  In the backs, Marga Pacis and Erin Ryan both had big games.  Although only Erin crossed the line, both players were notable for physicality and hard running."