LAS VEGAS – The UBC Thunderbirds women's rugby team had a perfect run in the desert this past weekend, winning the Las Vegas Invitational women's college sevens tournament.
 
On Thursday, UBC opened pool play with a 39-0 shutout of Arizona. The T-Birds then scored a 43-12 triumph over Utah Valley before routing Siena (N.Y.) 48-5.
 
UBC continued its dominance on Friday in the playoffs, blanking Dixie State (Utah) by 36 points in the quarter-finals to advance.
 
With a spot in the championship on the line, the Thunderbirds outscored the National Small College Rugby Organization Select team 26-10 in the semifinal.
 

Birds take gold at the USA 7's Las Vegas Invitational ??flyinghigh 6-0

A post shared by UBC Women's Rugby (@ubcwrugby) on Mar 4, 2017 at 10:31am PST

UBC won the tournament Cup Final by vanquishing Notre Dame (Ohio) 22-7.

"We played a strong and aggressive game," said head coach Andrea Burk. "It was good. We also made mistakes and weren't perfect and we won. As our good friend and UBC faculty member, Dr. Carolyn McEwen said, 'Perfect doesn't exist, but winning does.' Resilience and mental fortitude and playing for each other, this is the foundation of our game plan. We will continue with this through to the Canadian University championship March 17-18 in Langford."
 
The first game for UBC at the National University 7s Rugby Championship will take place Friday, March 17 at 10 a.m. against the Guelph at Goudy Stadium in Langford. The Thunderbirds will also play group games on March 17 against Saskatchewan (12:30 p.m.) and Humber College (3 p.m.).