EDMONTON – Controlling the ball and pace of play for the entire match, the UBC Thunderbirds cruised to a 27-5 win over the host Alberta Pandas in the third-place match of the 2018 Canada West Women's Rugby Championship Sunday afternoon. 

Tess Woldring, Rori Wood, Nicole Mallow, Emily Baker and Rachel Choboter scored tries for the Thunderbirds, who capture their first top-three finish in Canada West since 2010.

"It's not the result we came for. It was tough, we had a lot of the ball, but really couldn't do anything." said Thunderbirds head coach Dean Murten on his team's performance over the weekend. "We bounced back today, despite being short on numbers. We battled through with only 17 players, so all the credit to the girls. It was a tough and physical game from both teams."
 

The birds take a Big W against @UAIberta. Finishing the game with a total of 0 subs. Yet the girls persevered and came out on top. pic.twitter.com/LTtjQNqYiG

— UBC Women's Rugby (@UBCWRugby) October 21, 2018

UBC scored early and often, opening with a Woldring try in the fourth minute. Wood doubled the UBC lead in the 21st, plunging past the Pandas backline for her first try of the conference championship.

Despite maintaining a vast majority of possession throughout the remainder of the first half, UBC couldn't add to their lead before the end of the half. The chances the Pandas had to move the ball into UBC territory were quickly stuffed. 

The Pandas were finally able to break the shutout early in the second half off a long run from conference all-star Ali Wicklum. After rookie Emily Brown broke outside around the Thunderbirds' back-line, she fed Wicklum on the UBC 30-yard line, who raced into the end zone for the try.  

The UBC ball control started resulting in more points, however, as they ripped off three tries in 11 minutes to secure the dominant win. 

"We were the same last game as well, and really the last three or four games. We've had the ball, but really haven't been able to do anything with it." continued Murten. "We changed the system a little bit today, and it seemed to work a bit better for us."

Mallow restored the UBC 10-point lead in the 69th minute, before Baker extended the lead to 22-5 with a try in the 74th. Choboter sealed the UBC win in the 80th with the Thunderbirds' fifth major score. 

SCORING SUMMARY

               1     2     F
ALB        0     5     5
UBC       10   17   27

4': UBC Try - #1 Tess Woldring (Convert Missed) 5-0
21': UBC Try - #5 Rori Wood (Convert Missed) 10-0

HALFTIME
46': ALB Try - #15 Ali Wicklum (Convert Missed) 10-5
69': UBC Try - #13 Nicole Mallow (Convert Missed) 15-5
74': UBC Try - #7 Emily Baker (Convert #12 Shoshanah Seumanutafa) 22-5
80': UBC Try - #2 Rachel Choboter (Convert Missed) 27-5