VANCOUVER - The UBC Thunderbirds (0-1) hit the road this week as they head to the island to face the rival University of Victoria Vikes (1-0) in a Legends Cup battle. It's the first of two matchups between the provincial foes, as the two teams split their regular season series a year ago before the Vikes topped the 'Birds in the 2018 Canada West semifinal. The Legends Cup rivalry series between the two schools gets underway on Sunday, September 15th, at 1:00 p.m. PT on Wallace Field in Victoria.
Last Action
UBC hosted the three-time Canada West champion Calgary Dinos at the Gerald McGavin Rugby Centre to open their season last weekend after a preseason trip overseas in Ireland. The T-Birds jumped out to a strong 14-0 lead against the reigning champs, thanks to tries from Madison Gold and Gillian Boag, but the Dinos slowly began to chip away at the deficit and came away with a 22-14 road victory.
Meanwhile, the Vikes edged out the same Calgary squad just a few days later on a late game penalty kick by Maddy Aberg to win 18-17 at home against the Dinos.
Coach's Take
UBC head coach Dean Murten is ready to build off of week one and progress into week two of the Canada West schedule against a tough Vikes squad.
"We've spent time looking at the good things we did against Calgary as well as looking at what we need to improve on. We had a light on-field training week as we need to be fresh to play UVic," said Murten. "We need to be better when we have the ball in hand, we can't work hard to get the ball then lose it with ease - we need the ball to win the game. Against Calgary in the first 20 minutes we looked good. Unfortunately we didn't keep hold of the ball in the 2nd half. UVic will be very aggressive so we need to be mentally and physically prepared."
