The UBC Thunderbirds secured the top spot in the Canada West with a 44-10 win over the University of Victoria Vikes in their regular season finale at the Gerald McGavin UBC Rugby Centre. As defending conference champions, UBC finished the regular season undefeated at 5-0 and will face the Calgary Dinos in the Final Four playoffs, while Victoria falls to 3-2 and will take on the Lethbridge Pronghorns.
The two teams trading scoring chances in a tightly contested first half, but the 'Birds found another gear and scored five unanswered tries in the second half to earn the decisive victory.
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"I'm really happy with the second half," said UBC head coach
Dean Murten. "In the first half we looked a bit slow and lethargic. It certainly wasn't the way we wanted to start and that's something we need to address. At halftime we had a good chat and fixed some of the things that were going wrong. One thing we have this year is depth, and we were able to get some of the younger players on and give them experience – while being able to get some of the older players off and rest them for another big game coming up on Thursday against Calgary."
UBC charged out of the opening kickoff and moved the ball down the right wing as
Florence Symonds found
Madison Gold for an early 5-0 lead, but the Vikes responded in the 13
th minute with an Alexie Pusch try to even the score at 5-5. The back-and-forth battle continued two minutes later when
Emma Feldinger broke through the line to get deep into Vikes territory and set up a
Kally King try to retake the lead, 10-5 in the 18
th minute. Victoria fought right back with a Regan Casey try to even it up once again at 10-10 before Gold powered through the middle of the field and offloaded to
Alayna Scramstad between the posts for a converted try and a 17-10 advantage. UBC continued to push when
Piper Logan broke free on a run down the left wing in the 32
nd minute, but Victoria's defence held strong and headed into halftime down just seven.
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The rain picked up to start the second half as the provincial rivals traded possessions near midfield. UBC maintained pressure on the visitors before Symonds ran in her second try of the game to give the 'Birds a 22-10 cushion in the 51
st minute. Seven minutes later, Logan took the ball from Scramstad out of a scrum and ran it in for a try to make it 27-10 Thunderbirds. UBC made their way to the Vikes try line again in the 67
th minute before Feldinger carried it over the line under the posts for a converted try at 34-10. UBC wasn't done yet, as
Olivia Sarabura ran down a Seumanutafa kick to add to the lead in the 72
nd minute and Symonds scored her second try of the afternoon as time expired to secure the 44-10 win.
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After the final whistle, the Thunderbirds recognized five graduating seniors in
Kendra Roberts,
Emily Baker,
Emma Feldinger,
Tess Woldring, and
Madison Gold following their final regular season game in front of their home crowd.
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UBC earned five points in the victory (notching a bonus point for scoring more than four tries) to clinch first place in the conference and set up a meeting with the Calgary Dinos on Thursday, October 28
th.
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"Calgary won't be happy finishing fourth in the league, especially on home soil," said Murten. "We can't take them for granted. They'll be looking to make up for their season and come back even harder, so we have to be really prepared for that. If we win that one and get into the final, we'll see what happens…but we're in a good place."
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Scoring Summary
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First Half
4' UBC
Madison Gold Try 5-0
13' UVIC Alexie Pusch Try 5-5
18' UBC
Kally King Try 10-5
23' UVIC Regan Casey Try 10-10
28' UBC
Alayna Scramstad Try (conversion –
Savannah Bauder) 17-10
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Second Half
51' UBC
Florence Symonds Try 22-10
58' UBC
Piper Logan Try 27-10
68' UBC
Emma Feldinger Try (conversion – Bauder) 34-10
72' UBC
Olivia Sarabura Try 39-10
79' UBC Symonds Try 44-10
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