VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds could not have had a tougher path to the national championship.
First was a quarterfinal matchup on Wednesday against the undefeated RSEQ champions and No. 3 seed, Laval Rouge et Or. Then it was a Friday night clash against the No. 2 Queen's Gaels, where the T-Birds needed a last-ditch goal line stand to seal the win.
Finally, the gold was on the line against the No. 1 Victoria Vikes, who had already defeated UBC three times this season, including in the Canada West Final. Down by three in the final minute of the match, the Thunderbirds again managed to find the way to win.
"Friday night was stressful, and tonight was even worse," stated UBC head coach
Dean Murten after the exhilarating match. "I want to start off by saying that UVic are an absolutely outstanding team…they've got some world-class players, they're well-coached, they're aggressive defensively and knew it was going to come down to the wire, but not the last play of the game absolutely not!"
All three of the T-Birds' opponents this week were undefeated coming into their matchup. The Thunderbirds certainly bent at times in the hard-hitting final, ceding a lot of the possession to UVic – especially in the first half. But they never broke.
"They've been put through a grinder. Laval was a great team. Queen's was outstanding. And then tonight, UVic was outstanding. There's a lot of battered and bruised players, but that's determination and courage that pulls you through in those moments. We have some great leaders out there, and they just didn't want to quit."
That determination certainly played out on the field, as the Thunderbirds and Vikes went right at each other from the opening kick. The opening few minutes were a battle for field position, with the two teams trading kicks and lineouts as they jockeyed for the early momentum.
It was the Vikes who kept the T-Birds pinned in their half during this period, and were rewarded for their efforts with an Olivia Newsome penalty kick to open the scoring.
UVic continued to assault the UBC defence with relentless pressure, eager to add to their early lead. But the T-Birds remained resolute, stuffed their attacks with some great tackling and then found paydirt on their first real foray forward in the 21st minute.
It was
Kiki Idowu who got the forward progress going with a fantastic, driving run up the middle. After the ball was worked out towards the left flank,
Charity Williams pushed the ball to
Olivia Sarabura who feinted towards a pass to
Adia Pye along the sidelines. The Vikes defence bit, rushing to cover Pye, while Sarabura instead took the open lane to run straight past the closest defenders and into the try zone.
As you would expect in a championship final, the match was highly physical with plenty of hard-hitting plays. The intensity led to the ref pulling out a yellow card in the late stages of the first half, temporarily sending off Newsome after she delivered an illegal hit to an airborne
Piper Logan.
The Vikes didn't let that deter them, however, as they didn't allow UBC to take advantage of being up a player for a few minutes and continued to hold the majority of the possession. The two teams entered the half with UBC up 7-3, with the hosts leading on the scoreboard despite the visitors carrying most of the attacks.
The Thunderbirds came out on the front foot to begin the second half, with
Lana Dueck exciting the home crowd with a great kick-and-run play executed by her and
Tia Jordo that gained major ground. The UBC attack eventually led to a penalty kick, which
Brooklyn Roddham drilled from 20 yards out.
Carissa Norsten nearly got UVic their first try of the match with an incredible solo effort in the 47th, a lung-busting run that took her past several defenders and nearly 60 yards down the field before she was finally brought down.
That momentum did eventually carry them to a score a couple minutes later, with Justine Blatt-Janmaat dishing to Ella O'Regan who dove into the try zone. The convert was missed, however, allowing UBC to maintain a slim lead for the time being.
The Vikes were energized by that score, and thought they'd taken the lead in the 62nd minute when substitute Ivy Poetker took a handoff and broke through the middle for a try. However, the ref ruled that the pass had gone forward and thus the play was ruled out.
The Vikes didn't let that deter them though, and they broke through again – this time legally – in the 66th. The points came from winger Eden Kilgour after Blatt-Janmaat hit her teammate in stride with a quick pass from a ruck. The convert again went wide, meaning the Vikes only went up by three points with time running out.
The Thunderbirds then immediately went on the attack, aiming to make those missed kicks prove costly.
With the clock ticking towards 70, the blue and gold had the ball to within 20 yards of the try zone. With the ball swung out to their captain, Logan made a beautiful play to suck in the defence and then fire a skip pass all the way to the sideline to Pye. The speedy winger had the wheels to reach the try zone untouched, scoring the winning points on the final play of the match.
The decisive play sparked jubilation on the pitch and in the stands, as the Thunderbirds lifted the Monilex Trophy for the second time in program history, and second time in as many years.
UBC is one of only two programs to win back-to-back national titles in the last 15 years, joining Laval in that exclusive club.
The T-Birds exited the pitch flushed with awards, with five players named to the Championship All-Star Team.
Teya Ashworth, Idowu, Jordo, Roddham and Williams received the honours, with Williams also earning the Championship MVP award.
SCORING SUMMARY
1 2 F
UBC 7 8 15
VIC 3 10 13
7' – VIC penalty kick (Olivia Newsome) 3-0 VIC
21' – UBC try –
Olivia Sarabura (
Brooklyn Roddham convert) 7-3 UBC
HALF
41' – UBC penalty kick (Roddham) 10-3 UBC
49' – VIC try – Ella O'Regan (convert missed) 10-8 UBC
66' – VIC try – Eden Kilgour (convert missed) 13-10 VIC
70' – UBC try –
Adia Pye (convert missed) 15-13 UBC
