VICTORIA – For the seventh straight season the Thunderbirds are off to the Canada West Final, after dispatching the Lethbridge Pronghorns 53-31 in the opening match of the Final Four. The result also officially punches the T-Birds' ticket to the 2026 U SPORTS Women's Rugby Championship, played in Ontario in two weeks' time.

Seven different UBC players scored tries in a well-balanced offensive display, with Lana Dueck the only one to tally two of them. Sarah MacPherson also scored three penalty kicks in quick succession in the second half, as the blue and gold pulled away from a hard-battling Lethbridge side.

In fact, it was the Pronghorns who opened the scoring in the first 10 minutes following a UBC penalty in their own end, a play which also ended with the T-Birds suffering a yellow card to put them a player down temporarily. 



Despite that, the Thunderbirds got themselves on the board in the 14th minute, catching the Pronghorns' defence sleeping down the left side with Shalaya Valenzuela able to run into the try zone untouched.

Jaime Dickson then scored on a similar play later in the first half, using her speed to race past multiple defenders after a nice skip pass to the left sideline. Lethbridge pulled the score back level just a few minutes later though, after Zina Umeh showcased her skill by dancing through the middle of the UBC defence and Sydney Wollbaum finished off the play.

UBC got some more offence going in the late stages of the opening half, first off a try from Dueck, and then an electric play by Teniola Epemolu where the rookie took the ball in her own half and ran it all the way to the corner herself, laying out a couple of nasty stiff-arms en route to putting her team up by double digits heading into halftime.

That momentum carried into the second half, as while the Pronghorns scored soon after the break, the Thunderbirds proceeded to rip off a 26-7 run which put them in full control. That sustained burst included Dueck taking a page out of Epemolu's book – stiff-arming a defender out of the way to set up a big solo try after ripping the ball away from a Pronghorn at midfield.



The T-Birds were able to cruise from there, with a series of penalty kicks and a late Saylor Pickrell try finishing off the scoring for the conference's No. 2 seed. UBC will now play for conference supremacy against either hosts and No. 1 seed Victoria, or No. 4 seed Alberta, pending the result of their semifinal.


SCORING SUMMARY

9' LET Try – #1 Emily Stewart, conversion missed, 5-0 LET
14' UBC Try – #12 Shalaya Valenzuela, conversion missed, 5-5 TIE
23' UBC Try – #11 Jaime Dickson, conversion #15 Sarah MacPherson, 12-5 UBC
27' LET Try - #7 Sydney Wollbaum, conversion #10 Jayda Morrison, 12-12 TIE
30' UBC Try - #10 Lana Dueck, conversion missed, 17-12 UBC
36' UBC Try - #14 Teniola Epemolu, conversion missed, 22-12 UBC
HALF
44' LET Try - #1 Emily Stewart, conversion #10 Jayda Morrison, 22-19 UBC
52' UBC Try - #8 Sierra Hasse, conversion #15 Sarah MacPherson, 29-19 UBC
56' UBC Try - #9 Sara Tehrani, conversion missed, 34-19 UBC
59' UBC Try - #10 Lana Dueck, conversion missed, 39-19 UBC
63' LET Try - #11 Millie Teskey, conversion #10 Jayda Morrison, 39-26 UBC
65' UBC Penalty Kick - #15 Sarah MacPherson, 42-26 UBC
71' UBC Penalty Kick - #15 Sarah MacPherson, 45-26 UBC
74' UBC Penalty Kick - #15 Sarah MacPherson, 48-26 UBC
78' UBC Try - #25 Saylor Pickrell, conversion missed, 53-26 UBC
80' LET Try - #21 Cadence Slaney, conversion missed, 53-31 UBC