Aneesa Heatherington/UBC Thunderbirds
VANCOUVER -- The UBC Thunderbirds (2-3) came up short in their final home game, losing 33-17 to the Alberta Pandas (2-3) on a crisp and sunny afternoon at the Gerald McGavin UBC Rugby Centre.
Five different Pandas scored tries while Ali Wicklum kicked four converts for the victors.
Sarah Klok recorded two tries for the 'Birds, who were unable to close the gap after falling behind early, despite a strong second-half surge.
"They wanted it a lot more than us today." said UBC head coach Dean Murten. "Alberta came out and got off to a great start, we made a couple of errors and they got 12 points on the board before we even knew the game had started."
With five tries on the day, the Pandas earned a bonus point in the standings as they prepare for a battle with the Victoria Vikes to close out the regular season on Sunday. Alberta head coach Matt Parrish recognized the significance of the road victory as the playoffs approach.
"That's an important win for us, confidence-wise," he said. "Two games in a weekend is really tough so it's nice to start off with a victory. I managed to get some subs in as well which was a pleasant surprise for me so I'm hoping to build on this for the coming week."
The Pandas jumped out to an early 7-0 lead in the first two minutes of play on a Jayne Isherwood try. Alix Evans scored just six minutes later to put the visitors ahead by 12. Alberta held a comfortable 19-0 advantage after Savannah Dubien's try, before Klok got the 'Birds on the board with a try and a Shoshanah Seumanutafa conversion to make it 19-7 at the half.
Alberta came out flying once again to start the second half and scored two more tries, by Courtney Holtkamp and Heidi Farley, to cushion their lead to 33-7.
UBC's Klok responded with a try at the 70-minute mark, and rookie Rori Wood followed it up with a score of her to draw UBC within 16 points, but ultimately time ran out for the home team.
"We've just got to get rid of the errors. We're beating ourselves," admitted Murten. "These teams are not beating us, we're just making silly errors in silly areas of the game and we've got to get rid of them."
Murten will look to address those errors and tune up for the Canada West playoffs, which are set to begin next Friday.
SCORING SUMMARY
Alberta 19-14 -- 33
UBC 7-10 -- 17
First Half
2' – Alberta TRY – Jayne Isherwood (convert missed), 5-0 ALB
8' – Alberta TRY – Alix Evans (Ali Wicklum convert), 12-0 ALB
31' – Alberta TRY – Savannah Dubien (Ali Wicklum convert), 19-0 ALB
35' – UBC TRY – Sarah Klok (Shoshanah Seumanutafa convert), 19-7 ALB
Second Half
45' – Alberta TRY – Courtney Holtkamp (Ali Wicklum convert), 26-7 ALB
53' – Alberta TRY – Heidi Farley (Ali Wicklum convert), 33-7 ALB
70' – UBC TRY – Sarah Klok (convert missed), 33-12 ALB
78' – UBC TRY – Rori Wood (convert missed), 33-17 ALB
PHOTO: Rich Lam/UBC Thunderbirds