Connor Hood, Bears and Pandas Athletics
EDMONTON – The Calgary Dinos captured their third-straight Canada West Women’s Rugby Championship Sunday, defeating the Victoria Vikes 27-8 in the championship final.
It also marks the third-straight season the Dinos have topped the Vikes in the conference final, and the second win for Calgary over Victoria this season.
Calgary raced ahead 12-3 over Victoria after the first half, adding another 15 points in the second half in a dominating performance.
“The hardest thing to do is beat the same team in a tournament and multiple times in a season,” said Dinos head coach Simon Chi, who was named the Canada West Coach of the Year on Sunday. “That was pretty close to the perfect game for us, in terms of trying to take control early and maintaining it. There isn’t many secrets between these two programs at this point, and it really just came down to execution.”
“Hopefully both programs can represent Canada West well at the national championship.”
Both the Dinos and Vikes will fly the conference flag in two weeks, as they travel to Acadia University for the 2018 U SPORTS Women’s Rugby Championship November 1-4.
CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL: CALGARY (27) vs VICTORIA (8)
After a dominating 5-1 record during the regular season, the No. 1 seed Calgary Dinos left little doubt as to who is the top team in Canada West after a 27-8 win in the conference final over Victoria.
CW Player of the Year Kasselle Menin recorded the first try for Calgary just five minutes in, while Coralyn Cafaro, Isla Shill, and Cassidy Jones also recorded tries for the Dinos.
All-star Elysa Sandron also added two converts and a penalty goal for Calgary, who trailed for only five minutes in the conference final.
“Luckily for us, most of our team was healthy this weekend. So it really just came down to executing our game plan against a very talented Victoria side,” said Chi. “All that really matters is getting that banner, and I’m super excited for our girls in accomplishing our goal.”
Victoria, who was looking for their first conference title since 2015, opened the scoring with a penalty kick in the second minute from Maddy Aberg. Menin’s try three minutes later for Calgary, followed by a successful convert from Sandron that pushed the Dinos ahead 7-3.
Calgary would never relinquish their lead, as Cafaro extended the Dinos lead to nine after a try in the 12th minute.
Victoria had another opportunity from inside the Dino 30-yard line for a second penalty goal late in the first half, but Aberg’s kick sailed wide.
Calgary wasted little time adding to their lead early in the second half, as Shill plunged into the Vike end zone from the two-yard line in the 44th minute.
Trailing by 14, Victoria mounted a quick drive just four minutes later, as Ada Okonwo cut into the Dino lead with a Victoria try in the 48th.
The two-time defending champions, however, took over possession of the ball immediately following the Victoria try, scoring twice more late in the second half to secure the conference title. Sandron connected from 15 yards for a penalty goal in the 54th, before Jones sealed the victory with a try in the 71st.
After not winning a Canada West title from 1999-2015, the Dinos have won the program’s first three between 2016 and 2018.
1 2 F
CGY- 12 15 27
VIC- 3 5 8
SCORING SUMMARY
2': VIC Penalty Goal - #21 Maddy Aberg - 3-0
5': CGY Try - #4 Kasselle Menin (#15 Elysa Sandron Convert) 7-3
12': CGY Try - #7 Coralyn Cafaro (Convert Missed) 12-3
HALFTIME
44': CGY Try - #10 Isla Shill (Convert Missed) 17-3
48': VIC Try - #3 Ada Okonkwo (Convert Missed) 17-8
54': CGY Penalty Goal - #15 Elysa Sandron - 20-8
71': CGY Try - #2 Cassidy Jones (#15 Elysa Sandron Convert) 27-8
BRONZE MEDAL MATCH: UBC (27) vs. ALBERTA (5)
Controlling the ball and pace of play for the entire match, the UBC Thunderbirds cruised to a 27-5 win over the host Alberta Pandas in the third-place match on Sunday.
Tess Woldring, Rori Wood, Nicole Mallow, Emily Baker and Rachel Choboter scored tries for the Thunderbirds, who capture their first top-three finish in Canada West since 2010.
“It’s not the result we came for. It was tough, we had a lot of the ball, but really couldn’t do anything.” said Thunderbirds head coach Dean Murten on his teams performance over the weekend. “We bounced back today, despite being short on numbers. We battled through with only 17 players, so all the credit to the girls. It was a tough and physical game from both teams.”
UBC scored early and often, opening with a Woldring try in the fourth minute. Wood doubled the UBC lead in the 21st minute, plunging past the Pandas backline for her first try of the conference championship.
Despite maintaining a vast majority of possession throughout the remainder of the first half, UBC couldn’t add to their lead before the end of the half. The chances the Pandas had to move the ball into UBC territory were quickly stuffed.
The Pandas were finally able to break the shutout early in the second half off a long run from conference all-star Ali Wicklum. After rookie Emily Brown broke outside around the Thunderbirds back-line, she fed Wicklum on the T-Birds 30-yard line, who raced into the end zone for the try.
The UBC ball control started resulting in more points, however, as they ripped off three tries in 11 minutes to secure the dominant win.
“We were the same last game as well, and really the last three or four games. We’ve had the ball, but really haven’t been able to do anything with it.” continued Murten. “We changed the system a little bit today, and it seemed to work a bit better for us.”
Mallow restored the UBC ten-point lead in the 69th minute, before Baker extended the lead to 22-5 with a try in the 74th. Choboter sealed the UBC win in the 80th with the Thunderbirds fifth major score.
SCORING SUMMARY
1 2 F
ALB- 0 5 5
UBC- 10 17 27
4': UBC Try - #1 Tess Woldring (Convert Missed) 5-0
21': UBC Try - #5 Rori Wood (Convert Missed) 10-0
HALFTIME
46': ALB Try - #15 Ali Wicklum (Convert Missed) 10-5
69': UBC Try - #13 Nicole Mallow (Convert Missed) 15-5
74': UBC Try - #7 Emily Baker (Convert #12 Shoshanah Seumanutafa) 22-5
80': UBC Try - #2 Rachel Choboter (Convert Missed) 27-5