CALGARY - While most students have been preparing for the new school year, the ladies from the Dinos Women's Rugby Club have been preparing for a far different challenge. Saturday afternoon, they will play their first ever CIS match when they travel to Lethbridge to take on the Pronghorns.

Head coach Jenny Vincent has been with the club since its inception in the '90s when the women's side was a competitive club within the university.

“Through that time, right from the beginning, we had a priority to play other university teams,” said Vincent, who has previous Canada West experience with the University of Victoria. ”Right from the beginning we were playing U of A. This has been something that we've been waiting for far a very long time. We are ready to meet it head on. If you're going to play, you may as well play the best team in the country.”

Calgary's opening weekend against the Pronghorns will be a challenge, as the squad from Lethbridge has won the CIS championship for the last two seasons.

Lethbridge enters this game with some additional confidence after they defeated StFX 17-15 in an exhibition game on Sept 13. StFX is the second-ranked team in CIS after falling to Lethbridge in the 2008 national title game.

These last two years are only a small piece of the dominance that Canada West schools have enjoyed since the addition of women's rugby as a CIS sport. Since the first CIS championship in 1998, there have been only three years where a western Canadian school has not participated in the championship final. Canada West schools have won the title seven times – five by the Alberta Pandas and twice by the Pronghorns.

Despite their inexperience in the CIS, the Dinos are not short on talent to fill the roster. Athletes to look out for include Lizzie McKinnon and Kim Gould. McKinnon will be anchoring the team at scrum-half while Gould will play along the backline. Both bring experience from the Alberta under-19 and under-23 teams, respectively.

Another unique aspect of this rugby side is their willingness to adopt athletes from other sports to their roster. Gould and Brittany Buchan are both former Dinos wrestlers, with Gould planning to join the national champion wrestling squad again following rugby season, while Kayla Nelson trains with the Dinos track and field team. Megan Kurcwal is a varsity swimmer with the Dinos, and Alana McEvoy has moved from ice hockey to the rugby pitch this season.

“We are really looking to gain those high level athletes and get them into our sport,” Vincent said.

Saturday's tilt at Lethbridge kicks off the Dinos' inaugural CIS season, which also includes away games at UBC and Victoria next weekend before their lone home action of the four-game season. The first-ever Dinos varsity home rugby game goes Saturday, Oct. 16 against the University of Alberta Pandas.

-UC-