CALGARY – The University of Calgary Dinos women's rugby team put up a tough fight but was overwhelmed by the reigning national champions, the Lethbridge Pronghorns, in a 57-11 rout on a frosty Friday afternoon in Calgary.
The Pronghorns wasted no time after the opening kickoff, pouncing on the Dinos line and rucking them off the ball before feeding the ball down their back-line to their third-year prop Brandi Van Eeuwen, who scored the first Lethbridge try just a minute into the game.
The Dinos would respond immediately, pushing the visitors deep into their own end and keeping them there for 10 minutes before effectively breaking through to the try zone. That success was courtesy of winger Sylvie Mullen, a first year Arts student, who found an overlap and beat the defense wide. Mullen followed her try with a miss on her lone conversion attempt of the game.
In another swing the 'Horns would regain control and pound two trys into the home team's zone in quick succession. Centre Kendra Reeves would be responsible for both of those trys after muscling her way through the middle of the Dinos backline and then taking advantage of an overlap on the play that followed her first try.
The Dinos would add to their score before halftime after Mullen took advantage of a Calgary penalty kick 15 meters out of the Lethbridge end.
Lethbridge would add one more try before the halftime whistle when Juhee Thompson grabbed an offload from her teammate on her way to setting the score at 26-8 in her team's favor at the half.
The second half saw the score go downhill quickly for the Dinos as Shannon Court and Stacey Hake both found paydirt for the Pronghorns early.
Mullen then responded with another successful penalty kick for the Dinos before Lethbridge took three more trys into the endzone. Court scored for the second time in the final batch of scoring while Brittany Orr and Genevieve Ahart added their own markers.
On conversions, the Horns saw Laura Murphy-Burke make six of nine attempts at the uprights for 12 points, while Calgary's Mullen went wide on her only attempt.
After the game, Head Coach Simon Chi seemed pleased with his girls' effort
“I'm really proud of the way the girls played. They've come along way, even in the last three or four games,” Chi noted. “Lethbridge is the defending national champions and we gave them a game. It's building blocks to work on for next year.”
With this loss the Dinos end their season 0-4 while 3-0 Lethbridge continues their tour of the province with a re-match of last years Canada West championship at the University of Alberta.
SCORING SUMMARY
Calgary Tries: Sylvie Mullen
Calgary Converts: none
Calgary Penalties: Sylvie Mullen (2)
Lethbridge Tries: Brandi Van Eeuwen, Kendra Reeves (2), Juhee Thompson, Shannon Court (2), Stacey Hake, Brittany Orr, Genevieve Ahart
Lethbridge Converts: Laura Murphy-Burke (6)
Lethbridge Penalties: None.
-UC-
