CALGARY – Two weeks after handing the Lethbridge Pronghorns their first regular season loss in four years, the Calgary Dinos women's rugby team has the opportunity to clinch first place in the Canada West standings – and prove that the Lethbridge game was no fluke – Friday afternoon when they host the Alberta Pandas.
The match kicks off at 4 p.m. Friday on the University of Calgary's Field 7, just west of the Olympic Oval and adjacent to the field hockey pitch.
With a perfect 3-0-0 record, the Dinos are in the driver's seat as they host the Pandas (2-0-0) on the front end of a two-game road swing for Alberta that culminates Sunday in Lethbridge. A Calgary win would guarantee the top seed for the Dinos at the conference championship tournament next weekend in Edmonton, from which the Canada West champion will advance to the CIS national championship hosted by StFX University in Antigonish, N.S.
It's a remarkable turnaround for a program in just its fourth season of competition. After failing to score a point in their first season in 2009, the Dinos improved significantly in 2010 and captured the program's first-ever victory last season at UBC en route to a Canada West bronze medal. Now, they're 80 minutes away from a first place finish – and the avoidance of both Alberta and Lethbridge in the semifinal round at next week's conference championship. A Dinos win over the Pandas would set up a semifinal match-up with either Victoria or UBC, both of which Calgary handled easily on their Pacific road swing earlier this season.
The Dinos feature three of the top four scorers in the conference in
Kate Scotland (32 points),
Kelcey Leavitt (25), and
Brynna Walker (20). Leavitt's five-try season is tied for the conference lead, with Walker right behind her with four. Scotland is the runaway leader in converts with 16.
Alberta won the regular season meeting between the two teams last year by a 25-10 score, then took a tight conference semifinal 10-0. The Pandas remain the only team in the conference that the Dinos have not beaten in their short four-year history.
-UC-
