CALGARY – After taking major strides in 2011, the Calgary Dinos women's rugby program looks to continue on the upswing in 2012.

The Dinos made history with their first-ever win in program history last year at UBC, and they qualified for the playoffs – which they hosted, also for the first time – with a 2-2 record in the regular season. At the conference tournament, after giving the Alberta Pandas a solid run in a 10-0 loss, the Dinos scored a last-minute try to defeat Victoria and earn the Canada West bronze medal at McMahon Stadium.

A year later, reigning conference coach of the year Simon Chi has most of his team returning, led by All-Canadian prop Samantha Crandell along with all-star centre Brynna Walker. In addition, Chi has added some depth, including rookie Natasha Loucks, a recent graduate of the Alberta U18 program. Loucks scored one of Calgary's tries in a 33-26 loss to No. 5-ranked Queen's in non-conference action on Aug. 29.

Janai Haupapa is another of those newcomers who Chi expects to step into a key role and contribute depth to team's developing core of talent. Another key addition will be the return of Leah Conforti, who missed the last two seasons due to injury.

"The team has worked hard in the offseason to build on what they achieved last year," said Chi. "There is a lot of excitement within this group, but the team still has a lot to prove to be able to compete with the top programs. we have an extremely dedicated group of student-athletes - if they trust and play for each other and focus on doing the right things, the results should take care of themselves."

Ranked No. 3 in the Canada West pre-season coaches poll and No. 10 in the national Top 10, the Dinos open the season on the road with visits to UBC and Victoria Sept. 21 and 23, respectively. Calgary plays its two home games on Saturday, Sept. 29 against Lethbridge and on Friday, Oct. 12 against Alberta.

Canada West women's rugby coaches have decided that there is every reason to believe the six-time defending conference champion Lethbridge Pronghorns will do it again.
 
Among the five coaches, four voted the Horns at #1, while the other first-place tally went to Alberta. Coaches could not place a vote their own team.
 
Here are the complete voting results, based on a 14-12-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 system (first-place votes in parentheses):
 
1. Lethbridge (4)      20
2. Alberta        (1)     13
3. Calgary                 11
4. Victoria                   6
5. UBC                        5

-UC-