VANCOUVER – The No. 6 University of Calgary Dinos women's rugby team found its groove late in the opening half, overcoming a 10-0 deficit to defeat the UBC Thunderbirds 31-17 Friday afternoon.

Elysa Sandron scored a pair of tries and made three conversions for the Dinos, while the Menin trio - DaLeaka, Jade, and Kasselle - each scored a try as the Dinos scored five unanswered to break open the contest.

The Dinos earned their first of four consecutive tries in the 27th minute, with DaLeaka Menin driving into the end zone from a lineout less than two minutes after UBC had taken a 10-0 lead on a penalty. Sandron scored her first before the half, finding the goal line again early in the second. After Jade and Kasselle scored for the Dinos, with time ticking down, UBC's Ciara Malone scored a last-ditch effort for her second try of the afternoon.

"Today was a bit of a character win for the team," said Dinos head coach Simon Chi. "We knew going in that UBC would be physical and come after us at the breakdown.  It was definitely scrappy at the start but the team battled through and found a way to come away with a result.  There were some hard lessons learned and hopefully we can walk away from this game and realize that we will have to work harder and build on this performance."

Calgary's defence was at times overpowering for the T-Birds' smaller roster as the visitors improve to 2-0 in the short Canada West regular season.
 
There is little time for both teams to rest. The Thunderbirds will return to the field on Sunday at 1 p.m. against the Lethbridge Pronghorns, while the Dinos will travel to Victoria for agame against the Vikes at 1:30 p.m. MT.

"We have a quick turnaround before we play a very dangerous UVic team and we will have to raise our game even higher to meet this challenge," said Chi.

SCORING SUMMARY
18:00 – UBC try, Ciara Malone (15); conversion Paige Smith (10) [UBC 7, CGY 0]
25:02 – UBC penalty kick, Paige Smith (10) [UBC 10, CGY 0]
26:30 – CGY try, DaLeaka Menin (3); NO conversion, Elysa Sandron (15) [UBC 10, CGY 5]
30:29 – CGY try, Elysa Sandron (15); conversion, Elysa Sandron (15) [UBC 10, CGY 12]
45:10 – CGY try, Elysa Sandron (15); NO conversion, Elysa Sandron (15) [UBC 10, CGY 17]
64:40 – CGY try, Jade Menin (7); conversion, Elysa Sandron (15) [UBC 10, CGY 24]
74:12 – CGY try, Kasselle Menin (6); conversion, Elysa Sandron (15) [UBC 10, CGY 31]
80:00 – UBC try, Ciara Malone (15); conversion, Paige Smith (10) [UBC 17, CGY 31]

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