LETHBRIDGE, Alta. – The Canada West champion University of Calgary Dinos battled snowy, windy conditions to defeat the Ontario silver medallist Queen's Gaels 41-5 Thursday afternoon to open the 2017 U SPORTS Women's Rugby Championship.

Calgary will face the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees in the national semifinal Friday, with the winner of that one to play for the U SPORTS title Sunday.

First team All-Canadians DaLeaka Menin and Temitope Ogunjimi each scored two tries for the Dinos, who advance to the semifinal round for the second straight season. Samantha May, Berlyn Seselja, and Isla Shill also scored tries for Calgary, while Elysa Sandron added converts on three of the Dinos' seven scores. Molly Labenski scored the only points of the day for Queen's.

With a brisk northerly wind sweeping across the snow-covered field at the University of Lethbridge Community Stadium, the Dinos came out of a first-half 'warmth' break with a revised game plan and promptly kicked the ball downfield, leading to the opening try of the game courtesy Menin, the Canada West MVP. To that point, while they had carried the majority of the possession, the Dinos had been unable to get much penetration.

"It was getting used to the snow and playing on turf with snow," explained Dinos Head Coach Simon Chi. "We wanted to try to do some things that were too challenging to do, so it's a matter of reloading, simplifying things, committing to a different game plan, and adjusting to the conditions.

"We knew that playing wide and expansive was really not on the table, so we simplified things. We saw some opportunities in terms of how their back three were playing and we kicked into space and took advantage of that."

Nine minutes after Menin opened the scoring, Samantha May found a seam and scored on the final play of the opening half, as the Dinos took a 12-0 lead into the break.

They didn't waste any time setting the tone for the second half as Berlyn Seselja got it over the try line just three minutes after the break. Queen's responded with their only points of the game soon afterwards, but Ogunjimi snuffed out any momentum the Gaels may have obtained when she grabbed the ball behind the Calgary scrum and raced down the near sideline to score.

Menin, Ogunjimi, and Shill rounded out the Dinos' scoring in the late stages of the contest.

The conditions were challenging for both sides, but not something the Dinos weren't expecting.

"Most of this team comes from areas where they've had to play in snow," said Chi. Look at all the players on our team playing in shorts – they didn't have leggings on like every other team out there. We're used to this."

"It was an advantage in our preparation," said fifth-year captain Emily Tuttosi. "We had the attitude that we could do this, nothing was going to stop us – weather was not going to decide whether we're going to go through this tournament successfully."

As they turn their attention ahead to the Gee-Gees, who defeated Acadia 65-5 in their quarter-final, it shouldn't take much to get the Dinos motivated for their semifinal tilt Friday. After all, it was Ottawa who ended Calgary's national championship aspirations one year ago with a tight 7-5 win in the same game at the U SPORTS tournament in Victoria.

"We have a big game ahead tomorrow, and we'll focus on that," said Tuttosi. "That was the game that dashed our dreams last year – we'll be ready."

SCORING SUMMARY

First half
24' CGY – DaLeaka Menin try (convert missed), 5-0 CGY
35' CGY – Samantha May try (Elysa Sandron convert), 12-0 CGY

Second half
38' CGY – Berlyn Seselja try (Elysa Sandron convert), 19-0 CGY
43' QUE – Molly Labenski try (convert missed), 19-5 CGY
45' CGY – Temitope Ogunjimi try (convert missed), 24-5 CGY
56' CGY – DaLeaka Menin try (convert missed), 29-5 CGY
60' CGY – Temitope Ogunjimi try (convert missed), 34-5 CGY
62' CGY – Isla Shill try (Elysa Sandron convert), 41-5 CGY

-UC-