CALGARY – A pair of late first-half tries by the UBC Thunderbirds gave them a lead they wouldn't surrender in a 22-12 win over the University of Calgary Dinos on Thursday afternoon at the Canada West Women's Rugby Final Four.

After taking the lead just before halftime, the Thunderbirds extended their advantage and held off a comeback attempt by the Dinos. UBC advances to face the Victoria Vikes for a chance to defend their conference crown on Sunday at McMahon Stadium.

It was a game that featured a dominant Dinos forward pack and exquisite Thunderbirds backs play.

Calgary opened the scoring 18 minutes into the game after a great 50-22 kick by Berlyn Seselja that gave the Dinos a lineout on the T-Birds five-metre line. The Dinos formed a maul off the lineout and pushed Callandra Eagleton across the line for the try.

Gritty play by both teams saw the ball stuck in the middle of the field with neither team gaining yards. A yellow card to Taejah Thompson of the Dinos opened the field and gave the momentum to the Thunderbirds.

Stretching the Dinos defence from wing to wing, UBC cracked the Calgary defence. Getting Piper Logan around the outside for their first points of the game at the 35th minute. Savannah Bauder was successful on the convert from the left side.

The Thunderbirds kept the pressure on to close the half. Working the ball to the wing then creating the hole in the middle of the Dinos defence where Mackenzie Carson punched through for the try. Bauder hit the post on the convert, leading to a halftime score of 12-7 for UBC.

Using their 3-phase attack, they swung the ball wide, hit it up the middle, then went wide again. Running a support line, Flo Symonds got the ball off a pop pass and fought for the final meter across the try line for the Thunderbird try 17 minutes into the second half. 

Calgary responded immediately driving the ball into the UBC zone and drawing a yellow card against Mikaela Nelson of the Thunderbirds.

Using their lineout mauls, the Dinos pushed Alyson MacDougall over the try line from 5 metres. Patricia Lively followed up with an incredible conversion from the sideline to bring the Dinos within five points with 15 minutes remaining.

With the clock on the Thunderbirds side, they played a possession game and let it tick away at the Dinos. With just four minutes left in the game, Rori Wood ran through a tired Dinos defence and sealed the game.

The Dinos fought to the last whistle, but time was against them as they could not close the gap. 

As Dinos head coach Simon Chi put it, "in the end they came out the better team… but [you] can't doubt our girls' effort and passion today."

The Dinos will play in the bronze medal match against the Lethbridge Pronghorns on Sunday at 11 a.m. The teams split their regular-season games and Chi knows they, "have a bit of a score to settle."

"Calgary came at us really hard and put us under a lot of pressure," UBC head coach Dean Murten said after the game. "We just need to be a little bit smarter."

Already secured a berth at the U SPORTS Women's Rugby Championships in Kingston, Ont., the Thunderbirds face the Vikes for Canada West gold at 1 p.m. on Sunday.

SCORING SUMMARY
First Half
18' CGY – Callandra Eagleton try, 5-0 CGY
35' UBC – Piper Logan try (Savannah Bauder convert), UBC 7-5
40' UBC – Mackenzie Carson try, UBC 12-5

Second Half
57' UBC – Florence Symonds, 17-5 UBC
64' CGY – Alyson MacDougall try (Patricia Lively convert), 17-12 UBC
76' UBC – Rori Wood try, UBC 22-12