CALGARY – The UBC Thunderbirds will advance to the Canada West Women's Rugby Championship gold medal game on Sunday after a long and hard-fought 81-7 win against the University of Calgary Dinos at McMahon Stadium on Thursday afternoon.

UBC jumped out to a big lead early, carrying a 38-0 edge at halftime before coasting down the stretch into Sunday's final.

"We'll need to match Victoria physically; we've been fine tuning over the last week or so and some of those things were used today which is promising but as we've had two close games, we know it will be a battle," UBC head coach Dean Murten said postgame. "With a few injuries that happened today, some of girls may be out, which will be unfortunate, but it'll be one hell of a game with a lot of physicality, and we'll need to utilize the field well."

The Thunderbirds came out ready to roll as they laid down two tries within the first ten minutes. Savannah Bauder got her first try of the game in the fourth minute, followed swiftly by Rachel Smith in the eighth minute with a 14-0 score after successful conversions. 

As the scoring action continued, UBC's Olivia Sarabura caught a fast ball down the line and found a gap between Dinos' defence to loop herself around and into the try zone for a 21-0 lead after a complete conversion. 

A clever play landed Jordan Mcleod her first try of the game in the 21st minute, as she snuck around the sideline of a throw-in past the Calgary defence. In the 29th minute, Florence Symonds followed up with the T-Birds' fifth try of the first half as she made the score 33-0 with a complete conversion. 

Adia Pye concluded the first half with another try for the Thunderbirds with no conversion, which brought the score to 38-0 as the game headed into the second.

Within the first minute of the second half, the Thunderbirds were in the try zone, delivered by Mya Koleba, the conversion was good with a new kicker on the field Brooklyn Roddham to make the score 45-0 to start off. 

The Thunderbirds successfully completed six more try's, with three successful conversions by Roddham in the second half. 

The Dinos kept their spirits up as they fought till the end. Willow Beyea successfully scored Calgary's first try of the game in the 74th minute after a battle on the try line. Ashley Parkson got her leg on the ball and completed the conversion for an 81-7 end score.

"The scoreline didn't indicate the effort of our team today," Dinos head coach Simon Chi said. "On top of that, there was a lot of growth in terms of a lot of things we wanted to accomplish. We were able to retain the ball for long stretches and gain territory. 

"Certainly, we still have work to do before Sunday in terms of our counterattack and tightening our defence, but retaining the ball and gaining territory is something we see as growth, and we want to build on that."

The Dinos now turn their attention to Sunday when they will host Lethbridge, who dropped a 36-10 battle to Victoria earlier Thursday. The two provincial rivals will duke it out once again at McMahon Stadium at 3 p.m. in a battle for bronze.

Sunday's championship will feature UBC taking on Victoria at 5 p.m., following the bronze medal contest.

SCORING SUMMARY
 
                1             2             F
UBC      38           43           81
CGY       0             7             7
 
First Half
3' UBC – Savannah Bauder try (Savannah Bauder convert) – 7-0 UBC
8' UBC – Rachel Smith try (Savannah Bauder convert) – 14-0 UBC
18' UBC – Olivia Sarabura try (Savannah Bauder convert) – 21-0 UBC
21' UBC – Jordan McLeod try (convert unsuccessful) – 26-0 UBC
29' ­UBC – Florence Symonds try (Savannah Bauder convert) – 33-0 UBC
40' UBC – Adia Pye try (convert unsuccessful) – 38-0 UBC
 
Second Half
42' UBC – Mya Koleba try (Brooke Roddham convert) – 45-0 UBC
48' UBC – Charity Williams try (convert unsuccessful) – 50-0 UBC
51' UBC – Alexis Dobson try (convert unsuccessful) – 55-0 UBC
55' UBC – Brooke Roddham try (convert unsuccessful) – 60-0 UBC
58' UBC – Shalay Velenzuela try (Brooke Roddham convert) 67-0 UBC
62' UBC – Vela Baravian try (Brooke Roddham convert) – 74-0 UBC
70' UBC – Olivia Sarabura try (Brooke Roddham convert) – 81-0 UBC
74' CGY – Willow Beyea try (Ashley Parkson convert) – 81-7 UBC

-UC-