UBC women’s rugby took down the University of Victoria Vikes 45–24 to earn a home opening victory on September 10.
Fourth-year T-Bird Mackenzie Carson set the tone with a try in the fourth minute. 2021 Canada West player of the year Savannah Bauder made the conversion to give the ‘Birds an early 7–0 lead. Bauder led the Canada West conference in points, tries and converts last season.
Despite a strong 19–0 start for the T-Birds, the Vikes fought back with two consecutive tries, closing the gap to a five-point deficit before the half. However, the T-Birds regrouped and came back stronger in the second half.
After earning a penalty try in the 49th minute, second-year centre Olivia Sarabura pushed for another try, giving UBC a 33–14 lead in the 56th minute.
Sarah MacPherson added her first ever try as a T-Bird, stretching UBC’s lead to 45–19 with Bauder’s convert. The game finished with Vikes Shaye Ogurek’s try in the 74th minute and UBC took down their island rival Vikes 45–24.
UBC head coach Dean Murten said he was satisfied with the remainder of the second half. “[The Vikes] probably went in at halftime feeling pretty good. We didn’t. We went out to come out in that second half for 10 minutes and just get the momentum back to us again. And we did that.”
Thunderbirds Piper Logan and Florence Symonds played with Rugby Canada’s Senior Women’s Sevens team for the Rugby World Cup Sevens in South Africa this month. Murten said he looks forward to having them back next week and to continue building the team for the rest of the season.
The T-Birds will be hosting the Calgary Dinos on Thursday, September 15 at the Gerald McGavin UBC Rugby Centre.
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