The UBC women’s rugby team finished their regular season with a 31–31 tie on Saturday afternoon against the University of Victoria Vikes in Victoria.
After losing to the Thunderbirds 45–24 earlier in the season, the Vikes used their home-field advantage to take the lead early on. Within the first 15 minutes, they’d scored two tries and one convert to make the score 12–0. UBC bounced back, scoring two tries, both with successful converts by last week’s U Sports player of the week, Savannah Bauder, to make the score 14–12 in favour of the ‘Birds before the half.
UBC held the pressure in the second half, coming out to score three consecutive tries and one convert in a nine[-]minute span. Piper Logan and Bauder alone were responsible for the 17 points. However, the Thunderbirds couldn’t hold their lead as UVic player Summer Blackmore scored in the 58th minute to make the score 31–19 with the conversion. The Vikes continued the momentum, scoring two more, including the tie-making try by Blackmore and a successful convert.
Saturday’s game was the first time the Thunderbirds failed to defeat the Vikes in three years, and ruined what would’ve been a perfect season for the ‘Birds. Despite the loss, the T-Birds still finished first in the division with a 4–0–1 record.
UBC will face the Alberta Pandas in the Canada West semifinals on October 20 in Edmonton.
A previous version of this story misstated UBC's opponent for the October 20 game. This article was updated on October 20, 2022 at 1:40 p.m. to reflect this change.