UBC women’s rugby won by a landslide against the University of Alberta Pandas on Sunday afternoon at the UBC Gerald McGavin Rugby Centre. The game, which had an impressive 85–7 score, saw eight different T-Birds get points, with Adia Pye scoring six tries.
The Thunderbirds started the first half of the game on full gas, with Olivia Sarabura making the first try after a great run from lock Teya Ashworth. After that, Pye found herself on a roll with her first try of the game in the seventh minute, and another seven minutes later after a solo dash. The next ten minutes saw Pye scoring three more times for the T-Birds, with precise conversions scored by Savannah Bauder.
Back row Mya Koleba then scored one last time for the ‘Birds in the 38th minute, ending the half with a score of 47–0.
The second half saw the Thunderbirds continuing to pressure the Pandas, with hooker Kiki Idowu scoring in the 43rd minute after some goalmouth resistance from Alberta.
Back row Jesse Knaggs and hooker Maddy Thran then scored their first tries of the game in the 51st and 54th minutes respectively, with Sarabura slipping through the defence and scoring for the second time in the game 12 minutes later.
The Pandas battled hard during the second half, and their work paid off in the 70th minute when they earned a penalty try.
During the last few minutes of the match, the Thunderbirds scored two more tries — from centre Delaney Woods in the 72nd minute and Pye in the 78th minute. Fly half Brooklyn Roddham scored five conversions in the second period of the match.
The Thunderbirds head coach Dean Murten was satisfied with the team’s performance on the field.
“I think we played a little bit more like a team today,” he said. “The main thing was ‘don’t worry about the scoreboard, just worry about the process and just play together as a team.’ So that’s what I’m most happy about.”
That said, he does think the team has room to improve.
“[In the last game], we'd given the ball away 21 times, which is far too many. This week, it was down to five, so a vast difference. But again, we've just got to keep bringing them numbers down.”
Next up, the Thunderbirds will face the University of Calgary Dinos at home on September 26 at 4:30 p.m.
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