Victoria– Trinity Western’s women’s rugby sevens team earned a sixth place finish for the third tournament in a row on the Canada West Rugby 7s Series after taking a win and a loss from Day 2 in Victoria.
Playing in the final tournament of the series, the Spartans opened Sunday with a 27-5 win over UBC Okanagan at the Vikes’ Wallace Field. However, TWU lost in the fifth-place game for the third straight tournament, falling to Lethbridge, who finished fourth overall in the series, 24-5.
Issy Scholtens (Langley, B.C.) and Sara Eskildsen (Mexico City) scored two tries each on the day, while Jensen Schmidt (Nanaimo, B.C.) and Sammi Thiessen (Abbotsford, B.C.) tallied once each.
The first-ever women’s rugby sevens team at TWU finished its inaugural season sixth overall in the final Canada West standings.
The Victoria Vikes won all three tournaments to take home the Canada West banner, while UBC (2nd) and Alberta (3rd) rounded out the top three finishers in the series.
TWU 27 UBCO 5
The Spartans opened the day against a challenging UBC Okanagan side, but TWU prevailed with Issy Scholtens (Langley, B.C.) and Sara Eskildsen (Mexico City) scoring two tries apiece and Jensen Schmidt (Nanaimo, B.C.) adding one. Nicolett Duchesne (Surrey, B.C.) earned the Spartans lone conversion. Eskildsen showed strong support play in her two tries, while both Schmidt and Scholtens used speed to beat their defenders wide. TWU has won both its games against UBCO this season.
Lethbridge 24 TWU 5
The Spartans gave up three tries in the first half, as they were unable to maintain consistent possession early on. Sammi Thiessen (Abbotsford, B.C.) got the Spartans within two scores midway through the second half, but a late Pronghorns try snuffed out TWU’s comeback bid.
FINAL SERIES STANDINGS
TEAM ALB Tourney UBC Tourney VIC Tourney TOTAL
VIC 15 15 15 45
UBC 8 12 12 32
ALB 12 10 8 30
LET 10 8 6 24
CGY 6 6 10 22
TWU 4 4 4 12
UFV 2 2 1 5
UBCO 1 1 2 4
QUOTABLE
Julia Sugawara – TWU Head Coach
“We were a bit disappointed to not improve on our 6th place finishes, but we’re happy with the series overall. We learned a lot about our strengths as well as areas we need to work on in the coming months. It is great to have a positive full season under our belts and we are excited to build on that experience.”
Tausani Levale, Captain
“It was great to see some seriously entertaining rugby played this weekend. We had so much fun playing off of each other and making some magic happen on the pitch with our offloads. We are no longer the new team: we are Trinity Western – the rugby team.”
Michelle Veerman Quezada
“There was big improvement from everyone over the weekend. We have come together as a team and we learned how to read each other on the field. We dedicate all of our work to God and that makes us want to push even more.”
UP NEXT
The Spartans will conclude their season with a trip to Orlando, Fla. for the Tropical 7s, which takes place April 10-11.
DAY 2 – TWU RESULTS
Game 14
Trinity Western (27) vs UBC Okanagan Heat (5)
1 2 T
TWU 10 17 27
UBCO 0 5 5
Scoring summary:
TWU Try – #7 Isabelle Scholtens (#5 Tausani Levale convert missed) TWU 5-0
TWU Try – #8 Jensen Schmidt (#5 Tausani Levale convert missed) TWU 10-0
HALF
TWU Try – #7 Isabelle Scholtens (#5 Tausani Levale convert missed) TWU 15-0
TWU Try – #10 Sara Eskildsen (#2 Nicolett Duchesne convert) TWU 22-0
UBCO Try – #15 Emily Hilditch (#9 Shaira Venegas convert missed) TWU 22-5
TWU Try – #10 Sara Eskildsen (#6 Sammi Thiessen convert missed) TWU 27-5
5th Place Game
Lethbridge Pronghorns (24) vs Trinity Western Spartans (5)
1 2 T
LET 17 7 24
TWU 0 5 5
Scoring summary:
LET Try – #21 Hailey Driscoll (#10 Caitlin Sears convert missed) LET 5-0
LET Try – #8 Sydney De La Mare (#10 Caitlin Sears convert missed) LET 10-0
LET Try – #20 Sara Cline (#10 Caitlin Sears convert) LET 17-0
HALF
TWU Try – #6 Sammi Thiessen (#5 Tausani Levale convert missed) LET 17-5
LET Try – #21 Hailey Driscoll (#10 Caitlin Sears convert) LET 24-5
DAY 1 – TWU RESULTS
Game 1
Trinity Western Spartans (0) vs UBC Thunderbirds (46)
1 2 T
TWU 0 0 0
UBC 27 19 46
Scoring summary:
UBC Try – #8 Hunter Czeppel (#5 Shoshanah Seumanutafa convert missed) UBC 5-0
UBC Try – #6 Madison Gold (#5 Shoshanah Seumanutafa convert missed) UBC 10-0
UBC Try – #6 Madison Gold (#5 Shoshanah Seumanutafa convert) 17-0
UBC Try – #5 Shoshanah Seumanutafa (#5 Shoshanah Seumanutafa convert missed) UBC 22-0
UBC Try – #1 Emily Baker (#5 Shoshanah Seumanutafa convert missed) UBC 27-0
HALF
UBC Try – #4 Alayna Scramstad (#5 Shoshanah Seumanutafa convert missed) UBC 32-0
UBC Try – #2 Rachel Smith (#10 Jordan McLeod convert) UBC 39-0
UBC Try – #7 Kally King (#10 Jordan McLeod convert) UBC 46-0
Game 6
Trinity Western Spartans (0) vs Alberta Pandas (34)
1 2 T
TWU 0 0 0
ALB 22 12 34
Scoring summary:
ALB Try – #8 Courtney Holtkamp (#14 Heidi Peake convert missed) ALB 5-0
ALB Try – #8 Courtney Holtkamp (#14 Heidi Peake convert missed) ALB 10-0
ALB Try – #14 Heidi Peake (#14 Heidi Peake convert missed) ALB 15-0
ALB Try – #6 Savannah Dubien (#14 Heidi Peake convert) ALB 22-0
HALF
ALB Try – #6 Savannah Dubien (#14 Heidi Peake convert) ALB 29-0
ALB Try – #2 Izzy McGowan (#14 Heidi Peake convert missed) ALB 34-0
Game 9
Fraser Valley Cascades (7) vs Trinity Western Spartans (33)
1 2 T
UFV 0 7 7
TWU 14 19 33
Scoring summary:
TWU Try – #4 Ashley Jacob (#5 Tausani Levale convert) TWU 7-0
TWU Try – #7 Isabelle Scholtens (#5 Tausani Levale convert) TWU 14-0
HALF
TWU Try – #3 Michelle Veerman Quezada (#5 Tausani Levale convert) TWU 21-0
UFV Try – #14 Kira Katan (#0 Cheye Gustafson convert) TWU 21-7
TWU Try – #7 Isabelle Scholtens (#5 Tausani Levale convert) TWU 28-7
TWU Try – #3 Michelle Veerman Quezada (#5 Tausani Levale convert missed) TWU 33-7
