Vancouver – Trinity Western’s first-year women’s rugby sevens program finished sixth at the Vancouver stop of the Canada West Rugby 7s Series, after beating UBC Okanagan in the consolation semifinal before losing to Calgary in the fifth-place match Sunday at Thunderbird Stadium.
The result marks the second straight tournament the Spartans have finished sixth, having also lost to Calgary in the fifth-place match two weeks ago in Edmonton.
The Spartans exploded for their biggest offensive output in program history against the Heat, scoring six tries in a 38-0 win. In the fifth-place match, the Spartans lost 33-7.
On the day, Sammi Thiessen (Abbotsford, B.C.) finished with two tries, while Issy Scholtens (Langley, B.C.), Ashley Jacob (South Surrey, B.C.), Laralee Gadsby (Kitchener, Ont.), Madison Fleischer (Bellevue, Wash.) and Tausani Levale (Abbotsford) each scored one. Levale finished the day with five conversions on seven opportunities.
TWU 38 UBC Okanagan 0
Thiessen opened the scoring against the Heat with back-to-back tries, setting the tone for the rest of the game. From there, TWU rolled to a win, with Gadsby scoring her first try as a Spartan and Jacob and Fleischer scoring their first-ever tries in the sport of rugby
Calgary 33 TWU 7
Calgary scored early, but Levale responded with an impressive individual try, running through a number of defenders before touching down under the posts. However, the Dinos scored twice before the break to go ahead 19-7. The second half saw Calgary tally a pair of converted tries to round out the scoring.
