Trinity Western’s women’s rugby sevens team finished Day 1 of the Vancouver stop of the Canada West Rugby 7s Series with a 19-15 win over Fraser Valley Saturday at UBC. The win saw the Spartans finish pool play with a 1-2 record after TWU’s tournament started with losses to Lethbridge (22-0) and Alberta (31-5).
The Spartans, who finished sixth at the season-opening tournament in Edmonton, will now play UBC Okanagan in the consolation semifinal Sunday at 10:12 a.m. with the winner advancing to the Fifth-Place Game (12:46 p.m.) and the loser playing in the Seventh-Place Game (12:24 p.m.).
TWU’s Issy Scholtens (Langley, B.C.) scored twice, while Tausani Levale (Abbotsford, B.C.) and Kate Fedoruk (Richmond, B.C.) also dotted down for the Spartans. Levale converted two of TWU’s four tries.
Lethbridge 22 TWU 0
The Spartans hung with Lethbridge, who finished third in Edmonton, early on, holding the Pronghorns to just two tries in the opening half thanks to some strong tackling from the TWU side. However, taking advantage of a couple miscues on the Spartans side, the Pronghorns put up two more tries in the second half to seal the win.
Alberta 31 TWU 5
Similar to their opener, the Spartans put together a bright first half, holding Alberta to two tries, with the Pandas scoring off a TWU missed tackle, before doubling their lead on an overlap opportunity. The Spartans responded early in the second half. Scholtens broke down the wing and timely support from Jensen Schmidt (Nanaimo, B.C.) led to a try from Kate Fedoruk (Richmond, B.C.). However, from there, the Pandas scored the final three tries of the game.
TWU 19 Fraser Valley 15
A hard-fought battle against TWU’s closest geographical rival saw the Spartans beat the Cascades for the second time in as many games this year. Scholtens opened the scoring after Tausani Levale (Abbotsford, B.C.) picked up a loose ball and sent it out to an unmarked Scholtens. UFV tallied the next two tries to send the teams into the break with the Cascades up 10-0.
Early in the second half, Scholtens scored again, taking a pass from Levale, who had just stolen possession, to tie the game. With Levale converting, the Spartans took a lead they wouldn’t give up. Levale scored herself moments later after Sammi Thiessen (Abbotsford, B.C.) took a quick penalty and sprung Levale in all alone. After the conversion, UFV scored late, but TWU held on for the win to finish third in its pool.
WATCH DAY 2 LIVE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpsmvkp-iag
QUOTABE
Julia Sugawara – TWU Head Coach
“After the torrential downpour that came on Friday night, we were expecting conditions to be much the same today, so we felt fortunate to have only slightly wet fields and high winds while the sun sporadically shone through the clouds. This meant we would still see displays of footwork, speed and handling which is what 7s is made for.”
Issy Scholtens
“We keep improving play as a team. Our support for one another, both offensively and defensively, has improved immensely from our last tournament. Personally I had a fun day and accomplished my goal for the day by making a few tackles and having a good run that led to a try by our team in the Alberta game.”
Jensen Schmidt
“We took the feedback from the last tournament and improved on it. Even throughout the games today, we were able to choose aspects of our game and improve on them in the next game. Personally, I felt our team was connecting better with one another on the field and we’re seeing that more and more with every game.”
UP NEXT
Sunday, February 2
Morning session:
9:50 a.m. – UFV vs. Calgary
10:12 a.m. – TWU vs. UBC Okanagan
10:56 a.m. – Victoria vs. Alberta
11:18 a.m. – UBC vs. Lethbridge
Afternoon session:
12:24 p.m. – 7th-place game
12:46 p.m. – 5th-place game
1:30 p.m. – Bronze game
1:52 p.m. – Final
DAY 1 – TWU RESULTS
Game 4: Lethbridge Pronghorns (22) vs. Trinity Western Spartans (0)
Scoring summary:
1 2 T
LET: 12 10 22
TWU: 0 0 0
LET Try – #11 Janelle Agot (Convert missed) 5-0 LET
LET Try – #7 Christina Norsten (#11 Janelle Agot convert) 12-0 LET
HALF
LET Try – #24 Abby Duguid (Convert missed) 17-0 LET
LET Try – #6 Rebecca Powell (Convert missed) 22-0 LET
Game 7: Alberta Pandas (31) vs Trinity Western Spartans (5)
Scoring summary:
1 2 T
ALB: 14 17 31
TWU: 0 5 5
ALB Try – #12 Cassie Jorgenson (#14 Heidi Peake convert) 7-0 ALB
ALB Try – #10 Lora Lee (#14 Heidi Peake convert) 14-0 ALB
HALF
TWU Try – #6 Kate Fedoruk (Convert missed) 14-5 ALB
ALB Try – #8 Courtney Holtkamp (#14 Heidi Peake convert) 21-5 ALB
ALB Try – #6 Savannah Dubien (Convert missed) 26-5 ALB
ALB Try – #7 Isabella Adatia (Convert missed) 31-5 ALB
Game 12: Trinity Western Spartans (19) vs Fraser Valley Cascades (15)
Scoring summary:
1 2 T
TWU: 5 14 19
UFV: 10 5 15
TWU Try – #7 Isabelle Scholtens (Convert missed) 5-0 TWU
UFV Try – #6 Melissa Jongedijk (Convert missed) 5-5
UFV Try – #14 Kira Katan (Convert missed) 10-5 UFV
HALF
TWU Try – #7 Isabelle Scholtens (#5 Tausani Levale convert) 12-10 TWU
TWU Try – #5 Tausani Levale (#5 Tausani Levale convert) – 19-10 TWU
UFV Try – #2 Mackenzie Fowler (Convert missed) 19-15 TWU
Tournament standings – Day 1
POOL A
TEAM WINS LOSSES TIES POINTS
VIC 3 0 0 12
UBC 2 1 0 8
CGY 1 2 0 4
UBCO 0 3 0 0
POOL B
TEAM WINS LOSSES TIES POINTS
LET 3 0 0 12
ALB 2 1 0 8
TWU 1 2 0 4
UFV 0 3 0 0
NOTE: Teams are awarded four points for a win, two points for a draw, and one point for a loss.
