October 30, 2014

Mustangs upset defending champ Alberta in tourney opener

GUELPH, Ont. (CIS) – The CIS women’s rugby championship got underway Thursday morning with an upset of the defending national champions. The sixth-seeded Western Mustangs took down the top-seeded Alberta Pandas 22-19 in the Pool A opener at the University of Guelph’s Alumni Stadium.

(Photo: Karyn Stepien)

GUELPH, Ont. (CIS) – The CIS women's rugby championship got underway Thursday morning with an upset of the defending national champions. The sixth-seeded Western Mustangs took down the top-seeded Alberta Pandas 22-19 in the Pool A opener at the University of Guelph's Alumni Stadium.

The Mustangs got off to a great start, highlighted by a huge interception by Tegan Williams (Blenheim, Ont.) at midfield. Williams raced down the sideline with support close behind and after a series of good offloads, Dagmar Wallsten (Mount Albert, Ont.) was able to score the try.

The Mustangs then increased their lead to 12-0 on a try and convert by fullback Breanne Nicholas (Blenheim, Ont.) but, after a slow start, the Pandas would answer with 19 unanswered points.

Some strong forward play led to a pair of tries from Stacie Becker (Sturgeon County, Alta.) which gave the Canada West conference champions a 14-12 lead at halftime.

Much like the opening 40 minutes, the second period would produce more back-and-forth action. After the two teams exchanged tries, by Sabrina Kelly for Alberta (unconverted) and Dagmar Wallsten for Western (converted), things were tied up at 19-19 setting the stage for some late dramatics.

Nicholas missed a penalty kick from 35 metres out, but was awarded a re-kick due to movement from Alberta's backline. She split the uprights on her second attempt for three points to put Western up 22-19.

That would prove to be the final points scored in the match, as the Mustangs were able to hold off the Pandas attack the rest of the way.

After the game, Western head coach Natasha Wesch said, "We tried to block out all distractions, put aside the fact that they were the defending champs and just play rugby. It was a real team effort today and I am really proud of our team."

Although Alberta head coach Matt Parrish was disappointed in his team's performance, he was optimistic about the Pandas chances going forward.

"Western did a good job adapting to our game plan, and I have to give them credit for that. We hope to improve upon our penalty count and missed opportunities going into our next game."

With the win, the Mustangs are now off until Saturday, when they will play the AUS champion StFX X-Women. As for the Pandas, they will be back in action Friday at 10:30 a.m. when they take on StFX in the second and final contest of the preliminary round.

Source: CIS