Canada West semifinal #1: Pronghorns sail past Vikes 86-0

by Matt Gutsch, U of Alberta Athletics

Lethbridge 86 Victoria 0
Ashley MacDonald-2 tries
Laura Murphy-Burke-2 tries and 6 converts
Kelsey Willoughby-try
Emily Steams-try
Katelyn Jonsson-try
Brittany Orr-try
Andrea Letal-3 tries
Shannon Court-2 tries
Ashley Zaremba-try

SHERWOOD PARK, AB - The Lethbridge Pronghorns rugby team has its chance at a fourth-straight Canada West title thanks to an 86-0 victory over the Victoria Vikes during Game 1 of the Canada West rugby championship, Friday morning at the Strathcona Rugby Club just outside of Edmonton.

Sophomore fly half Laura Murphy-Burke, from Surrey, B.C., had two trys and eight converts to lead Lethbridge with 26 points. Wing Andrea Letal had three trys in the win, Ashley MacDonald and Shannon Court each added two, while Kelsey Willoughby, Emily Steams, Katelyn Jonsson, Brittany Orr and Ashley Zaremba added singles for the two-time defending CIS champions.

Only two teams advance to the national championship tournament, November 6-8 at UBC, and with the host Thunderbirds guaranteed one spot, Lethbridge is now in a strong position to earn the other berth.

The Pronghorns have won the last three Canada West titles, and will need to either beat the host Alberta Pandas on Sunday to advance, or hope that UBC can beat Alberta in Friday’s other semifinal to get their shot at their fourth consecutive banner.

Lethbridge was never in danger against the Vikes, pounding out an early lead in the opening minutes and then cruising to a 56-0 half-time score.

Murphy-Burke scored both of her trys in the first half, and notched six converts, while MacDonald also scored two first-half trys. Steams, Jonsson, and Orr also scored in the first, while Letal scored her first of three.

Victoria had trouble moving the ball against the tough-tackling Pronghorns, only once coming close to finding the score sheet.

“I thought that right from the start the girls played really well, especially on defense. Our attacking, obviously, was quite good as well. There was a lot of really key decisions being made out there,” said nine-year Lethbridge head coach Neil Langevin.”

The second half started slowly, with Victoria snuffing out every Lethbridge drive to start, but still unable to generate any chances of their own.

Zaremba finally broke though the Vike defense, and was followed by two trys from Letal in the span of four minutes, but Murphy-Burke missed both convert attempts.

Third-year Chelsey Minter had Victoria’s best chance, when she charged hard through the Lethbridge tackling, but found herself just on the outside of the Lethbridge goal line after being gang-tackled. The Sidney, BC native and member of Canada’s U-20 team was one of the best Vikes on the day.

Shannon Court added a pair of trys late in the second half, and Murphy-Burke converted on both to send Lethbridge to final.

“We’ve had our eye on this game all season,” said Langevin. “We know that if it’s UBC or Alberta that we meet in the championship game that we’ll be in for a tough battle.”