By: Sean Crocker, BA'18
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The St. Thomas University Tommies topped the Mount Allison Mounties 44-13 in the ACAA women's rugby semi-final Saturday afternoon at Scotiabank Park South.

The Tommies jumped out to an early lead when Olivia Ricketts scored her first of four tries in the fifth minute of play.

That try was followed by two more from the Tommies—one from Jessica Sauter in the 10 minute and another from Ricketts to give the home team a 17-0 lead.

Tommies coach Meghan Morrison was pleased with the fast paced start her team brought to the game.

"We came out with some pretty good energy at the start," Morrison said. "I saw a lot of the things we've been working on the past couple of weeks, so I was pleased for sure."

After Kelsey MacKinnon scored for the Mounties to narrow the lead in the 20 minute, the Tommies responded with a try from Emily Donelle and a conversion from Bailey Andrews.

The Tommies led 29-8 at halftime.

In the second half the Tommies poured on the pressure. Sauter scored her second try of the day in the 56 minute, followed by the fourth try from Ricketts, on route to a 44-13 win.

With the win the Tommies earned a berth to the ACAA final, where they will face the University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds.

"We've been building over the whole season and we're still building," Morrison said. "Everytime we play UNB we get a little better, and we're better since we last played them."

In their two meetings in the regular season, the Varsity Reds topped the Tommies 15-0 and 27-12.

 "Practice is a lot of simple things at this point in the year," Morrison said. "It's all about playing together, lots of talk, and just going for it."

The Tommies will take on the Varsity Reds next Saturday, November 4 at College Field with the ACAA championship on the line. Kickoff is at 2:00 pm.