By: Sean Crocker, BA'18
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The St. Thomas University Tommies fell to the University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds 32-22 in the ACAA women's rugby championship game Saturday afternoon at College Field.
The Varsity Reds struck first when Amy Andrews plowed her way to the goal line for a try, followed by the first of four conversions on the day from Julija Rans, to give the Varsity Reds an 7-0 lead.
The Varsity Reds did not stop there as Taylor McAulay got past the Tommies defence and scored a try to extend the UNB lead.
Tommies head coach Meghan Morrison was pleased with how her team responded after the strong start from the Reds.
"We had some nerves in the middle," she said following the game. "We never gave up on ourselves. We've played games where we have, but there was nobody on the field giving up today."
The persistence from the Tommies paid off when Emily Donelle blew past the Varsity Reds defence to the end line to put the Tommies on the board.
The onslaught from the Tommies did not end there as Donelle once again was able to muscle her way to the line to score her second of the day. Bailey Andrews converted to pull the Tommies back into the game.
The Varsity Reds restored the lead with two quick tries, jumping out to a 32-10 lead and forcing the Tommies to play on their back line for a large portion of the half.
"We've been working on that a lot lately," Morrison said of her team's defence. "We spent a lot of time in our end without a lot of tries going in, so that's a plus for next season."
The Tommies never quit and were rewarded when they managed to get to the end line through three Reds defenders to score their third try of the day. Andrews added another conversion to cut STU's deficit to 32-17.
The Tommies added a late try to narrow the lead to 32-22, which held up as the final score.
"We need to keep building for next year," Morrison said. "We have 11 first-year players, so we have 23 of 25 players coming back next year, so we feel really good about it."
With the win, the Varsity Reds earned their third consecutive ACAA title. Their well-rounded attack came from five different players and was led by Julija Rans's four conversions.