EDMONTON – Trinity Western's women's sevens team made its debut on the Canada West Rugby 7s Series Saturday, as the Spartans played their first-ever sevens tournament in school history.
Positioned in a challenging Pool A, the Spartans dropped all three games on Day 1, falling to the two-time defending Canada West champion Victoria Vikes 21-0, before losing 36-7 against Calgary and 31-0 against the host Alberta Pandas.
Michelle Veerman Quezada (White Rock, B.C.) will go down in Spartans history as the first TWU women's sevens player to score a try, as she dotted down after picking up a loose ball and racing more than 60 metres against the Dinos.
Tausani Levale (Abbotsford, B.C.), who came to the Spartans this year from Canada's national women's sevens program, slotted the conversion.
TWU will now play local rival Fraser Valley in the consolation semifinal Sunday at 10:12 a.m. (MT). The winner will play in the 5th-place game at 1:52 p.m. (MT), while the loser will play in the 7th-place game at 1:30 p.m. (MT).
WATCH DAY 2 LIVE: https://www.facebook.com/groups/rugbyalberta/
QUOTABE
Julia Sugawara – TWU Head Coach
"We played well in our opening game against Victoria, but the Vikes just capitalized on a few opportunities. We maintained aggressive tackling throughout the game, with just a few mistakes leading to tries. It was great to see Michelle get our first try against Calgary, but the Dinos certainly played well in that one. Against Alberta, we continued to play aggressively, but we were starting to feel the wear and tear of a full day of rugby and we let some of their speedsters around us on the outside."
Tausani Levale – TWU Captain
"Today was a great start to the women's rugby program at TWU. So far we've shown huge aggression in contact and really came together as a team."
Michelle Veerman Quezada
"I was excited to score our team's first try. It felt a bit like I broke the ice for us. Hopefully we will have many more tries to come. We had played defense for most of the game and I was glad I could show some of what our offense is capable of."
SPARTANS ROSTER
Ashley Jacob – South Surrey, B.C. | (Earl Marriott)
Niki Duchesne – Surrey, B.C. | Bayside Sharks (Elgin Park)
Madison Fleischer – Bellevue, Wash. | (Richmond Christian)
Tausani Levale – Abbotsford, B.C. | Canada 7s (Abbotsford)
Sammi Thiessen – Abbotsford, B.C. | Abbotsford RFC (Yale)
Laralee Gadsby – Kitchener, Ont. | Conestoga College (Huron Heights)
Abby Johnson – Kamloops, B.C. | Columbia Bible College (Kamloops Christian)
Kate Fedoruk – Richmond, B.C. | Richmond RFC (R.A. McMath)
Jensen Schmidt – Nanaimo, B.C. | (Dover Bay)
Issy Scholtens – Langley, B.C. | (Credo Christian)
Michelle Veerman Quezada – White Rock, B.C. | (Mission)
Sara Eskildsen – Mexico City, Mexico – Wallabies RFC Mexico (Avon View)
UP NEXT
Sunday, January 19
Morning session:
9:50 a.m. – Calgary vs. UBCO
10:12 a.m. - TWU vs. UFV
10:34 a.m. - Victoria vs. Lethbridge
10:56 a.m. - Alberta vs. UBC
Afternoon session:
1:30 p.m. - 7th-place game
1:52 p.m. - 5th-place game
2:14 p.m. - 3rd-place game
2:36 p.m. - 1st-place game
DAY 1 – TWU RESULTS
Game 4: Victoria Vikes (21) vs. Trinity Western Spartans (0)
Scoring summary:
1 2 T
VIC: 14 7 21
TWU: 0 0 0
VIC try - #12 Maddy Aberg - (#11 Nicola Smith convert) 7-0 VIC
VIC try - #13 Paige Farries - (#11 Nicola Smith convert) 14-0 VIC
HALF
VIC try - #6 Ashah Payson - (#5 Alexie Pusch convert) 21-0 VIC
Game 7: Calgary Dinos (36) vs Trinity Western Spartans (7)
Scoring summary:
1 2 T
CGY: 12 24 36
TWU: 0 7 7
CGY Try - #15 Berlyn Seselja (Convert Missed) 5-0 CGY
CGY Try - #14 Kate Knight (#10 Patricia Lively Convert) 12-0 CGY
HALF
CGY Try - #6 Alyson MacDougall (Convert Missed) 17-0 CGY
CGY Try - #7 Tianna Janfield (Convert Missed) 22-0 CGY
TWU Try - #11
Michelle Veerman Quezada (#5
Tausani Levale Convert) 22-7 CGY
CGY Try - #11 Sofia Brussoni (#2 Emma Newton Convert) 29-7 CGY
CGY Try - #6 Alyson MacDougall (#7 Tianna Janfield Convert) 36-7 CGY
Game 11: Alberta Pandas (31) vs Trinity Western Spartans (0)
Scoring summary:
1 2 T
TWU: 0 0 0
ALB: 17 14 31
ALB Try - #8 Courtney Holtkamp (Convert Missed) 5-0 ALB
ALB Try - #8 Courtney Holtkamp (#10 Lora Lee Convert) 12-0 ALB
ALB Try - #4 Heidi Farley (Convert Missed) 17-0 ALB
HALF
ALB Try - #11 Zoe Melnychuk (#15 Kate Manning Convert) 24-0 ALB
ALB Try - #12 Cassie Jorgenson (#15 Kate Manning Convert) 31-0 ALB
Tournament standings – Day 1
POOL A
TEAM WINS LOSSES TIES POINTS
VIC 3 0 0 12
ALB 2 1 0 8
CGY 1 2 0 4
TWU 0 3 0 0
POOL B
TEAM WINS LOSSES TIES POINTS
UBC 3 0 0 12
LET 2 1 0 8
UFV 1 2 0 4
UBCO 0 3 0 0
NOTE: Teams are awarded four points for a win, two points for a draw, and one point for a loss.
About Spartan Athletics
As official members of U SPORTS, the Spartans currently compete in 11 sports in the Canada West conference, including women's and men's soccer, volleyball, basketball, cross country and track & field, as well as women's rugby sevens. TWU also competes in the British Columbia Intercollegiate Hockey League (BCIHL) in men's hockey and as an independent team in men's rugby. The men's and women's hockey programs will begin playing in Canada West and U SPORTS in 2020-21. Since TWU entered U SPORTS in 1999, the Spartans have won 12 U SPORTS team championships and 27 Canada West team championships and two BCIHL championships.
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