EDMONTON – Trinity Western forward Hope Nystrom (Langley, B.C.) led Trinity Western at day 2 of the Canada West 7s Series at Foote Field. With a 1-1 record on the day, falling in the consolation final for fifth place, the Spartans end their run in the first of three 7s tournaments at 2-3.

The Spartans kicked off their day with a 27-0 victory over Regina. TWU wasted no time in taking control of the match early as Rachel Wood (Coquitlam, B.C.) got the Spartans on the board with a try. The Spartans rattled off four more tries to secure the victory as Nystrom led the way with two. First-years Cheye Gustafson (Langley, B.C.) and Ava Van Santen (Abbotsford, B.C.) filled out the remaining TWU tries in the match with one apiece.

After taking down the Cougars, TWU ran into a strong Lethbridge team, who put the Spartans away 31-0 to claim fifth place at the event.
The Victoria Vikes will host the next Rugby 7s tournament, February 11th and 12th. 

2023 UAlberta Tournament Standings

PLACE	TEAM	WIN	LOSS	POINTS
1	UBC	5	0	15
2	Calgary	4	1	12
3	Victoria	3	2	10
4	Alberta	2	3	8
5	Lethbridge	3	2	6
6	Trinity Western	2	3	4
7	Regina	1	4	2
8	Brandon	0	5	1

 
 
Consolation Semifinal: Regina Cougars (0) vs Trinity Western Spartans (27)
Scoring summary:
 

	1	2	T
REG:	0	0	0
TWU:	10	17	27

TWU try - #2 Rachel Wood (convert missed) 5-0 TWU
TWU try - #4 Ava Van Santen (convert missed) 10-0 TWU
HALF
TWU try - #14 Hope Nystrom (convert missed) 15-0 TWU
TWU try - #3 Cheye Gustafson (convert missed) 20-0 TWU
TWU try - #14 Hope Nystrom (#5 Matisan Kelly convert) 27-0 TWU
 
5th Place Match: Lethbridge Pronghorns (31) vs Trinity Western Spartans (0)
Scoring summary:
 

	1	2	T
LET:	19	12	31
TWU:	0	0	0

LET try - #3 Jada Holtkamp (#3 Jada Holtkamp convert) 7-0 LET
LET try - #1 Molly Aellen (convert missed) 12-0 LET
LET try - #10 Kenya Richards (#3 Jada Holtkamp convert) 19-0 LET
HALF
LET try - #10 Kenya Richards (convert missed) 24-0 LET
LET try - #6 Sam Ganske (#7 Ruby McRae convert) 31-0 LET
 
QUOTABLE
Head Coach – Pose Seumanutafa
"The team has been working very hard coming into this tournament. Our goal was to get into the top four, but we felt that a lot of games were within reach even though we didn't make it. Overall, I'm happy with the team's effort.
 
"Regina is another program who is new, so we wanted to go out and get a win. That win helped the team get into a positive mindset. We had an opportunity to play some different teams, so getting experience at this level. It was also great seeing some of our new players compete at their first Canada West 7s.
 
"The game against Lethbridge was one that we believed to be in our reach heading into the tournament. We defended very well in the beginning, but we made a lot of mistakes when we had an opportunity to get at them. The game got away from us after that. We tied them last year, so we wanted to beat them this weekend. Overall, I'm happy with the effort the team put in – it just wasn't our day.
 
"As a whole, I'm happy with the way Danika Dool (Chilliwack, B.C.) and Issy Scholtens (Langley, B.C.) played this weekend. They were our standout players in this weekend's tournament."
 
Canada West Rugby 7s Series:
Teams are awarded 15 points for a tournament win, 12 points for finishing 2nd, 10 points for finishing third, 8 points for finishing fourth, 6 points for finishing fifth, 4 points for finishing sixth, 2 points for finishing seventh, and 1 point for finishing eighth.
 
The University of Alberta (January 20/21) Victoria (February 11/12) and British Columbia (March 4/5) will host the three Rugby 7s tournaments in 2023.
 
About Spartan Athletics
As official members of U SPORTS, the Spartans currently compete in 13 sports in the Canada West conference, including women's and men's soccer, volleyball, basketball, hockey, cross country and track & field, as well as women's rugby sevens. TWU also competes as an independent team in men's rugby. Since TWU entered U SPORTS in 1999, the Spartans have won 13 U SPORTS team championships and 32 Canada West team championships.
 
-TW-