LANGLEY, B.C. – The No. 6-ranked Trinity Western Spartans dropped a 66-12 decision against No. 1 UBC Saturday afternoon at Willoughby Community Park Stadium. 

The Spartans Lynden Duggan (Edinburgh, Scotland) scored the first try of the night and the TWU's Liam Olafsen (Abbotsford, B.C.) dotted down late, but it was the Thunderbirds coming away with the victory after scoring 10 tries.

Matthew Willemse (Pietermaritzburg, South Africa) slotted the Spartans only conversion of the day following Duggan's try. 

The Spartans drop to 0-4 in the Coastal Cup, having lost to UBC and Victoria twice each. UBC improves their record to 2-2 in the Coastal Cup.

AS IT HAPPENED
Duggan opened the scoring with his third try of the season in the 11th minute with a long and winding run through the UBC defence to give TWU an early lead. However, UBC struck back with a try four minutes later and knocked through the conversion to even the score. 

From there, the Thunderbirds put four more tries on the board before halftime and converted on all of them to take a 35-7 advantage into the break. 

The second half was more of the same from a strong UBC side, with the visitors scoring four tries before Olafasen dove across the line for his second try as a Spartan in the 73rd minute. UBC rounded out the scoring with one last try in the 80th minute.  

QUOTABLE
Andrew Evans – Director of Rugby
"In the first 10 minutes we were executing and playing with a lot of energy on defence, which is what we've been asking for from our guys. We kept UBC out when they were pressuring and we were able to get possession and build composed phases. We worked the ball out to Lynden who scored a really spectacular try. It was really fun rugby to watch in the first 10 minutes. Then we made a couple of silly mistakes and they just compounded on one another. With the heat and the pressure of UBC, it was tough for our guys to regain composure. We had a few moments of it later in the game but the wheels fell off the bus for a while after that first 10 minutes. 

"We've had a lot of injuries right from preseason but that's given us an opportunity to build our depth. Our freshman have done really well. We're not in a negative light at all. UBC is a really good team.

"We got some players back from injury, including Keegan Marengo (Johannesburg, South Africa), who made a big difference, kicking two 50-22s. Josh Olafsen (Abbotsford, B.C.) also made his debut with us today and he did well, coming back after two years away with a torn ACL. It was really to get those guys on the pitch today."

NOTABLE
•    UBC defeated Trinity Western 61-22 in the Spartans season-opener in early September.
•    TWU has two games remaining against the Pacific Pride before getting ready to host the Canadian University Men's Rugby Championship Nov. 15-19 at Willoughby Community Park Stadium.

UP NEXT
TWU hosts the Pacific Pride – Canada's National Development Academy – Oct. 14 at Willoughby Community Park Stadium. Kick-off is at 2:30 p.m.

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 and disc golf. Since TWU entered U SPORTS in 1999, the Spartans have won 13 U SPORTS team championships and 32 Canada West team championships.

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