VANCOUVER – Trinity Western's Danika Dool (Chilliwack, B.C.) tallied a hat-trick to lead the Spartans to an historic 15-10 win over Lethbridge, highlighting the first day of action on the second stop of the Canada West 7s Series. The victory marked the first time the Spartans have beat the Pronghorns on the series. 

Dool scored twice in the first half and dotted down a third time early in the second half to stake TWU to a 15-0 lead. From there, the Spartans held off the Pronghorns to earn the win in both teams third match of the day. 

The Spartans finished the first day of competition with a 1-2 record, having lost 43-0 against UBC to open the tournament and 31-7 against Victoria. Sara Eskildsen (Mexico City) was the only other try-scorer for the Spartans as she dotted down in the eighth minute against the Vikes. 

QUOTABLE
Pose Seumanutafa – TWU Women's Rugby 7s Head Coach
"We came into this tournament having not played in Edmonton, so it took us a bit of time to find ourselves and to figure out the speed of the game. From our first game to our last game, you could see the growth and the confidence that started to settle in to the team. They all know what they need to do. The results in our first two games were not really a reflection of how good they are, but I think this win is a good building block for us, especially with our home tournament coming up. I'm so happy with how they battled through and it was a close game at the end, but they all worked together as a unit to get that win. I'm super proud of our team." 

UP NEXT
The Spartans will play Calgary at 9:45 a.m. (PT) before finishing the round robin tournament with a game against Alberta at 12:52 p.m. (PT). Both games are at Thunderbird Stadium on the campus of UBC. 

DAY 1 SCORING SUMMARY
SESSION 1
MATCH 2 – UBC v TWU
1st minute - UBC try - #6 Adia Pye (#5 Savannah Bauder convert)                       7-0 UBC
3rd minute – UBC try - #5 Bauder (#5 Bauder convert)                                         14-0 UBC
4th minute – UBC try - #6 Adia Pye (#5 Bauder convert)                                       21-0 UBC
5th minute – UBC try - #9 Sarah MacPherson (#5 Bauder convert missed)           26-0 UBC
7th minute – UBC try - #12 Lana Dueck (#12 Dueck convert)                                 33-0 UBC
1ST HALF SCORE: UBC 33 – TWU 0
9th minute – UBC try - #9 Sarah Macpherson (#12 Dueck convert missed)            38-0 UBC
14th minute – UBC try - #12 Dueck (#14 Delaney Woods convert missed)             43-0 UBC
FINAL SCORE: UBC 43 – TWU 0
 
SESSION 2
MATCH 4 - VIC v TWU
1st minute – VIC try #9 Shaye Ogurek (#5 Maggie MacKinnon convert missed)   5-0 VIC
3rd minute – VIC try #10 Emily Findlay (#5 MacKinnon convert)                           12-0 VIC
4th minute – VIC try #11 Emmie Pierce (#5 MacKinnon convert)                           19-0 VIC
7th minute – VIC try #13 Larah Wright (#5 MacKinnon convert)                            26-0 VIC
1st HALF SCORE: VIC 26 – TWU 0
8th minute – TWU try #11 Sara Eskildsen (#8 Vlada Shevchenko convert)             26-7 VIC
10th minute – VIC try #5 MacKinnon (#5 MacKinnon convert missed)                   31-7 VIC
FINAL SCORE: VIC 31 - TWU 7
  
SESSION 3
MATCH 7 – TWU v LET
2nd minute – TWU try #1 Danika Dool (#8 Vlada Shevchenko convert missed)       5-0 TWU
7th minute – TWU try #1 Dool (#8 Shevchenko convert missed)                           10-0 TWU
1st HALF SCORE: TWU 10 – LET 0
9th minute – TWU try #1 Dool (#9 Jenna De Greeff missed convert)                     15-0 TWU
11th minute – LET #12 Umeh Zina (#11 Tory Clements missed convert)                15-5 TWU
14th minute – LET #12 Zina (#13 Verity Fex missed convert)                                 15-10 TWU
14th minute – LET YC #2 Molly Aellen
FINAL SCORE: TWU 15 - LET 10
 
 NOTABLE
•    Prior to TWU's win over Lethbridge, the Spartans had gone winless in their first nine meetings (0-7-2) with the Pronghorns.
•    The Spartans were playing in their first tournament of the 2024 season after missing the first tournament in Edmonton due to flight cancellations. 

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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