ELLENSBURG, Wash. – Trinity Western put four tries on the scoreboard but it wasn't enough as the Spartans were unable to keep pace with a highly-touted Central Washngton side, falling 48-26 Saturday afternoon at Steve Hertling Field at Tomlinson Stadium. 

Playing a Wildcats team that enters the 16-team USA collegiate national championship (D1A) bracket next weekend as the No. 2 seed in the West region, the Spartans got tries from David Wegert (Langley, B.C.), Connor Gibbons (Langley), Kyle Finan (Red Deer, Alta.) and Connor Bernardin (Langley, B.C.), but CWU countered with eight tries. 

TWU's Matthew Willemse (Pietermaritzburg, South Africa) slotted three of four conversion opportunities. 

The game marked the end of the Spartans 2023-24 season – one that saw TWU earn an historic first-ever win over CWU in February, pick up a fifth-place finish at the Canadian University Men's Rugby Championship and go on a two-match trip to England highlighted by a draw with Bristol University. 

AS IT HAPPENED
The Wildcats scored two tries in the first 20 minutes, but the Spartans struck back in the 32nd minute, with Wegert diving over for the score. A Willemse conversion made it a five-point game. 

However, CWU swung right back, scoring a minute later to push their lead to 10 points, 17-7, at halftime. 

The Wildcats scored two converted tries early in the second half to make it a 31-7 game by the 54th minute. 

TWU brought the Wildcats lead back to 12 points, with Gibbons scoring in the 56th minute and Finan finding the try line in the 62nd minute. But a minute after Finan's effort, CWU scored to push their lead to 38-19.

The Wildcats tallied two more ties before a Bernardin score followed by a Willemse conversion rounded out the scoring in the 78th minute.  

QUOTABLE
Julia Sugawara – Assistant Coach
"I don't think we met them physically and we let them dominate the physical contests. We were able to turn that around in the second half a bit, which led to us finding some success. When we stuck to our game plan, we were able to find some space and put some people over the line. I thought Fynn (Murphy) and Ethan (Jurgeneit, Bracebridge, Ont.) played really well. Ethan was able to break a lot of tackles on offence and Fynn made a lot of good tackles defensively. I think (CWU) beat us in the one-on-one aspects of the game, more than the team parts, so that's something we need to work on. In the end, it's good for us to have that kind of competition to help us develop as individuals and as a team."

NOTABLE    
•    CWU will now prepare to host Arizona in the first round of the national championship bracket.
•    The Wildcats entered the weekend ranked No. 5 in the Goff Rugby Report D1A Rankings.
•    The Spartans beat the Wildcats 14-10 Feb. 3. TWU is 1-5 all-time against CWU.

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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