KINGSTON, Ont. (CIS) – The Victoria Vikes dominated the top-seeded Acadia Axewomen 55-12 in the second consolation semifinal of the CIS women's rugby championship Saturday afternoon at Queen's University's Nixon Field.
The Vikes (1-1) move to Sunday's fifth-place game at 11 a.m. against the Lethbridge Pronghorns (1-1), setting up a rematch of the Canada West final won 50-17 by Victoria on Oct. 25.
Fresh off its first-ever AUS title, Acadia couldn't recreate the magic in Kingston and returns home with an 0-2 CIS tournament record.
"Today's game was great," admitted first-year Victoria head coach Brittany Waters. "It was the performance we were looking for in the quarter-final, unfortunately it's a harsh set up with the quarters and semis so if you lose your first game you're in the bottom four. We came out firing today and looking for that fifth place is the next consolation prize."
Acadia head coach Matthew Durant knew his team just ran out of gas. "I think the girls lost a lot of steam after the opening game loss to Queen's. I thought we were ready today but we just didn't have the energy it took and I give Victoria all the credit, they had a little more jump in their game and deserved to beat us."
Victoria had the first offensive surge of the match but it was the Axewomen who got the first points on the board with Tamara Dondi (Caledon, Ont.) getting a pass out on the right side and putting down a try in the eighth minute of play.
The Vikes responded with a stacked right side only to swing the ball out wide on the left giving Gurpreet Dhaliwal (Abbotsford, B.C.) the opening she needed to tie the match up at 5-5 early in the half. The Vikes didn't stop there as Caitlin Harvey (Scarborough, Ont.) avoided the Axewomen defence to score a try off a 15 meter run giving Victoria their first lead.
The momentum continued to roll for the Vikes as they drove back deep into the Acadia end, mauling along the try line in an effort to push across a try. Harvey clinched her second try of the match, grabbing a pass out of the maul from Nicole Crowley (Victoria) and diving over the line to put down the try.
Nakisa Levale (Abbotsford, B.C.) caught a break as Acadia mishandled a pass in their end which Levale took advantage of with a kick that she ran down to touch in the try zone, scoring the Vikes their third of the half putting them up 22-5 after the opening 35 minutes.
The second half opened with some more Victoria offensive pressure as they returned to the Acadia end. Pam Buisa (Gatineau, Que.) grabbed and ran with another great pass from Crowley to add some points of her own to the board making it 24 unanswered for Victoria with the convert.
Gillian Bergsma (Waterford, Ont.) gave her teammates a chip forward that bounced into the Vike's try zone as both teams ran it down. It was CIS All-Canadian Veronique Russell (Markham, Ont.) who won the race on dove on the ball to score Acadia their first try since the opening minutes of the game.
The Vikes kept the pressure on the Axewomen and closed out the match with four more tries to lock in their 55-12 win.
Harvey was selected as player of the game for Victoria. On Acadia's side of the action, Russel received the same honour.
SCORING SUMMARY
VIC 22-33: 55
ACA 5-7: 12
First half
ACA - Tamara Dondi try 8th minute (ACA 5 - VIC 0)
VIC - Gurpreet Dhaliwal try 11th (ACA 5 - VIC 5)
VIC - Caitlin Harvey try (Jess Neilson convert) 13th (ACA 5 - VIC 12)
VIC - Caitlin Harvey try 18th (ACA 5 - VIC 17)
VIC - Nakisa Levale try 31st (ACA 5 - VIC 22)
Second half
VIC - Pam Buisa try (Jess Neilson convert) 2nd (ACA 5 - VIC 29)
ACA - Veronique Russell try (Jenny Matheson convert) 7th (ACA 12 - VIC 29)
VIC - Jamie Beck try 16th (ACA 12 - VIC 34)
VIC - Lael Ross try (Jess Neilson convert) 21st (ACA 12 - VIC 41)
VIC - Madeleine Graham try (Jess Neilson convert) 24th (ACA 12 - VIC 48)
VIC - Madeleine Graham try (Jess Neilson convert) 31st (ACA 12 - VIC 55)
Players of the game
VIC: Caitlin Harvey (Scarborough, Ont.)
ACA: Veronique Russell (Markham, Ont.)
Legend:
Try: 5 points
Penalty goal: 3 points
Convert: 2 points
PRE-CHAMPIONSHIP SEEDING
1. Acadia (AUS champions: 5-1 regular season / 2-0 conference playoffs)
2. McMaster (OUA champions: 4-1 regular season / 3-0 conference playoffs)
3. Ottawa (RSEQ champions: 7-0 regular season / 2-0 conference playoffs)
4. Victoria (Canada West champions: 2-2 regular season / 2-0 conference playoffs)
5. Concordia (RSEQ finalists: 6-1 regular season / 1-1 conference playoffs)
6. StFX (AUS finalists: 5-1 regular season / 0-1 conference playoffs)
7. Lethbridge (Canada West finalists: 0-3-1 regular season / 1-1 conference playoffs)
8. Queen's (Hosts: 4-1 regular season / 1-2 conference playoffs)
SCHEDULE & RESULTS
Thursday, Nov. 5
13:00 Quarter-final 1: Ottawa 29, StFX 7
15:00 Quarter-final 2: McMaster 62, Lethbridge 14
17:00 Quarter-final 3: Concordia 34, Victoria 12
19:00 Quarter-final 4: Queen's 24, Acadia 17
Friday, Nov. 6
Rest day
Saturday, Nov. 7
11:00 Consolation 1: Lethbridge 20, StFX 12
13:00 Consolation 2: Victoria 55, Acadia 12
15:00 Semifinal 1: Ottawa vs. McMaster (CIS-SIC.tv)
17:00 Semifinal 2: Concordia vs. Queen's (CIS-SIC.tv)
Sunday, Nov. 8
11:00 Fifth place: Lethbridge vs. Victoria (CIS-SIC.tv)
13:00 Bronze medal (CIS-SIC.tv)
15:00 Championship final (CIS-SIC.tv)
