Dinos extend conference reign in women’s rugby
EDMONTON For the third straight season, the University of Calgary Dinos are champions of Canada West women’s rugby.
The Dinos claimed the historic three-peat Sunday at Edmonton’s Foote Field, beating the University of Victoria Vikes 27-8 to capture the conference title. Calgary has defeated Victoria in all three championships during the run.
The Dinos now head to the U Sports national championship Nov. 1-4 at Acadia University in Wolfville, N.S., where they’re sure to be placed in the top half of the tournament draw.
It’s an impressive finish for a young Dinos squad that lost twotime defending Canada West MVP DaLeaka Menin and a host of other veterans to graduation following their 2017 win. This season, Calgary was once again led by a Menin, this time Kasselle — who followed in her older sister’s footsteps as the conference’s most outstanding player.
“We had some personnel change with some key players leaving, and we had to make sure everyone stepped up and played their role,” Kasselle Menin said. “It was about making sure we played as a team every time — whenever we did that, we were unstoppable.”
Dinos head coach Simon Chi, who earned his third consecutive Canada West coach-of-the-year honour, said “That was pretty close to the game that we wanted to play, in terms of taking control early and then maintaining a consistent 80 minutes.
“We knew it was going to be tough — it was the third year in a row playing UVic, so there’s not a lot of secrets between the programs. It was really about executing. They had a great season as well and, hopefully, both programs are going to represent Canada West well at nationals.”
It was Menin who set the tone for the Dinos early in the championship game. After Victoria scored a penalty goal to make it 3-0 just two minutes in, Menin went on a long run through the Vikings defence to set up the Dinos’ opening try. Menin scored that try, and the Elysa Sandron convert made it 7-3 Dinos five minutes in. Seven minutes later, the Dinos struck again thanks to Coralyn Cafaro’s try, making it 12-3 in the first 12 minutes.
Then it was the Dinos defence’s turn. For the remainder of the opening half, the Vikes put on sustained pressure, but time and time again, the Calgary defence held and sent Victoria back.
The teams exchanged tries early in the second half with Isla Shill pouncing on a deep Victoria turnover for Calgary to make it 17-3 before the Vikes responded courtesy of Ada Okonkwo just four minutes later. The Dinos ramped up the pressure from there, and a penalty goal by Sandron in the 54th minute stretched Calgary’s lead to 20-8. Cassidy Jones iced the win with her try in the 71st minute, with Sandron picking up a nice wide convert.
The Dinos begin preparations to head to Wolfville, N.S., for the U Sports championship — and in their third straight appearance, Menin says they know what to expect.
“It’s stressful and nerve-racking, there’s a lot riding on one game,” Menin said. “It’s about staying cool and playing rugby — at the end of the day, it’s just another game, and you have to remember to play your style and just go for it.”
Chi added: “We’ve come so close in the last couple years, and it does feel like there’s some unfinished business. But it’s just about playing better in the margins and preparing as well as we can.”
The Canada West championship is the 149th in the University of Calgary’s history and extends the school’s streak of at least one conference title to 50 straight seasons.