Silver in the Cup Championship for the Heat

A successful season has the first year team bring home a silver. (Photo by Heat athletics)

Silver in the Cup Championship for the Heat

Women’s Rugby (BC Club Rugby Lower Mainland Senior Tier 2 Cup Final)

Saturday, November 30, 2013         SCHEDULE & RESULTS
John Oliver Park, Delta, BC

HEAT SCORING SUMMARY:
Tries: Jacqueline Dubreuil (1), Kelsey Wuerstl (1).
Cons: Kristin Vidi (1).

DELTA, BC - A 6-1 regular season culminated into a silver medal for the Heat women's rugby team Saturday afternoon, as the Heat were unable to top Abbottsford RFC in the gold medal game, 25-12 played on a neutral field at John Oliver Park in Delta, BC.

It was a battle of the top two teams in the Lower Mainland Senior Women Tier 2 Division, as Abbottsford RFC finished the regular season undefeated at 6-0, while the Heat's only loss of the regular season came at the hands of their gold medal opponent on November 2nd, 34-12 - an eerily similar result to Saturday's gold medal game.

"We fought harder than the score reflected," added Heat captain, and member of the team for three years, Krystle Carpenter. "Although we lost, the girls gave it their all. Abbottsford is a great club that's been playing together for years, so I'm proud of our young team."

It truly was a remarkable season for the Heat, considering the club consisted of both UBC Okanagan and Kelowna Crows women last season. This season, a purely UBC Okanagan club

“Given the fact that this was the Heat’s first season the result was impressive,” founder of UBC Okanagan rugby and head coach of the women’s team Rob O’Brien explains, “we finished second in the league and were very competitive in the final.”

“Despite the loss in the final, I am still very proud of the women’s team’s performance this year,” continues O’Brien. “This group of women have come together very well and developed significantly over the course of the year.”

The field conditions were less than ideal for the match, but typical for November rugby on the Lower Mainland as the day was wet and cold and coach O’Brien indicated righty from the kick-off the final would be a “a hard hitting battle.”

Abbotsford opened the scoring with a try, but the Heat answered at the 30 minute mark when Jacqueline Dubreuil picked the ball from the scrum and broke down the short side, popping the ball to scrum half Krystle Carpenter, who burst forward and ran to the five meter mark where she was tacked, but was able to off load to Jacqueline Dubreuil who scored in the corner. To tie the game at 5.

UBC Okanagan quickly grabbed their first and only lead of the game just five minutes later when winger Kelsey Wuerstl intercepted a pass and ran 70 metres to touch the ball under the posts. Kristin Vidi completed the conversion to bring the score to 12-5 where it sat at the half.

"[Abbottsford] came over very tough in the second half," noted the Heat's Krystle Carpenter. "They broke our line a few times to score early."

The Heat held off Abbotsford for the first 10 minutes of the second but eventually the veteran squad was too strong and scored four unanswered tries to take the game and the championship 25-12.

“In the second half Abbotsford came out strong and put a lot of pressure on the Heat’s defense,” confirmed O’Brien. Although the Heat ended up on the wrong end of the score O’Brien was pleased with his team’s performance and preparation he indicates that sometimes you lose to a good team.

“The women executed the game plan very well, however, Abbotsford matched us well and simply outscored us,” explains the coach.

This isn’t the end of the line for this team, in the winter semester the squad will focus on seven’s with a trip to Las Vegas prior to the CIS national seven’s championships in March, where O’Brien will once again set lofty goals for his squad.

“I have high expectations about the team’s chances at the National 7’s championship coming up in March, and I am certain that many will contribute to train hard over the off season and come back next year even better,” the coach says looking ahead.

“We are only losing two players,” explains O’Brien about his team’s future after this season and how his core will remain intact although losing two founding members. “Both Krystle Carpenter and Kristin Vidi are key players. Krystle Carpenter has been the team’s Captain and MVP this season even though she will be hard to replace, she has provided key mentorship to the younger players.”

The Heat women’s rugby roster is: Jasmine Doll, Monique Beaulieu, Marie Martens, Jessica Sulz, Lauren Klassen, Angie Williams, Chloe Worrall, Jacqueline Dubreuil, Krisitn Vidi, Krystle Carpenter, Emma Graham, Emily O’Connor, Danielle Fearns, Aniko Hawthorn, Kelsey Wuerstl, Madison Tardif, Tachona Jones, Christine Dixon, Hayley Fiebelkorn, Terra Robertson, Maddie Thomsen, and coached by Rob O’Brien, Rachel King is the manager.