The Bellerose Bulldogs are bullish about finishing undefeated in high school women’s rugby.
“I believe we can do it. I have a lot of faith in this team,” said Keely Mazzolini, a Grade 12 outside-centre, after the Bulldogs closed out Thursday’s 49-29 outcome against the Sturgeon Spirits with 20 unanswered points.
"Our forwards are the strongest in the league so we hit them hard and then once we get to the backs we're super fast and we just plow through people,” Mazzolini added. “This team is also so close, we’re all best friends, and we really support each other out there.”
The fifth win (248 PF/46 PA) without a loss sets the stage for Thursday’s first-place showdown with the McNally Tigers (5-0, 274 PF/77 PA). The last match before the May 28 metro Edmonton division one semifinals kicks off at 4:45 p.m. at St. Albert Rugby Football Club.
“It’s our most important one so far,” Mazzolini said. “We’re really excited.”
The Bulldogs left their mark as a championship contender in last week’s 15-10 exhausting affair against the Bev Facey Falcons (3-2, 238 PF/71 PA).
The Bulldogs dominated ball possession but struggled to punch it in. However, with time winding down, a lengthy drive was capped off by Evelyn Scouten’s try on the second-last play of the hard-fought match to clinch the victory at Pirates Rugby Club.
“That was really important because it was the first time Bellerose has ever won against Bev Facey in history and we were very excited,” Mazzolini said of knocking off the winner of six championship banners in a row who defeated the Bulldogs in last year’s semifinal 19-10.
The Bulldogs continued their winning ways in the close encounter with Sturgeon.
“It wasn’t our prettiest match but we got it done,” Mazzolini said. “This win was really important because we’ve been undefeated whole year and we knew this team was going to battle hard so we really wanted to get the win to stay undefeated.”
The Bulldogs led 19-5 after the first quarter, 29-12 at halftime and 34-29 after three quarters.
“Our counter ruck was really good, when the ball came in we made sure to hit it, and when the backs got the ball we ran it in very well,” said Mazzolini, who flew into the try area in the opening minute and also lit up Sturgeon for tries with speed to burn in the second quarter to make it 24-12 and with just over a minute gone in the fourth quarter to widen the gap to 39-29.
Sturgeon showed flashes of resilience – the first of the team’s two tries by Shelby Pierce, the Rugby Alberta U16 women’s player of the year in 2017, was scored in the sixth minute - and in the second half Ashley Holden out-ran the Bulldogs for two of the team’s three tries in the third quarter to even the score at 29 apiece.
“We were really playing as a team. Our defence was way faster and we were kind of shutting them down. Our offence was great too,” said co-captain Morgan Soetaert of the Spirits. “But then we lost a little bit at the end.”
The third quarter ended in a blaze of glory as Maddi Lovsin tore up the SARFC pitch with a lengthy dash down the touch line as the Bulldogs regained the lead six minutes after Holden knotted the count at 29.
“Our game started getting a little loose and it almost felt like we weren’t trying and as soon as they got that try it was like a switch. We knew we had to step up our game or else we were going to be in for a loss and we didn’t want that,” said Mazzolini, 18, a returning Bulldog from last year’s Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association Tier 1 consolation championship team. Facey was the silver medallist and McNally the bronze winner at provincials.
Also producing tries for the Bulldogs were Rhiannon Halbert and Kiera de Bruijn in the first quarter, Lovsin in the second quarter and Meghan Jackson and Taylor Borschneck in the fourth quarter. Kate Akins kicked two conversions.
“They were definitely a tough team. It was a very hard fight,” said Soetaert, a Grade 12 inside-centre, who described the Spirits as “kind of on and off” in the loss.
“It was more of a forward game,” Soetaert said. “We weren’t doing good at the beginning but we came together and that’s what we do really well as a team. If we fall apart we come back and a lot of teams if they fall apart that’s for the rest of the game,”
Sturgeon is now 2-2 (141 PF/140 PA) in fourth spot in the seven-team table.
“It was our toughest match so far but I don’t think we played the best that we have. If we play them again we'll bring it again,” Soetaert said.
Last year Sturgeon rolled through the division two competition as undefeated champions and was the bronze medallist at Tier 2 provincials.
“Every game is tough this year but we like it more. It's tougher competition but it's definitely our kind of game,” said Soetaert, 17.
Tuesday’s match between Sturgeon and Facey kicks off at 4:45 p.m. at Lynn Davies Rugby Park.
