Ellerslie Rugby Park – The division one final was also a provincial dress rehearsal for the Sturgeon Spirits.
Thursday’s 29-20 loss to the Bev Facey Falcons in metro Edmonton women’s rugby sets the stage for a medal-winning performance at the Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association Tier 2 championship for Sturgeon, last year’s division two winner and provincial bronze medallist.
“We’re expecting to win provincials,” said Katarina Boras, a Grade 12 eight-man for Sturgeon, 5-3 (331 PF/260 PA) in division one after going 9-1 overall last year.
“Div one was a really big step up and we weren’t expecting huge results but we came out with really good outcomes,” said Shelby Pierce, a Grade 11 prop. “Honestly, I’m proud of us just for making it to provincials and even making it this far.”
The eight-team provincials start Friday morning in Calgary.
“We have to keep giving it our best, work offensively together and just keep together as a team,” Boras said.
“Defence is a huge goal for us,” Pierce added. “Honestly, we just want to see how far we can go in provincials but we’re hoping to win it actually.”
Sturgeon struggled to push the ball past the halfway line in the first half as Facey kept attacking in waves but a determined defensive line stopped the Sherwood Park squad countless times short of the try area, highlighted by a gallant stand around the five-metre line before quarter time.
Facey opened the scoring with a penalty kick in front of the posts four minutes into the second quarter, followed by a long and shifty run for points three minutes later and a dashing try under the posts ended the first half with Sturgeon trailing 15-0.
“One of the strongest points we had during the first half was our defence. We were holding them back and that’s what helped us stay in the game that long,” Pierce said.
It was 22-0 when Sturgeon started rolling with major inroads towards the try area by Pierce and Lili Guglich before Mackenzie Hamm finished off a team try with 11 minutes left in the third quarter.
Boras and Pierce closed out the quarter with points off sheer efforts in close range of the try area to tighten the gap to 22-15.
“We were on defence most of the time in the first half and it was pretty hard but we came back good as a team,” Boras said.
Sturgeon kept battling but a lengthy romp by Rebecca Powell resulted in her fourth try of the match and the conversion made it 29-20 Facey.
Boras played a major role in Sturgeon's last try to finish off the contest.
“We started picking it up near the end but it wasn’t enough to win the match,” said Pierce, the Rugby Alberta U16 women’s player of the year in 2017.
In league play, Sturgeon pulled off a 57-43 victory over Facey (5-3, 365 PF/175 PA), the 2017 Tier 1 provincial silver medallist who extended its championship winning streak to seven division one banners in the rematch.
“Our offence was a lot better last game and we had more communication,” Boras said. “We obviously didn’t do as good as we could this time.”
In the semifinals, Facey surprised the undefeated Bellerose Bulldogs 55-27 and Sturgeon stunned the McNally Tigers 34-31 after losing the season opener to McNally 43-19.
“That was huge for us,” said Boras of beating McNally (5-2, 310 PF/141 PA), last year's Tier 1 bronze medallist. “It was tough. They were good. It was a good game.”
The third win in a row after the 49-29 setback to Bellerose (6-1, 305 PF/106 PA) May 17 propelled Sturgeon into the final.
“We had a lot of new players and we just came together to get this far. They picked it up for us,” said Boras, one of 14 returnees joined by seven players from last year's junior team and six brand new to the women’s rugby program.
SCRUM BALLS: The junior Spirits finished 5-1 (145 PF/57 PA) after Thursday’s 10-5 loss to Edmonton Islamic (4-1-1, 139 PF/99 PA) in the league final.
