University of Victoria Vikes captured the opening 2022 Canada West Rugby 7s Series event win with a perfect record at University of Alberta.

Vikes won all six of their matches to stay 6-0 in the season opener, including Sunday’s gold medal showdown against UBC Thunderbirds.

In a tense final, Sara Kalijuvee scored both of Vikes’ tries as the Vancouver Island team ran out 12-5 victors. Teammate Krissy Scurfield finished with a team-high seven tries over the weekend.

It is the fourth time the Vikes have won the season opening event in Alberta, having lifted the title in 2017, 2018 and 2020.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by UVic Vikes Womens Rugby (@uvicwrug)

“Just so happy this tournament was able to go off. It’s amazing to see all the teams here and competing so well, after basically a two-year hiatus. Our team honestly built game-by game, and we have a lot of talent on this squad. It was a great team performance, everyone stepped up. We had some key injuries, but the healthy players really performed well.” University of Victoria Vikes head coach Brittany Waters

Thunderbirds finished second with four wins and two defeats over the weekend, with Savannah Bauder finishing the event with a tournament-high eight tries.

Hosts Alberta Pandas claimed third place, while Calgary finished fourth ahead of Lethbridge. Trinity Western Spartans ended in sixth place after they were forced to forfeit the final match due to injuries.

The 2022 Canada West Rugby 7s series will now head to Victoria, as the Vikes host the second event on February 12-13 at Wallace Field. UBC will host the final event of the Series February 25-26 in Vancouver.

For full scores and standings, visit Canada West.