University of Victoria Vikes finished as national runners-up at the 2023 U SPORTS Women’s Rugby Championships as the program enjoyed its first-ever championships final appearance.
Despite falling 32-13 to No. 6 seeds and defending U SPORTS Champions Universite Laval, the Vikes produced a fantastic run of performances to reach Sunday’s Final. The Vikes finished with their highest-ever program finish at the U SPORTS championships, taking second place. The championship final appearance was the first for the program.
The Vikes defeated top seeds Ottawa 30-17 in last Wednesday’s quarterfinals before downing No. 5 seed Guelph 14-0 in Friday’s semifinal clash.
For the Laval Rouge et Or, it’s a second consecutive banner and a third title in four championships. The team from Quebec City now has a record of 3-1 in national finals, winning 22-5 against Queen’s last year in Victoria and 22-14 – also against Queen’s – in 2019 in Ottawa. Their only loss came at the 2017 event, held in Lethbridge, Alta., at the hands of the Ottawa Gee-Gees (20-10).
This is the first time since 2009 that a team has successfully defending a national championship. Between 2007 and 2009, the Lethbridge Pronghorns rattled off three consecutive championships.
Meanwhile, UBC Thunderbirds finished fifth for the third successive National Championships following a 39-21 victory over the Ottawa Gee-Gees.
Further information and full match recaps can be found here.
BC ATHLETES WILL BIG AT All-Canadian U SPORTS awards
Two BC athletes were honoured at the 2023 U SPORTS Rugby Championship All Canadian Awards Ceremony on November 2nd, held by Championship host Université Laval in Quebec.
From U SPORTS
Player of the Year – Savannah Bauder, UBC
Bauder was simply unstoppable again this season, playing an instrumental role in helping lead the T-Birds to an undefeated season and the Canada West championship. The fourth-year fly half led the conference in scoring with 70 points during the regular season, including seven tries, an impressive 16 converts, and the first drop goal in several years anywhere in U SPORTS. She also put forth a monster performance at the 2023 conference championship, scoring three tries in the T-Birds’ 52-5 win over Lethbridge in the semifinals. In a tightly contested gold medal game against Victoria, Bauder scored all of her team’s points in a 10-0 win to secure a fourth consecutive UBC conference title.
Student-Athlete Community Service Award – Soleil Brooks, UVic
Since Soleil Brooks, a third-year prop, joined the Vikes, she has continually given back to the rugby community and strived to make her university a better place. She was named the Lt Col. W.D.C Holmes Award recipient at the 2022 U SPORTS Championships for her volunteer efforts and has continued those tremendous efforts into this season.
Soleil started the UVIC Collective for BIPOC Student Athletes, a group that aims to give Varsity student athletes of colour a space to connect and create change on campus, with the goal of the group to also build a mentorship program with young black athletes in the Victoria area. Brooks also leads educational sessions regarding racism and Black History Month with other Vikes varsity teams.
Brooks is heavily involved with BC Grassroots Rugby, a non-profit that brings rugby across Vancouver, as well as Thunder Rugby, a non-profit that connects Indigenous youth with rugby and their culture. She has also given back by coaching the Westshore RFC Minis.
Her coaches describe Soleil as an extremely passionate and hard-working student-athlete who is always striving to making herself and those around her better. Her athletic goal is to play for the Canadian National team and this summer she was selected to the U20 Canada team.
In Addition, 10 BC athletes were named to the Championships’ first and second team All-Canadians.
Congratulations to:
First Team All-Canadians
- Zoe Williams – UVic Vikes
- Rori Wood – UBC Thunderbirds
- Rachel Smith – UBC Thunderbirds
- Savannah Bauder – UBC Thunderbirds
- Maggie MacKinnon – UVic Vikes
Second Team All-Canadians
- Jordan McLeod – UBC Thunderbirds
- Madison Juneau – UVic Vikes
- Alayna Scramstad – UBC Thunderbirds
- Lucie Romeo – UVic Vikes
- Olivia Sarabura – UBC Thunderbirds
ABOUT 2023 U SPORTS Women’s Rugby Championship
The tournament gets underway on Wednesday, November 1 and concludes the following Sunday, November 5.
The eight participating teams, listed in seeding order, are as follows:
#1, Ottawa Gee-Gees, RSEQ champions (5-1 regular season, 2-0 playoffs)
#2 Queen’s Gaels, OUA champions (6-0, 2-0)
#3, UBC Thunderbirds, Canada West champions (5-0, 2-0)
#4, StFX X-Women, AUS champions (4-1-1, 2-0)
#5, Guelph Gryphons, OUA finalists (5-1, 1-1)
#6, Laval Rouge et Or, Hosts (6-0, 1-1)
#7, UPEI Panthers, AUS finalists (5-1, 0-1)
#8, Victoria Vikes, CW finalists (3-2, 1-1)
The four conference champions are seeded in positions one through four, based on their conference’s relative finish at last year’s championship. The four remaining teams are then slotted to avoid intra-conference matchups until the final round.
Seven of the eight teams are return participants from the 2022 event in Victoria. The only new entrant is the StFX X-Women, who return after a one-year absence.
All four quarterfinals will be played on Wednesday, November 1. The opening game will be at 1:00pm (all times Eastern) and will feature Ottawa taking on Victoria. The second quarterfinal will follow at 3:00pm and will see StFX playing Guelph. The evening session will see Queen’s and UPEI square off at 5:00pm, while the hosts – and defending national champions – from Laval will take on UBC at 7:00pm.
Game Day 2 is set for Friday, November 3, and will see consolation games at 1:00pm and 3:00pm, with championship semifinals to follow at 5:00pm and 7:00pm.
The final day will be Sunday, November 5, and will start with the fifth-place game at 11:00am, followed by the bronze-medal game a 1:00pm and the championship at 3:00pm.
All 11 games of the championship will be streamed on CBC Gem in English, while French webcasts will be available on radio-canada.ca/Sports and USPORTS.ca.
BC Rugby
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