VANCOUVER – Playing their second game in three days, the Lethbridge Pronghorn women's rugby team fell behind in the opening minute and were chasing the game the rest of the way, losing 49-15 to the UBC Thunderbirds Sunday afternoon at the Gerald McGavin Rugby Centre in Vancouver.
 
The T-Birds improve to 2-2 on the season, while the Pronghorns, ranked 10th in U SPORTS coming into this weekend, fall to 1-3 as the Canada West regular season winds down.
 
The 'Birds opened the scoring in the first minute of action thanks to a blistering run by Madison Gold and a last-second offload by Shoshanah Seumanutafa to Emily Baker to make it 5-0 UBC just 52 seconds in. Emma Feldinger doubled the lead in the eighth minute before the Pronghorns got on the board with a Caitlin Sears 13th-minute penalty kick to make it 10-3.
 
Feldinger then reached across the try line in the 18th minute for her second try to extend the home team's advantage. Czeppel exploded for a pair of tries 10 minutes apart as the T-Birds began to push the pace. Alayna Scramstad scored the final try of the half for UBC, and Seumanutafa's convert was good to put the 'Birds up 32-3 at halftime.
 
Lethbridge turned it on in the second half, coming out of the break by scoring two straight tries. The first came courtesy of Erin McFadden in the 51^st minute, which Caitlin Sears converted. Then Savanna Collison cut the UBC lead to 32-15 with a try in the 62nd minute.
 
As the Pronghorns built momentum, Seumanutafa responded with back-to-back tries and her second convert to boost the 'Birds and stymie the visiting team's momentum. Hunter Czeppel closed out the scoring with a late try to solidify UBC's second victory of the season.
 
A huge part of UBC's second-half surge was the performance of Seumanutafa, and Murten knows his team is starting to fire on all cylinders.
 
The Thunderbirds will finish their Canada West regular season at home in a grudge match against the first-place Victoria Vikes on Sunday, October 6 at 1 p.m. PT.
 
Lethbridge has two matches remaining, as the Pronghorns host the winless Alberta Pandas on Saturday, October 5, before travelling to Calgary to close out the season against the undefeated Dinos on September 11.
 
LET        3-12 – 15 
UBC        32-17 – 49
 
SCORING SUMMARY
 
First half
1' – UBC TRY – Emily Baker (convert missed) – UBC 5-0
8' – UBC TRY – Emma Feldinger (convert missed) – UBC 10-0
13' – Lethbridge PENALTY GOAL – Caitlin Sears – UBC 10-3
18' – UBC TRY – Emma Feldinger (convert missed) – UBC 15-3
21' – UBC TRY – Hunter Czeppel (convert missed) – UBC 20-3
31' – UBC TRY – Hunter Czeppel (convert missed) – UBC 25-3
39' – UBC TRY – Alayna Scramstad (Shoshanah Seumanutafa convert) – UBC 32-3
 
Second half
51' – Lethbridge TRY – Erin McFadden (Caitlin Sears convert) – UBC 32-10
62' – Lethbridge TRY – Savanna Collison (convert missed) – UBC 32-15
66' – UBC TRY – Shoshanah Seumanutafa (convert missed) – UBC 37-15
70' – UBC TRY – Shoshanah Seumanutafa (Shoshanah Seumanutafa convert) – UBC 44-15
78' – UBC TRY – Hunter Czeppel (convert missed) – UBC 49-15