The Battle of the Hill will soon be back, as both St. Thomas University rugby teams will challenge for league supremacy next weekend in Fredericton.
The Tommies women advanced to the Atlantic Collegiate Athletic Association final with a 57-0 win over the Dalhousie Agricultural College Rams Saturday at Scotiabank Park South.
The STU men, on the other hand, fell 37-0 to the University of New Brunswick Ironmen Saturday at Harvey High School.
Both the STU women and men will face UNB next weekend in their respective league championships.
“We knew we had to be strong in this game if we were going to make the final,” said Meghan Morrison, STU women’s rugby head coach.
In Saturday’s women’s game, the Tommies scored early and often, with Jenna Betts landing the first try and putting STU up 5-0 before the match was five minutes old.
Eight minutes later, Kiaya Jorden managed to manoeuvre a pileup in the Tommies’ end to generate the team’s second try.
A conversion kick by Bailey Andrews missed the field goal, as did all her other attempts except for one.
At around the 15th minute, Shannon Morris got through traffic and crossed the try line to make it 15-0.
Five minutes later, Jordan recorded her second try, and Andrews’ conversion kick was successful to give STU a 22-point advantage heading into halftime.
The Rams got some momentum late in the first half, but it wasn’t enough to stop the Tommies from controlling the pace of the game for the most part.
Two minutes into the second half, Becca Baker widened the Tommies’ lead before Kendra Grealey put the Tommies up by 32 points 10 minutes later.
After Andrews added another five points to the lead at the 58th minute, Baker completed the hat trick with tries at the 67th and 71st minutes.
Andrews also notched her second try of the game 73 minutes in before Emma Jones rounded out the Tommies’ offensive barrage at around the 76th minute.
Andrews came the closest to a successful conversion kick shortly after than she had on all her other efforts that came up short, as her shot hit the field goal crossbar.
The Tommies women finished the regular season with a 6-2 record, good for second in the ACAA behind the Ironwomen.
UNB (8-0) got a bye to the final after placing atop the ACAA, so STU and the Rams (3-5) played in the semifinal to decide the Ironwomen’s championship opponent.
The Ironmen (5-0) will try to defend the Maritime Rugby Championship against the Tommies (1-3-1) Nov. 5 at 11 a.m., while the Ironwomen will also be vying to repeat as ACAA champs Nov. 5 at 2 p.m. at College Field.
