St. Thomas University Tommies faced the Dalhousie Rams for a regular season match-up that ended with a tie at 12-12 at Scotia Bank Field Oct. 24.
“We came out pretty flat in the first half which the DAL AC team took advantage of early, scoring first,” said head coach Meghan MacAfee. “Hats off to them, they have improved a lot as a team since we first played them back in September.”
The Rams started the game with a solid kickoff into the hands of the Tommies which ended in a scrum, and STU landing out of bounds.
Rams threw the ball back in-bounds but it quickly landed back out-of-bounds again.
The ball landed in Tommies possession and was passed down the field by STU who made some yardage but was eventually intercepted by DAL AC who ran for 60 yards scoring a try.
They missed their conversion at 2:20 in the game making it 5-0 Rams.
At 7:50 in the game a scrum ensued, the ball landed in Tommies possession and they ran it five yards down the field.
STU continued to dominate possession of the ball but failed to make much yardage.
They did run the ball 25 yards at 10:25 in the game near the DAL AC end zone where they were taken out hard by a Rams.
After a heavy scrum the ball landed in the hands of Tommies Shannon Morris who ran it in ten yard for a try.
Taylor Dube scored the conversion putting the Tommies ahead 7-5.
“I was impressed with the girls on our team who stepped up into positions they don’t always play and did very well,” said MacAfee.
“We have a strong bench and it is nice to be able to rely on every player to come on the field ready to work.”
The ball remained in the Rams half of the field for most of the first 40:00.
There were a few hard hits by the Tommies bringing Ram down hard on her back where she laid for a minute before returning to the game.
Shortly after a Tommie wrapped a Ram around the legs, picking her up and pile driving her down hard into the turf.
The Rams quickly returned with a hard takedown of a Tommie. No penalties were called on the hits.
Tensions grew high as a Ram was tackled out of bounds and began cursing and had to be calmed down by a fellow teammate who told her, “You’re going to get kicked out of the game.”
The First half ended at 7-5 for STU.
“Our intensity improved in the second half,” said MacAfee. “Girls took the ball on with more pace and were able to take advantage of more opportunities.”
“Overall we had more turnovers and penalties than we would like to see so we have to work on being more disciplined in our upcoming conference final,” she said.
STU opened up second with a kickoff landing the hands of the Rams who was quickly tackled.
Dube quickly gained field advantage and got within five yards of the Rams end zone and was tackled.
Tommies scored a try at 47:30 in the game and Dube kicked the conversion short from the 25 yard line brining the score 12-5.
The aggression level of the players increased as tackles became more violent but were mostly legal with no injuries.
During the last minutes of the game the Rams scored a try and a conversion tying the game 12-12.
“As a season record, 7 wins, no losses and a tie is definitely something to be proud of. The women hold themselves to a very high standard and I think this tie game will just serve as extra motivation going into next Sunday’s game,” said MacAfee.
“The goal is just to learn something every time we play and put that into action the next time we take the field.”
