The Notre Dame Cougars senior girls rugby team is provincials bound.
In a rematch of last year’s CASAA central zone championship against the Lacombe Rams, the Cougars came out victorious on Wednesday evening 50-24 at Titans Field.
With the win, the Cougars will advance to the Alberta Schools Athletic Conference Tier II rugby provincial championships in Calgary next weekend.
In 2022, the Lacombe Rams advanced to provincials over Red Deer. Notre Dame head coach Ian Rattan said it was nice to come out on the other side this time around.
“We got lucky last year we snuck in the back door in a wildcard spot. Our goal this year was to win the zone and leave no doubt and I’m just super happy with how the girls played,” he said.
The girls jumped out to a 14-0 lead off of scores from Sarah Cossins and Kiera Andasol. However, the Rams answered back quickly to cut the lead in half 14-7.
The Cougars blew the game open after that notching three straight tries to lead 33-7 at the half. Cossins, Andasol, and Haley Wilkinson all contributed.
Andasol converted her third try of the game to begin the second half followed by another score by Cossins. Lacombe pushed to tie with a pair of scores but the Cougars come out on top.
The Cougars finished a perfect 4-0 in league play and an overall 6-2 including playoffs. The only losses came from Raymond and Sturgeon.
“They’re both very good Tier I teams. We’re probably going to see them in provincials next weekend so it’s nice to know who we might be playing,” Rattan added.
This season the Cougars had 15 girls return from last year’s team, four of whom are in Grade 12. Rattan explained their experience is a big reason for their success.
“They won a consolation medal at provincials last year. The goal this year was let’s try and get there again and win a medal,” he said.
“I think we’re very close to being able to compete with those other Tier II teams and if we have a good week of practice the sky is the limit for this team.”
The senior boys zone championship between Hunting Hills and Linsday Thurber was moved to Monday at Titans Field.