Match Recap: Trinity Western University at UW

Saturday, the Dawgs had a rematch against Trinity Western University, who had previously beaten us 89 to 0 away, 3 weeks ago. We traveled light without six starters.

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Today was a different story. It rained, snowed, and hailed before the sun came out, then back to hail. Our game plan to play a tighter game and kick deep into their territory mostly went as designed, with an emphasis on defensive pressure. Our line speed and intensity forced many knock-ons throughout the game.

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Trinity scored first at 26 minutes. We responded a few minutes later with Fly-half Christian Mirich dotting down (UW 7 - 5 TWU). A second try on a big line break by flanker Brian Cain put us at 14-5. Unfortunately, Trinity responded with two tries right before the half, all unconverted.

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HALFTIME SCORE: UW 14-15 TWU

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The Huskies knew it was their game to win, and fought hard through the half, starting off with an unconverted try by 8-man-turned-outside center Josef (Pepi) Dostal, who ran aggressive lines all day off our flyhalf and inside center. (UW 19-15 TWU) We held them for the next 35 minutes, up by 4 points, before they finally broke through and scored the game-winning try and conversion. With one final opportunity, UW kept possession for a few phases before losing the ball in contact.

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FINAL SCORE: UW 19-22 TWU

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The much-improved Huskies gained confidence from a comeback of this magnitude. 89-0 three weeks ago seemed like last year, and a whole new team even though it was only 6 players who hadn't faced them before, and the same TWU team. Going in, they had worked hard on their fitness and defense over the last 3 weeks, and it showed.

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