October 16, 2002 Sports Douglas Sports Updates (fs of October 12, 2002) Updates provided by CSRW and Jason Kurylo Women’s Rugby PREMIER DIVISION: The Douglas College Rugby Club’s women’s pre- mier squad faced off against one of its biggest rivals on the weekend, and thumped the James Bay Athletic Association side 29-5. The teams met in last year’s championship match, also won by Douglas. James Bay entered the match in first place, the sole remaining undefeated side in the BC Premier League. With the win, Douglas’ 4-1 record in the young season gives them first place over JBAA, which now has a 3-1 record. There was some concern going into the match, as BC Provincial squad member Laura Harmse was unavailable to Douglas for the second game in a row. As well, they admittedly didn’t play particular- ly well in their win over SFU last week. But the Royals sucked it up, and turned in prob- ably their best team effort of the season for the win. JBAA is renowned for their size in both the forward positions and the backfield. Douglas used their team speed to counter James Bay’s size advantage, and played an aggressive defensive game to shut down the JBAA running attack. JBAA’s Nicky Maynard was double, and some- times triple-teamed—the all-star centre scored the opposition’s only try, but was prevented from mak- ing the long runs that hurt Douglas in last year’s final. Douglas took the lead early, jumping out a 10-0 lead on tries by Corinne Jacobsen and winger Amber Cummings. Jacobsen, in particular, contin- ues to impress in subbing for the absent Harmse. James Bay lumbered through midfield for most of the half, but their slow ball movement allowed cen- tre Alisa Morton to intercept a pass and sprint 40 metres to score a third Douglas try just before the end of the first half. Kirstie Smith converted to make it 17-0 at the break. Douglas kept up the quick passing in the second half; a set scrum near the JBAA 20-metre line saw the ball hit Smith’s hands. She froze the Bay backs with a series of fakes, then reversed the ball to Men’s Rugby Cummings, who ran the opposite wing unmolested for another Royal try. Scrum-half Stacey Webber touched down a loose ball in the James Bay end zone to score the final Douglas try of the match. She was selected Player of the Match for her solid two-way play. SECOND DIVISION: The 2nd Div. women earned a tie in the interior on Sunday, slugging out a 22-22 draw with the 2nd Div. side from Kamloops Rugby Club. The back and forth affair looked like another Douglas win, but the plucky Kamloops side scored a last-minute try for the tie. Douglas got two tries from Tanya Leigh, who moved up from her normal back row position to start at centre for the first time this season. Leigh earned player of the match honours for her two- way play. She was selected to the BC Provincial U- 19 team this pastsummer. Also with tries for Douglas were Carly Albiston and Robbin Johnston; Kylie Dunn added a convert. UNDER-18: The U-18 Douglas women’s squad continued their domination of this developmental league, ringing up a 50-0 shutout of the Burnaby #2 side. Jamie Callard and Lindsey Heer led the way with three tries each. Agnes Stepek, Lauren Prinster and Rachel Neumann all added single tries in the win- ning cause. The Douglas College men’s team was back to their winning ways this weekend, spanking the Pocomo Rugby Club by a score of 35-3. Devon Henderson drove home the victory with three tries, including a spectacular 60-metre run— Jordan Schnoor received a Pocomo kick-off and passed the ball to Henderson, who snaked his way through several would-be tacklers for the score. Douglas led 25-3 at the half, and played strong team defence to maintain the lead in the second. Other Royal points were contributed by fly-half Matt Pyne (a try, a convert, a penalty goal), Mike Jones (a try), and player-coach Ross Kinnaird (a try). UNDER-18 The Douglas U-18 squad remains undefeated after taking a hard-fought 20-14 decision over the Surrey Beavers Athletic Association side. Douglas tries were scored by Brian Johnston, Stuart Widdowson, John Walker and Nolan Veljacic. © page 20 the other press Jim Martin drives for the net Basketball Pre-Season Results The Douglas College Royals kicked off their pre- season schedule on Burnaby Mountain with a series of scrimmages against the Simon Fraser University Clansmen Thursday. The workout with the CIAU squad marked a serious jump in skill level from the opposition the Royals will see come the regular season against col- legiate opponents. While no official statistics were kept, head coach Dave Munro liked what he saw up on the Hill. “We competed very well in four of the five scrim- mages, and showed some good things,” said Munro. “These scrimmages are a great preparation for our BCCAA schedule. SFU is one of the top university teams in Canada, so even in scrimmages like this it only makes us better to compete against them.” Two days after their jaunt up the Hill, the Royals entertained DC Alumni in an annual friendly at the New Westminster campus gym. The current Royals eked out an 89-79 victory over their older counterparts. The Royals came out slowly, using the first half to give all players some floor time to get their legs. The experience of the Alumni players was an advantage at first, giving the old-timers a 47-36 lead at the break. But the second half proved a different story — partly because the Royals tightened up on defense, and partly, well, because the old guys started to get tired. The current Royals took a 17-0 run midway through the second half, and outscored the Alumni 53-32 in the second half. “It was definitely a pre-season game for us,” said head coach Dave Munro, who saw a lot of room for improvement, but liked the energy on his bench in the second half. “We have 11 new players on the roster this year, and it'll take some time for them to learn to play together. But in the second half we showed great heart to compete like that and pick up our defensive intensity.” Greg Jackson grabbed six steals for the Royals, leading a hungry attack on the defensive side of the ball. He also added 13 points and 2 assists, earning Player of the Game honours for his two-way play. Taylor Cherris-Wilding led the offense with 16 points and 6 assists, while last year’s all-star centre Jan Hogan had 15 points, 4 rebounds and 2 blocks. Freshman Tyler Boyce also had a strong showing off the bench, nailing 10 points in just 15 minutes of play.