GUELPH, Ont. – The Guelph Gryphons women's rugby team fell short in the national semifinals, suffering a 22-10 defeat to the UBC Thunderbirds on Friday night (Nov. 6) at the University of Guelph's Alumni Stadium at the 2026 U SPORTS Women's Rugby Championships, presented by Homewood Health. The Gryphons will now face the Quebec champions, the Laval Rouge et Or, in the national bronze medal game on Sunday afternoon (Nov. 8) at 1:30pm.
The Gryphons, seeded No. 5 in the eight-team tournament, earned a spot in Friday night's national semifinal thanks to their quarterfinal victory over the Ottawa Gee-Gees on Wednesday. The UBC Thunderbirds, who entered this year's tournament as two-time reigning national champions, entered this year's tournament as the No. 8-seed, but took down the top-seeded Queen's Gaels on Wednesday to earn a spot in Friday's semifinal.
The Gryphons opened the scoring on a penalty kick from Amanada Sarabura to take an early 3-0 lead on UBC. The Thunderbirds would score the next 12 points, with tries from Jaime Dickson and Adia Pye. But the Gryphons were able to get their first try of the night moments before the halftime whistle,
Madeline Di Girolamo punching it in to make it a 12-10 game at the half.
The Gryphons were unable to take advantage of a UBC red card in the 2nd half, and the Thunderbirds would pull away late, with a 63rd minute try from Adia Pye, her second of the match, followed by a Sierra Hasse try in the 65th minute, propelling UBC to the 22-10 victory.
UBC will now look to make it three straight national titles as they will take on their Canada West rival, the University of Victoria Vikes in the U SPORTS gold medal game on Sunday at 4pm. The Gryphons and Rouge et Or will battle for bronze at 1:30pm. Tickets for Sunday's games can be purchased online at usportstickets.ca. All games from the 2026 U SPORTS Women's Rugby Championships can also be streamed for free, live online on CBC's digital platforms (
CBC Gem,
CBC Sports.ca,
CBC Sports Youtube).
| Minute |
School |
Type of score |
Player |
Score |
|
4'
|
Guelph |
Penalty Goal |
Amanda Sarabura |
Guelph 3 | UBC 0 |
9' |
UBC |
Try |
Jaime Dickson
(convert by Sarah MacPherson)
|
Guelph 3 | UBC 7 |
21'
|
UBC |
Try
|
Adia Pye
(convert no good)
|
Guelph 3 | UBC 12 |
35'
|
Guelph |
Try |
Madeline Di Girolamo
(convert by Amanda Sarabura)
|
Guelph 10 | UBC 12 |
Halftime
|
|
|
|
|
63'
|
UBC
|
Try |
Adia Pye
(convert no good)
|
Guelph 10 | UBC 17 |
65'
|
UBC |
Try |
Sierra Hasse
(convert no good)
|
Guelph 10 | UBC 22 |
