Victoria- The University of Victoria Vikes women's rugby squad faced off against Cowichan Saturday morning in this season's first BCRU match, winning by an impressive 48-14 margin to kick-off the 2013-14 season ahead of their Canada West home opener next weekend.
 
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The opening match featured great individual performances from fourth-year flanker Laura Crowe-Hutchon and second-year fullback Kara Galbraith. Crowe-Hutchon led the Vikes with three tries, while Galbraith posted two tries and three conversions. Also posting tries on the day were second-years Alya Govorchin and Chelsea Marshall.
 
The new-look Vikes were looking for a strong start to their season after winning only one match in the 2012 campaign. Saturday's result shows promise for a Vikes team that will have to contend with an influx of new faces to this year's roster.
 
"We were very good moving forward," said head coach Mark Hall. "We'll work on the defensive end of our game this week, but it was a very good team effort."
 
The Vikes capitalized against a Cowichan squad that featured former Canadian Sevens national player, Tanya Ness. Turnovers by Cowichan throughout the game resulted in a total of seven tries with four conversions for the Vikes.
 
After this weeks win, the Vikes will look to carry the momentum into next weekends match when they face Lethbridge on home turf.  Kick--off is set for September 20, 5:00pm at Wallace Field.
 
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