The University of Toronto Varsity Blues women's rugby team fell 29-25 to the Laurier Golden Hawks in their 2017 season opener on Saturday night (Sept. 2) in Waterloo, Ont.
 
Fourth-year winger Julia Cicconi led Toronto with two tries on the night. 2016 OUA all-stars Lauren Van Dyke and Jordyn Orlando, as well as second-year winger Khadi Dako each added single tries in the loss.
 
Cicconi opened the scoring with her first try of the game just six minutes into the contest. Laurier evened the score eight minutes later, but back-to-back tries from Van Dyke and Orlando put the Blues up 15-5. The Golden Hawks added a late tally with one minute remaining and Toronto took a 15-10 advantage into the half.
 
The home team came out hot in the second half, scoring and converting two unanswered tries to take a 24-15 lead with 21 minutes remaining.
 
The Blues responded with back-to-back tries of their own as Dako and Cicconi found the end zone to take a one-point lead (25-24), but Laurier's Juliette Lewis scored with two minutes remaining for the game-winning try.
 
The Varsity Blues return to action next Saturday, September 9 as they host the Waterloo Warriors in their home opener at Varsity Stadium. Game time is set for 7:30 p.m.

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