The University of Lethbridge Pronghorns (1-0) opened their Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) national championship tournament with a 35-0 win over the host Trent University Excalibur.

The Canada West champion Pronghorns jumped out to an early lead as they tallied three converted tries in the game's first 13 minutes.

"We got off to a great start today and did well for the first bit to control the game," said Horns head coach Neil Langevin. "Then we got bogged down in some handling errors and some ball control issues. All in all we did enough to move on and we are pretty well rested and fairly good on the injury front."

CIS All-Canadian Kelsey Willoughby (Lethbridge, Alta.) opened the scoring for Lethbridge with a try in the fifth minute. Pronghorn fly-half and Lakefield, Ont. native Sophie Butler added a try of her own three minutes later. Canada West Rookie of the Year Kayla Moleschi (Williams Lake, B.C.) capped off the first-half scoring for the Pronghorns with a 50-metre run in the 13th minute. Laura Murphy-Burke (Surrey, BC) was 3-for-3 on converts in the first half.

It was after the Moleschi try that the Excalibur dug in their heels and showed the grit, toughness and never-say-die attitude they have become known for.

"We saw what we were made of and went toe-to-toe with the Canada West champs," said Trent assistant coach Craig Harris. "Once we got the butterflies out we were right there against a talented team. We'll take a lot from it and carry that over to our game on Sunday."

After the first three quick Pronghorn scores, the Excalibur kept Lethbridge off the board for nearly 30 minutes until Moleschi added her second try of the contest 15 minutes into the second half.

Moleschi capped off the scoring with a 65th minute try. Sarah Gordon (Surrey, BC) kicked her second conversion of the half to make the final score 35-0.

Moleschi's three-try performance propelled her to player of the game honours for the Horns. Ashley Burton was named player of the game for the Excalibur.

Lethbridge will next take on St. Francis Xavier in the final Pool-A game for each team. The match-up will take place Saturday at 8:30 a.m. MDT. The game can be viewed at ssncanada.ca

"We look forward to tomorrow and the chance to play St. FX in what will amount to a semifinal game," concluded Langevin.