Sara Shaw scored two tries and the Brock women's rugby team opened the regular season with a triumphant 55-0 victory over the Western Mustangs in London on Sunday.

Shaw was named Player of the Match as she set the tone in both attack and defence, according to head coach Mark Smerdon.

"There was definitely a lot of big breaks and tackles from our entire team through 80 minutes," said Shaw, a second-year fullback. "We didn't let up and earned the shutout. On my tries, I hit the gaps and forced my way past the defence with good looks from my scrum-half Loramhel Mateo and fly-half Taylor Knezevich."

Brock led 22-0 at halftime, but the Badgers weren't as efficient as they had been during practice earlier this week.

"The game started nervously," said Smerdon of his team. "Even though we had a halftime score of 22-0, our goals we set out were not being met."

After being challenged at the half, the Badgers responded by completely shutting down the Mustangs' attack.

"Those goals that we worked on during the week started to transfer into our gameplay," said Smerdon. "Three of our rookies, Daniella Michaud, Kiara Stecko and Ruby Moffat, stood out today."

Senior Holly Murphy tallied two tries to record her first try in five seasons at Brock. Mateo registered a pair of tries while Michaud, Caitlin Mahaffy and Alexis Gigliotti each chipped in a try.

Up next, the Badgers (1-0) hit the road to face the McMaster Marauders (0-2) on Saturday, Sept. 14 at 1 p.m.