The Holy Trinity Academy Knights girls rugby team held their own in Edmonton over the weekend.

They took home bronze at the Alberta Schools Athletic Association Tier II Provincial Championships on June 4.

With all competitive sports being off the menu for the last two years due to the pandemic, coach Megan Schlosser wasn't sure they'd even be able to get a full team together, let alone make it to provincials.

"When we actually managed to pull together a full team of girls, we were really excited. They ended up going all the way to provincials where we won bronze, which was the first time in at least 10 years when the Holy Trinity girls have won a medal at provincials."

This was the first time many of the girls had played competitive rugby at all.

Schlosser says the last two years saw the Knights gearing up for competitive play, but stopping short of competition due to COVID.

"We were able to have a couple of practices each year, but then by the time we got around to games, COVID would rear its ugly head and we'd get cancelled again, so a lot of these girls have been to a couple of practices but nothing major. A few of them had never even heard of rugby before, so it was a really wide range of experience, but most of the girls had been to a couple of practices before but had never competed in games."

Of the 23 girls on the team, 14 will be graduating this year, and though most of this year's team will be moving on, Schlosser is confident that they've got a good foundation for next year's squad.

Schlosser says the achievement meant a lot to Katie Marchant, who's been with the team for 10 years.

She also credited coaches Miranda Grant and Keith Lumby for helping the team go the distance.