St. Joseph’s Megan Lynott /// Photo courtesy St. Joseph’s Women’s Rugby •
Twelve of 14 Mid-Atlantic Rugby Conference (MARC) teams were in motion last weekend. The DII league is grouped into two divisions – Pennsylvania and Tri-State – and includes seven teams each.
The game of interest in the Tri-State division was St. Joseph’s 36-7 win over Delaware. The Lady Hawks trailed for the majority of the first half, giving up a converted try at minute nine, before sophomore Madison Shields dodged four defenders for a try after 25 minutes. The 7-5 scoreline still favored Delaware, but with seven minutes remaining in the half, No. 8 Noran Salah rumbled in for a score. Christine Latta converted for the 12-7 halftime lead.
Salah took a flat pass off Megan Lynott before scoring a 40-meter try, converted by Latta (19-7), to kick off the second half. Driven by Gina Kokowsky and Alyssa LaMont, St. Joe’s disruptive work in the breakdowns saw an uptick in Delaware’s penalty count. Junior center Diana Cunningham took advantage with a line-break and try, 24-7.
Junior flanker Enya Maher and flanker LaMont scored before game’s end, and a final Latta conversion afforded the win. Senior Jess Polonio was named Woman of the Match for leadership in the pack and domination in the breakdowns.
Also in Tri-State, Kutztown University posted a massive 126-0 defeat of La Salle University.
“I didn’t really know what to expect going into the match,” Kutztown coach Sean Cobb confessed. “We had a good group of returning players, but in terms of game time there wasn’t all that much experience on the pitch. … We have some very good senior leadership but overall we are pretty young.
“Any nerves I had were put to bed pretty early when the team ran in their first try,” the coach continued. “Once the team settled in they started to play a nice, open, flowing game of rugby. We controlled the breakdown well which allowed the ball-runners to get on the front foot. We just wanted to keep applying pressure with ball in hand and we were able to do that throughout phase play.”
Kutztown scored 20 tries, 13 of them converted. Freshman scrumhalf Paige Krahling distinguished herself among a cast of veterans and earned MVP for keeping the offense moving forward and the defense organized.
The College of New Jersey defeated Rowan 27-10 in the third Tri-State match.
In the Pennsylvania division, reigning MARC champion Bloomsburg defeated East Stroudsburg 19-0 by controlling the pace of play and dominating defensively, allowing its opponent into its 22-meter only once. York College built on its 10-5 win over Shippensburg last week and defeated Lock Haven 61-10. Shippensburg topped Millersville 52-19 for its first win of the season.
For current standings, visit the conference home page.
Sept. 24 match-ups:
Pennsylvania DivisionLock Haven (0-2) vs. East Stroudsburg (0-1)
Bloomsburg (1-0) vs. Millersville (0-1)
Shippensburg (1-1) vs. Scranton (1-0)
Tri-State Division
Rowan (0-2) vs. Drexel (0-0)
College of NJ (1-0) vs. Kutztown (1-0)
La Salle (0-2) vs. St. Joseph’s (2-0)
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