Photo: Jackie Finlan •
The first Player of the Week for 2017 goes to Humboldt State outside center Lila Bell, who was instrumental in the Lumberjacks’ season-opening 38-24 win over Cal Saturday. The game marked Humboldt’s first match in the DI Pacific Mountain Rugby Conference West, and Bell’s dominating performance set a strong tone for the DII graduate.
“Experience wise, we have a bunch of new people who never touched a rugby ball before, but that’s how most people come to our team. We were a little nervous at first but I think we pulled it together and [are] happily surprised,” Bell said of the DI opener. “We were ready to move up to the next division and winning this just solidified that we’re ready to be DI now.”
Bell showed that she is just as effective in DI as she’s been in DII, and opened up the scoring with a converted try. Big and powerful, Bell took advantage of high tackles attempts and linked with support when the defense swarmed. She’s a dependable finisher and ended the half with her second try, making good on a penalty opportunity. Including her conversions, Bell scored 18 points on Saturday.
Humboldt prop and forwards captain Madison Wallace was very good in tight and showed that she could spin out of contact and side-step with the best of them (she scored two tries).
Cal struggled in the first half but didn’t exit the first 40 empty-handed. Humboldt was slow to reset after a missed penalty attempt, and the short drop 22 fortuitously fell into Cal captain Abby Vogel’s hands. The Bears launched into a quick attack and eventually saw replacement No. 8 Ceara Lafferty – tall and versatile – finish off a series of pretty offloads.
Humboldt led 19-5 at the break, and a recycling Bell set up inside center Hannah Hartmann for the a second-half try and 26-5 lead.
Cal then took control. Vogel led an uptick in pressure at the breakdown, and Humboldt succumbed to penalties as the Bears pushed into Humboldt territory. Bell later commented that the pace of play and rucking contests were noticeably stronger than DII, and that played a role in Cal’s three consecutive tries. Two of those scores came from rookie wings Izzy Roberson, a Land Park alumna, and Elena Mateus, and suddenly it was 26-24 to Humboldt.
“We got a little flustered, maybe got a little ahead of ourselves,” Bell said of the third quarter. “Last semester we were used to winning every game, and once we’re up we’re usually up the whole time. So I think we were taken aback by them scoring and coming back, but we just had to take our time, take some deep breaths, and we got it back.”
Cal had the momentum, but then stabilizing performances from the veterans saw Wallace and wing Tiana Barron in for tries and the win.
The first hurdle was a big one – getting that first DI win – and Humboldt has shown that it’s a worthy addition to the Pacific Mountain conference. Congrats to Bell and teammates for a good start to a new chapter in the club’s history.
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