Claremont won its DII Spring College Championship semifinal 44-27 over Salisbury today and advances to the spring final. The Foxes will face Tulane, which defeated Fresno State 38-17 in the other semifinal.
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In the opening minutes, Claremont co-captain Dana Alimena broke through the middle for a long-range try, and from there, the Foxes dominated field position for the rest of the half. Flyhalf Joey Yamada did an excellent job of directing the attack, working options with her backs, especially Alimena and fullback Alexandra Parker. She also placed some nice kicks into play to put players like wing Lauren Dorsey into space.
On the other side of the ball, Alimena was the most solid and consistent tackler in the backs, while flanker and co-captain Jessie Ribera set the tone in the forwards.
Salisbury had to play a lot of defense, but all things considered, did well to keep the first-half deficit manageable. Additionally, the Maryland team showed that it didn’t need much time to score, especially when the ball made it wide to wing Marla McNeil, who ended the day with two tries.
Claremont built a 10-0 lead as Parker added a conversion and penalty to Alimena’s try. A forward pass at mid-field handed over possession and Salisbury No. 8 Danielle McCreary picked off the back of the scrum and moved the ball to McNeil, who powered through tackles for the try. After a second Parker penalty, Salisbury did well to consolidate its power in the forwards and around the breakdown, and sent lock Shannon Lanham into the try zone, 13-10 after 21 minutes.
But that was the closest Salisbury would get to overturning the lead. Both sides were plucky at the breakdown, but Claremont had better luck converting those turnovers into points. Alimena got her second score when Salisbury attempted to run the ball out of its 22 meter and lost the ball. Yamada then sent a flat pass to Parker slotting in and the fullback hit the line at pace for the centered try, which she converted. Salisbury did end the half with some momentum, and again went to the forwards for some tight offloads and Haley Gee dive-over, 25-15 into the break.
The Foxes continued to make good gains out wide, and wing Anastasia Lavongtheung nearly crossed the line as the ball worked back across the pitch. Captain Alimena was in close support and scored, 32-15 with Parker’s conversion.
In the 50th minute, Salisbury capitalized on a restart error and pressured an errant clearance kick that kept play in the green zone. The team then went to work again around the breakdown and flanker Kirby Given dove over for the try, which scrumhalf Sara Mercado converted, 32-22.
Claremont responded with the next two tries, the first coming from a long Yamada break and timely offload to Parker in support. Fresh legs started to come on and replacement wing Dana Woller did an excellent job of straightening the attack and slicing directly through the defense for the try. Parker’s final conversion made it 44-22.
At the death, McNeil got her second try of the match for the final 44-27. The Foxes, which competed in NSCRO last year, head to its first DII Spring College Championship against veteran Tulane.