Vassar scrumhalf Jennie To / Photo courtesy Vassar Athletics
The USA Rugby DII College Fall Championship will be awarded to either Vassar College or Winona State, to be decided Sunday, Dec. 3 at Furman University. The Brewers defeated the Coast Guard Academy 36-22 in Saturday’s semifinal, while the Black Katts bettered Cincinnati 46-17.
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In was a tale of two halves in the first semifinal of the weekend. Vassar established a 29-0 halftime lead on the back of a resolute forwards game. Loose forwards Amanda Saich, Sarah Mawhinney and Oshana Reich were especially effective in the go-forward and set up scrumhalf Jennie To for dive-over opportunities. The halfback scored two close-range tries during the opening 25 minutes.
The backs did well to make the most of their possession, as flyhalf Makena Emery sent stetching passes to hard runners like Kayla Lightner. Fullback Michelle Urrutia and wing Abigail Alexander linked up well in open space as well.
After 40 minutes, Vassar had scored enough points for the win, as To (2), Emery, Reich and Alexander scored tries, and Emery added two conversions. But that didn’t mean that Coast Guard was done for the day. The Bears won the second 40 in terms of points, dotting down four tries to Vassar’s two.
Linda Drake displayed some nice pace and footwork for the team’s first try, and a stolen lineout moved wide to outside center Angel Fay for a try, 29-10. The scoring halted for nearly 20 minutes, but when it resumed, Mawhinney scored Vassar’s sixth try, which Emery converted. Coast Guard fullback Hollis Roush also showcased her speed with a try, and an epic goal line stance saw the Connecticut team end with a try from Katherine McDonnell, converted by Roush, 36-22.
Winona State and Cincinnati followed in the second semifinal, and it too was a tale of two halves. However this storyline saw the teams neck and neck in the first half, and Winona State pull away in the second.
Winona No. 8 Lindsay Rutz / Photo courtesy Winona State Women’s Rugby
The game was scoreless for the first 15 minutes. Winona State survived a sin bin without giving up a try, and its defense had many shining moments. Conversely, the Black Katts were able to exploit a one-player advantage. From a non-five lineout, Cincinnati was pinged for a not-rolling away penalty deep in its end, and then hard-charging No. 8 Lindsey Rutz, a highlight in the pack, scored and Emily Becker converted.
Cincinnati had the dominant scrum in the first half but wasn’t able to use the set piece toward points. The Ohio side also had multiple overloads out wide that went unrealized. But the final four newcomer was an excellent counter-rucking side and speedy Erin Sang capitalized on a turnover deep in her team’s end for a long-range try. Justine Perl converted for the 7-all scoreline.
Winona State took the lead for good after Becker took a nice line through the defense, offloaded to Abigail Andler, and then let pick-and-goes at the line set up hooker An Tran for the try. Tran scored shortly afterward, as Rutz intercepted the lineout, tore down the sideline and got the offload to Tran through traffic.
As the half end, the game saw the first flash of outside center Syd Gould, who had been a shown great speed off the line on defense. Her dummy and sidestep saw Gould score the first of four tries. Winona led 24-7 at the break.
Cincinnati started the second half with some solid north-south offloads to get in good territory. Shortly afterweard, Jorey Bischof and Hailey Tipplett applied good pressure to force a turnover, and scrumhalf Alaina Tarr dove over for the try, 24-12.
Gould then scored the next three tries, the first of which was a tremendous individual effort, powering through multiple tackles to break through and score. Freshman flanker Diana Tapia added a try, as did Cincinnati flyhalf Perl, 46-17 the final.”