POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (May 1, 2010) -- They came in their droves to the field of past glories. In all 57 Alumni came back for the annual Founder's Day Rugby game. Of that total 40 were men and 17 women and it was the best turnout in 15 years! There were former students from the 80s, 90s, and "naughties" as well as some of their children - recruiting starts early for rugby and the good news is that it's not an NCAA violation!

It was also the hottest day of the year thus far and under a blue sky and a searing sun Dani Goodman-Levy '09 rallied an impressive Alumnae Women's XV as they defeated the current students by 3 tries to nil. Kudos to Dani for making the effort to get a whole contingent of Alumnae together and they showed that they had not lost a step since graduation.

Vassar College Women 0 v Vassar College Alumnae 17
Tries: Laura Redden (2) & Becca Marcus (1).
Cons: Alex Milne (1).
The opening exchanges were peppered with errors as the graduates struggled to come to grips with the pace of the game. There were numerous scrums following handling miscues and kicks that made for some interesting counter-attacks but all in all it was entertaining to watch.

At flyhalf for the Alumnae, Alex Milne looked very comfortable with ball in hand. But credit is due Vassar's freshmen number 10 Hannah Bober for she tackled well and also stayed calm and collected when in possession. Laura Redden had a banner day getting a brace of tries and looking every bit the class player she was, as she wove her magical running lines like a snake slithering through the grass.

Vassar's Emma Backe ran well from defense and might have opened her side's scoring on a couple of forays but the Alumnae defense held as they scrambled back. Dana Wasserman can count herself as a tad unlucky for she zipped down the left wing but was brought back for a foward pass. She was not happy with the decision but she had shown a really good turn of speed and the Vassar team was now on guard.

Up front the Alumnae held an edge in the scrums with the experienced Alana Melton and Becca Marcus. These two were complimented by the effervescent Kim Nguyen. This trio put real pressure on the Vassar scrum and made life hectic for Mariko Yoshimura-Rank and Jansyn Thaw at the base of the scrum.

The duel in the lineout between Meredith Kendall and Amanda Waterhouse was a match within the match. The former, aka "Gangly" was up against the latter, aka "Waterpik". They both rose high and scrapped for the ball with no quarter asked and none given. Only a detailed analysis of the video will establish who ruled the skies, but whatever the final count it was a dogfight worth watching and there was very little to choose between them.

The battle of the Number 8s, Goodman-Levy and Yoshimura-Rank, was also a tussle to savor. Yoshimura-Rank probably finished on the wrong end of it as she may have broken a finger and was behind a retreating pack. But both enjoyed some strong runs.

So, in the end it was Laura Redden scoring the first two tries for the Alumnae, one of which was converted by Milne, and they led 12-0. But the victory was sealed when front row forward Becca Marcus emphatically thumped the ball over the line as if to say, "Take that!" It was a deserved win for the "visitors" but just as important the current players got to see first hand the quality to which they should aspire.

Thank you to all who made the journey to Poughkeepsie and helped to make this a special day. Honorable mention goes to Margaret Keller Dimock and Olivia Taylor Bergeron as the two oldest on the women's team. Olivia had her 3 children in tow and no doubt they were impressed with Mom's performance when they managed a glance from their chosen activity of playing on the bleachers! (By the way, the bear pouch was found and will be returned and I hope there were no tears in the car on the ride home!) And while Margaret did not play it was wonderful of her to share her experiences at Vassar in the first years of the team with the current players. "We had a ball and a field and that was about it!"

The men's game followed this contest and as one would imagine given their numbers it was closer to a hockey game as they ran in mass substitutions. The women will now have to get an even larger contingent next year so that they can do the same. Competition - it's the American way!

Vassar Team: 15 Emma Backe 14 Celia Castellan 13 Sarah Fuentes 12 Julia Nissen 11 Caitlin Bull 10 Hannah Bober 9 Jansyn Thaw 1 Alyssa Bell 2 Kate Hancock 3 Nathalie duRivage 4 Dana Hart 5 Mackenzie Morris 6 Kim Beaudoin 7 Amanda Waterhouse 8 Mariko Yoshimura-Rank. Subs: Willa Conway for Caitlin Bull, Lucy Cantwell for Amanda Waterhouse, & Krissa Wiechmann for Nathalie duRivage.

Vassar Alumnae Team: 15 Lorraine DeGraffenreidt 14 Charmaine Chua '08 13 Laura Redden '09 12 Alexandra Thom '09 11 Dana Wasserman '03 10 Alex Milne '09 9 Marlo Messer '08 1 Becca Marcus '08 2 Alana Melton '09 3 Kim Nguyen '08 4 Meredith Kendall '09 5 Olivia Taylor Bergeron '00 6 Alexis Liakos '08 7 Rachael Kutikoff Zoeller '06. Subs: Nicole Daddazio '09, Danika Oriol-Morway '07, & Margaret Keller Dimock '85.

Overall record 2009-10: 6-9-1.
Next: Fall 2010 Season - September 5, 2010 Opening game.