POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (October 31, 2010) -- The Vassar College women's rugby team defeated cross-river rival SUNY New Paltz 25-12 in the Met. NY Championship Sunday afternoon at the Farm.

With the win, the Brewers advance as the No. 2 seed to the quarterfinals of the eight-team  Northeast Rugby Union (NRU) Division II Championship and host Boston University at the Farm this Saturday, November 6 at 1:00 p.m. The top 2 teams advance to the National Championships in the spring with 16 teams earning the right to play for the title USA Rugby National Division II Championship.

In the regular season the Vassar Women defeated New Paltz 37-17, but this was a playoff game and the Hawks showed up ready to rumble. They fell behind 5-0 when Vassar's O'Mara Taylor went 80 yards to score but tied matters up 5-5 and that's how it stayed until after half-time. The teams exchanged tries with Vassar going up 10-5 and then New Paltz converted their score so the visitors led 12-10 with about 25 minutes left. It seemed as if the momentum had shifted.

Vassar pressed early but gave away too many penalties and that allowed New Paltz to clear their line. The Hawks had defended well and following their win last weekend against Marist they were brimming with confidence.They made a couple of line breaks and if not for some brave tackling by Vassar's Addie Provenzano, they would have taken the lead. Vassar had a scrum inside their own 22 and Taylor ran superbly the length of the field and it was Vassar who led 5-0.

New Paltz responded going through a number of phases before being awarded a penalty. Their impressive center took the ball up and although Hannah Bober made a great tackle she was unable to hold her up and it was 5-5.

Vassar's forwards were doing well in the scrums and winning ruck ball in the loose but there were a number of lost rucks with indifferent ball placement or accidental kicks. The key was to score next and that Vassar did just that. But New Paltz had shown they could fashion their own attack and they managed to engineer good field position and broke through to score near the posts. At 12-10 they must have been thinking championship.

But Vassar's Keri Peacock and her team had other thoughts. The scrumhalf kept New Paltz off-balance with her decisions and she whipped and drove her forwards with skill making sure Vassar secured possession.

The forwards stuck to their guns, did the basics well, and everyone put in hard work. Particularly noticeable was freshman Dallas Robinson. The Vassar blindside is a strong runner and she has the ability to step or twist out of a tackler's grasp. She went over to give Vassar the lead at 15-12 and the home crowd erupted. It was asking alot of New Paltz to come back a third time and although they battled magnificently Vassar managed two late tries to put this result in the book.

Margaret Kwateng and Taylor for the third time went over and Vassar could look ahead to a home quarterfinal next Saturday against Boston University Women.

Winning the Metropolitan New York Division II title is quite an accomplishment for this squad of young women. Back in late August there were just 8 returning players and some wondered if we would field a team. Moving down to division II allowed this group to compete and there have been some close games - a tie with Rutgers and a loss to Marist - so hats off to all the rookies who have stepped up and performed so willingly and earned this title.

Vassar College Women 25 v SUNY-New Paltz Women 12
Tries: O'Mara Taylor (3), Margaret Kwateng (1), & Dallas Robinson (1).

Team: 15 Addie Provenzano 14 Margaret Kwateng 13 Laura Howard 12 Julia Nissen 11 Chelsea Boccagno 10 Hannah Bober 9 Keri Peacock 1 Nichelle Jackson 2 Kim Beaudoin 3 Alyssa Bell 4 Maddie Zappala 5 Kate Merlie 6 Dana Hart 7 Dallas Robinson 8 O'Mara Taylor.