POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (October 6, 2012) - It took what felt like an age for Vassar to put the 53-0 win over New Paltz game to rest. Determined New Paltz tackling and a series of penalties left the Vassar women with bad field position and little to show for what possession they had controlled. By half time it was 22-0 but the floodgates opened in the second half and in total 9 tries were scored before the game had finished.

Vassar College Women 53 v 0 SUNY-New Paltz Women
Tries: Cierra Thomas (1), Patty Walton (1), Nichelle Jackson (2), Meg
Slattery (1), Shanaye Williams (1), Dallas Robinson (1), Nicole
Guererro (1),  & Hannah Fink (1).
Cons: Julia Maltby (3) & Hannah Bober (1).

This was a very stop-start affair as the whistle kept blowing for multiple infringements. It made it difficult for either side to get any real rhythm but Vassar showed some good passages of play and managed four tries in the first half.

It was great to see rookie Cierra Thomas on the right wing run strongly for her first Vassar try. She seems to have recovered from her ankle problems and is playing with more confidence now. The Vassar forwards really did a good job of winning possession and it was very fitting that Patty Walton scored next. The co-captain and lock has worked hard all this year and with her parents visiting, she put on a show. Prop Nichelle Jackson was next on the score sheet and she also scored again later in the game to edge out her prop colleague Shanaye Williams. The Vassar scrum gave New Paltz a torrid day in the set piece even though Wiliams missed the first half because she was sitting the LSAT exam.

The New Paltz team did not offer much in attack despite trying to run off the fringes, spinning the ball wide, and then trying to kick deep. But they did defend with enthusiasm and they frustrated the Vassar attack.

Nicole Guererro had a strong performance and looked very dangerous going forward. For the first time in a long while Dallas Robinson was back to her dominating self. Robinson has had a bad ankle but you would not have known it today.

In the second half Vassar scored quickly as Williams was introduced to the game. Her fresh legs allied with a determination to shake off the lengthy LSAT session was not what New Paltz wanted to see. The score went from 27 to 34 quickly as Robinson scampered over and then Guererro scored and the result was history.

Unfortunately, Julia Maltby twisted her ankle and had to be replaced and she had been playing well making tackles and getting over the gain line. Freshmen Shira Idris came on for her and filled in adequately.

Vassar rounded off the day with a 50-yard try from fullback Hannah Fink. New Paltz did not find touch with a clearance kick and Fink
counter-attacked choosing not to link but rather finish the job herself. She scored under the posts and the ever-reliable Hannah Bober slotted the conversion.

There is still much work to do with this group but this was a step in the right direction.

Team: 15 Hannah Fink 14 Cierra Thomas 13 Tamasha Persaud 12 Julia
Maltby 11 Nora Kaye 10 Hannah Bober 9 Yael Schwartz 1 Nichelle Jackson
2 Emma Elbaum 3 Sophia Rutkin 4 Patty Walton 5 Imara Jones 6 Dallas
Robinson 7 Meg Slattery 8 Nicole Guerrerro. Subs: Shanaye Williams for
Imara Jones, Shira Idris for Julia Maltby.

Next: Saturday October 13, 2012 at SUNY-Binghamton kick-off 3:30 pm
Overall record: 3-1-1.

Vassar College Women “B” 0 v 10 SUNY-New Paltz Women “B”

This may not have been a win for the up and coming stars of Vassar Women's Rugby but given that for most it was their first game they did extremely well.

All the players showed a real appetite for the game being physical in the tackle and opting to run hard when they had the ball. Imara Jones, Shanice Garwood, and Darienne Jones made big gains and eluded tacklers. Imara Jones looks set for a career on Broadway for whenever she has the ball it is a major dramatic production! Ohhs and ahhs exclaimed and demonstrative gestures will keep the fans coming to watch this sport! She did run well though and her namesake Darienne also showed the ability to break tackles.

In the backs Marissa Davis was brave in the tackle and while the unit functioned intermittently everyone made tackles and gave it 100%.

The New Paltz side had a couple of veteran players with “A” side experience, who in the end managed to conjure up a couple of tries. But the Vassar rookies will take a lot from this experience and be more prepared for the step up to the “A” side in the future.

Team: 15 Marissa Davis 14 Cierra Thomas 13 Leigh Yakubowski 12 Nora
Kaye 11 Erin Murray 10 Shira Idris 9 Hannah Bober 1 Alana McCraw 2
Lucia Zampaglione 3 Shanice Garwood 4 Darienne Jones 5 Julia McGill 6
Shanique Turner 7 Claire Oxford 8 Imara Jones.