POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (September 28, 2013) - What a difference a week makes! Just 168 hours after suffering one of their worst defeats in the past decade the Vassar women responded by demolishing SUNY-Binghamton. Last Fall Binghamton won this fixture and kept Vassar from making the playoffs. But the Brewers were hell bent on making amends for both last fall and last weekend.

Vassar College Women 94 v 0 SUNY-Binghamton Women
Tries: Margaret Kwateng (5), Cierra Thomas (2), Anne Fritzson (2), Natalie Ward (1), Mary Margaret McElduff (1), Sylvia Haigh (1), Laila Blumenthal-Rothchild (1), Emma Kading (1), Meg Slattery (1), Hannah Fink (1).
Cons: Mary Margaret McElduff (6), Meg Slattery (1).

Vassar made 3 personnel changes to the team that lost to Marist, all of them being players returning from injury and 4 positional changes. It gave the team a better balance and more experience.

This contest was effectively over just before half-time as Vassar had scored 7 tries and led 45-0. The Binghamton team was shell-shocked and what little possession they had secured the Vassar defense flew up and stopped them.

In all 16 tries were scored and freshman Mary Margaret McElduff slotted 6 of 9 conversion attempts. Binghamton had a big pack but the scrum was a very static affair with referee Jenna Bussman-Wise strickly enforcing the new guidelines. It seemed to unsettle the visitors as they had hoped to get a good nudge on at the scrum and disrupt the Vassar set-piece. But it was not to be and Dallas Robinson and Margaret Kwateng were able to secure clean ball and launch attacks.

Margaret Kwateng scored 5 tries and directed the Vassar attack. She is an intelligent runner but just as important she tackles very strongly. The criticism of last week was that Vassar did not tackle consistently and Kwateng set a captain's example along with Natalie Ward who was key to the backline defense.

Vassar will look at this game and reflect on how much they still need to improve in a number of areas. Too often Binghamton players managed to rip the ball from a ball-carrier's grasp. That they did not convert these turnovers into pressure or points was probably more due to their adventuresome lateral approach which led to handling errors.

It was wonderful to see the freshmen and rookies get in on the scoring. Anne Fritzson confirmed that she has potential to do well and picked up a brace of tries. Sylvia Haigh though looking quite lost initially improved and scored while Laila Blumenthal-Rothchild scampered over with a good run. Mary Margaret McElduff also got a gift of a try and her points tally on the day was 17.

The scorers get the ink but kudos to Mariah Ghant for working hard despite being under the weather. In addition Meg Slattery put on a show including some gymnastics and Hannah Fink was an equally effective contributor.

It is somewhat ironic that the message to the whole squad remains what is was after the previous week's humiliating defeat, that we must improve our tackling and work harder to eliminate errors.

Team: 15 Emma Kading 14 Anne Fritzson 13 Natalie Ward 12 Cierra Thomas 11 Mary Margaret McElduff 10 Shira Idris 9
Margaret Kwateng 1 Mariah Ghant 2 Rachel Thompson 3 Darienne Jones 4 Anna Carias 5 Claire Oxford 6 Hannah Fink 7 Meg Slattery 8 Dallas Robinson.  Subs: Sylvia Haigh for Shira Idris, Laila Blumenthal-Rothchild for Mary Margaret McElduff, Taylor Nunley for Mariah Ghant, Wanda Noonan for Margaret Kwateng.

Overall record: 2- 1 -0.

Next: Sunday October 6th, 2013 versus SUNY-New Paltz at Vassar College Farm, kick-off 11:00 am.

Vassar College Women "B" 0 v SUNY-Binghamton Women "B" 41

Essentially the Vassar rookies faced a Binghamton "A" team as the majority of players doubled up to give the Vassar women a game. The Vassar rookies did well enough in the rucks but if the ball was turned over the more experienced Binghamton backs quickly exploited the space available.

It was a pity that the ball Vassar did win was not used more effectively. Players got rattled and offloaded further compounding the situation and the ensuing chaos was joy for the tired Binghamton "A" players!

Hats off to the rookies for making a fight of it and getting through what for most was their first or second game ever.

Team: 15 Mary Margaret McElduff 14 Molly Osborn Parisa 13 Laila Blumenthal-Rothchild 12 Sylvia Haigh 11 Parisa Halaji-Dezfuli 10 Ellen Quist 9 Zoe Kurtz 1 Lauren Workman 2 Nathalie Freeman 3 Lizzie Bennett 4 Claire Oxford 5 Emily Bender 6 Emily Bender 7 Yasani Spencer 8 Taylor Nunley. Subs: Daria Egorova for Claire Oxford.