KINGSTON, NY (September 27, 2014) - The Vassar Women made a quick stop on the return journey after playing the SUNY-New Paltz Women in their scheduled Tri-State Conference divisional game. They visited Apple Hill Farm (see attachment) and there were smiles aplenty as they were welcomed warmly by the owners but even more so on account of the overwhelming win earned earlier. Three players scored a hat-trick and 9 of the 15 starters scored a try!
Vassar College Women 91 v 5 SUNY-New Paltz WomenTries: Meg Slattery (3), Cierra Thomas (3), Taylor Nunley (1), Darienne Jones (3), Laila Blumenthal-Rothchild (1), Mary Margaret McElduff (1), Tamasha Persaud (1), Kathleen Gould (1), & Lauren Workman (1).Cons: Mary Margaret McElduff (6) & Ellen Quist (2). The game was hosted in Kingston due to work on the New Paltz campus but the change of venue did not derail the Vassar Women as they romped to a massive win scoring 15 tries. The SUNY-New Paltz Red Hawks have a great attitude, are a young team that receives minimal support from their school, and while they probably did not expect to win today they ran into a maelstrom of attitude expressed by all the 15 Vassar Women.
Last weekend Vassar had played SUNY-Cortland and underperformed so New Paltz bore the brunt of a backlash! Some simple truths were spoken during the week and a focus on fundamentals meant that a much better platform was established. While it is difficult to tell if Vassar was truly much better it is safe to state that the team was very effective. The scum was steady, the few lineouts were won, and the body position in rucks lower.
On defense, the New Paltz team was suffocated and such was the pressure that Vassar's
Cierra Thomas intercepted a pass that snuffed out the first meaningful New Paltz attack and she scored under the posts! Thomas had 3 tries as did Meg Slattery and
Darienne Jones. The latter of this trio did not play last week and she made her return to the team felt.
It is important to note that New Paltz had to defend for lengthy periods and they stuck to their guns. The Vassar forwards picked and rucked sometimes covering 20-30 yards at a time with each player gaining 3 or 4 yards at a time. The tackle count for the hosts was undoubtedly over 100.
New Paltz was down 22-0 and did break out of defense and with some strong forward runs they got into the Vassar 22. A couple of missed tackles and they had scored to make it 22-5 at around the 20 minutes mark. But other than this foray they barely threatened the Vassar defense. Another 3 tries put the halftime score at 41-5.
The Vassar forwards dominated the game but when given the opportunity the backs did well with flyhalf Mary Margaret McElduff continuing to impress. She converted 6 of the tries and went through for a well taken one herself. But it is her distribution that is key and she did well.
New Paltz tired in the second half and and a further 8 tries, one a first for
Lauren Workman, will make selecting the try of the week very difficult.
The re-structuring of collegiate rugby, mandated by USA Rugby, has thrown teams into conferences with little regard to parity of the programs in competition. Luckily, the Vassar Women have a good rapport with their neighbors New Paltz and this was not a case of running up the score. At the end of the day New Paltz can be proud of their defensive efforts even if the score-line does not reflect the multitude of tackles they made.
Team: 15 Laila Blumenthal-Rothchild 14 Anne Fritzson 13 Tamasha Persaud 12 Cierra Thomas 11 Priscilla Yevoo 10 Mary Margaret McElduff 9 Yael Schwartz 1 Darienne Jones 2 Kathleen Gould 3 Mariah Ghant 4 Sophia Rutkin 5 Lauren Workman 6 Leigh Yakubowski 7 Taylor Nunley 8 Meg Slattery.
Subs: Lizzie Bennett for Mariah Ghant, Elizabeth Berridge for Meg Slattery, Ellen Quist for Mary Margaret McElduff, Michelle Broomes for Darienne Jones. Next: Sunday October 5th, 2014 versus the University at Albany Women at Vassar College Farm, Kick-off 12:00 noon.- Head Coach Tony Brown -VASSAR-
