The Brewers took on both Hofstra University Women and a United States Military Academy team. The former was a conference game and the latter an opportunity for the cadets to get a run out since they did not travel with their Varsity Team to Central Washington, so essentially it was the Army Women's C-side. Vassar played an A-side against Army and a B-side against Hofstra winning both games decisively.

Vassar College Women 46 v 7 a USMA (Army) Women XV
Tries: Lauren Workman (2), Alicia Menard-Livingston (1), Amanda Saich (1), Nathalie Freeman (1), Rachel Elson (2), & Laila Blumenthal-Rothchild (1).
Cons: Mary Margaret McElduff (3).
 
Vassar jumped ahead with two early scores to lead 10-0 and it was both good and bad. The good was that they had started sharply but the bad was that they took their foot off the gas and allowed the team to get back into the contest. The score at halftime was 15-7 in Vassar's favor courtesy of 3 tries to 1.
 
Much talk in the week has been of being a better team without the ball, i.e. defensively, yet this was not the case against a very spirited Army team. Everyone needs to be making solid tackles and stopping teams in their tracks! Players are guilty of slipping around the side and being beaten.
 
Vassar also needs to develop their game and play different styles well. Not dropping the ball and not getting turned over are a priority.
 
The visitors made a couple of big hits but too often they were covering huge swaths of grass with no attackers in front of them.
 
Vassar's Lauren Workman and Nathalie Freeman ran hard carrying the ball well through contact. Kayla Lightner was good in defense and Jyen Wong did well throughout. Unfortunately, Lightner was injured toward the end of the game and had to be replaced.
 
Team: 15 Rachel Elson 14 Alicia Menard-Livingston 13 Laila Blumenthal-Rothchild 12 Kayla Lightner 11Rachel Jones 10 Mary Margaret McElduff 9 Jyen Wong 1 Kate Sworden 2 Marron McConnell 3 Mariah Ghant 4 Oshana Reich 5 Lauren Workman 6 ?Nathalie Freeman 7 Sarah Mawhinney 8 Amanda Saich.

Vassar College Women 84 v 0 Hofstra University Women
Tries: Fiona Brodie (1), Abigail Alexander (4), Jennie To (3), Alicia Menard-Livingston (1), Caroline James (1), Mary Margaret McElduff (1), Charlotte Benoit (1), Gaby Caballero (1), Michelle Urrutia (1).
Cons: Mary Margaret McElduff (4) & Michelle Urrutia (3).

?Hofstra are in a rebuilding phase with their squad and with 7 rookies it was always going to be a tall order for them on the road at Vassar. The problem with a contact sport is that you can't play it half-paced or ease up. Vassar put out a team that had 12 B-side players and of 4 of them were playing their second game ever. By the latter stages, another 4 complete novices had been put into the lineup. That the team managed to show some real shape and pattern to their attack speaks volumes for the work that has been done in practice. 

It was fitting that Fiona Brodie scored a try, Vassar's first, for she scrummaged well at loosehead all game. Jennie To played like a star at scrumhalf. Her pass was consistent, she was alert and dangerous at the base of the rucks, and she collected a hat-trick of tries. Abigail Alexander on the wing scored 4 tries with some decisive running and the ball placement generally was good by most.

Rookies who scored tries included Charlotte Benoit Caroline James, and Gaby Caballero and this is just their first few weeks of playing the sport!
One would be remiss if credit was not given to some of the unsung teammates who through their unselfish play enable others to reap scores. Claire Fondrie-Teitler at Number 8 was rock solid and made a number of line breaks. While Megan de Koning at flanker did the same. Lizzie Bennett, Ellen Quist, and Kaitlin Prado all carried well and were integral to the continuity of the team's play.

The backs still have a lot of work to do on their timing and lines of running. Alicia Menard-Livingston scored from a set piece play and looked quick. Michelle Urrutia scored one try and kicked 3 conversions but both will need to improve their defensive contributions.
 
The main lesson that the Vassar players can take from this game is that it was not a typical game of rugby. Scoring 14 tries is not the norm. Games will be much more physical and demanding. There will be a lot more tackling to do and ball retention will be more difficult.

Team: 15 Mary Margaret McElduff 14 Abigail Alexander 13 Alicia Menard-Livingston 12 Michelle Urrutia 11 Caroline James 10 Rachel Elson 9 Jennie To 1 Fiona Brodie 2 Ellen Quist 3 Kaitlin Prado 4 Lizzie Bennett 5 Eve Coulibaly 6 Kate Titowsky 7 Megan deKoning 8 Claire Fondrie-Teitler. Subs: Kayla Vasquez, Charlotte Benoit, Gaby Caballero, Andrea Ramsay.
 
Overall record: 3-0-0

Next week: Sunday October 2^nd, 2016 versus ?Marist College Women – Kickoff 11:00 am at Vassar College Farm.