BRUNSWICK, ME - The Brewers were 4 points adrift at 20-24 with just 5 minutes left in this non-conference game against the Varsity Women's Rugby program at Bowdoin. It had been a somewhat lackluster display from the visiting team, bordering on lethargic at times but some valuable lessons will hopefully be taken to heart. However, 2 tries in that closing stanza closed out the game at 32-24. 

Vassar College 32 v 24 Bowdoin College Women

Tries: Meg Martin (1), Emma Manzella (2), Emily Howell (2) & Molly Lynch (1).

Cons: Molly Lynch (1).

Bowdoin set out to keep the ball and push it wide frequently. They had some pace in their back 3 and in fact the first try resulted after they went to the narrower side of the field and a missed tackle let them through before a pass put away the right wing. Vassar did respond relatively soon after when Meg Martin ran strongly and went over the line. It was the first time that Vassar had put together any real continuity and Bowdoin ran out of defenders. At 5-5 Vassar began to dominate territory and possession but errors such as a knock-on, a dropped pass, a forward pass, or a penalty led to Bowdoin relieving the pressure at least temporarily. 

Center Emma Manzella collected Vassar's second try and took them into the lead 10-5 when she ran a good line to beat the Bowdoin defense. It stayed at 10-5 for most of the remainder of the first half and Vassar squandered at least 3 try scoring opportunities before Bowdoin delivered a body shot to score and take a 12-10 lead into the break. 

The Brewers might have felt aggrieved not to have been awarded a penalty try when Mia Walsh took a quick tap penalty and was tackled right at the goal line by a player not back 10. The player was yellow carded but 7 points would have been a fair return. From the resulting scrum Vassar's Halle Hutchinson elected to pass having picked up at the base rather than just gallop over herself. The pass was dropped and 5 points went begging.

At the half much of the talk was about the fact that the team seemed to be just going through the motions with little real intensity. This allied to some poor decisions and turnovers had left the team trailing by 2 points. A major concern was the slowness to realign defensively as well as the poor tackling.

The second half started well enough but it was Bowdoin who soaked up the pressure and  then cut loose for another long range try. Vassar was now down 19-10 and little was going right. The scrum was not as dominant as it needed to be, the tackling allowed Bowdoin to offload or break tackles and the ball was being turned over too often. 

The Vassar lineout had functioned well and the scrum began to assert more of an influence so it was satisfying when flanker Emily Howell scored to get Vassar back in the contest at 15-19 but again Bowdoin came right back to make it 24-15. Poor defense at a tap penalty was too easy a try to concede. 

The final 15 minutes bore witness to 3 Vassar tries and Bowdoin did not help their cause by having players yellow carded for ruck infringements. Vassar's Molly Lynch went around the outside of the Bowdoin defense to make it 20-24 and then Manzella sliced through to score near the posts. Vassar led 25-24 and from the ensuing kick-off the forwards kept it tight and Emily Howell found a seam and ran about half the length of the field to secure the victory.

Next weekend Vassar faces Princeton University Women, kick-off 2:00 pm, a program that is probably going Varsity for the 2020-21 season. The Ivy League school is a division I side and will bring another testing 80 minutes for the Brewers. In addition, Vassar will play their Conference Quarterfinal game against SUNY-New Paltz at 12:00 noon, so this combination of games will prove a good test as the whole squad will play.

Team: 15 Molly Lynch 14 Julia Busby 13 Emma Manzella 12 Caroline James 11 Sophia Blush 10 Kira Nolan 9 Mia Walsh 1 Meg Martin 2 Charlotte Benoit 3 Kaira Smith 4 Maddie Crump 5 Catherine Gladstone 6 Emily Howell 7 Kayla Vasquez 8 Halle Hutchinson.

Subs: Yuming Ren for Kaira Smith.

Next: Saturday October 27, 2019 versus SUNY-New Paltz Women (Tri-State Conference Quarterfinal) KO 12:00 pm & versus Princeton University Women KO 2:00 pm

Overall record: 6-0-0