POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. - The Vassar College Women's Rugby team won its third straight contest on Saturday afternoon as the Brewers defeated Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 48-15 at the Farm. Junior
Asia Baker (Columbus, GA) and freshman
Sophia Bailey (Arlington, VA) each converted three tries to move the Brewers to 4-0 overall on the season and 2-0 in conference play.
The Brewers pushed the ball wide from the start after some inroads from the forwards as good runs from
Katie Canavan (Montgomery, N.Y.) and
Grace Skakel (Mosier, OR) were made but RPI's back line continued to make it difficult for Vassar to move wide. However, there was some degree of continuity and that allied to a couple of penalties to give Vassar field position. Following a lineout just outside the 22, prop forward Baker powered over to give Vassar a 5-0 lead.
Vassar's
Andie Authers (New York, N.Y.) went over after the Vassar pack had done some good work and it was pleasing to see the prop rewarded after her battle for a score.
From the restart Vassar scrumhalf Bailey darted through and showed the defense a clean pair of heels and Vassar was taking control at 17-0 after
Zoe Lynch (Dryden, N.Y.) connected on the conversion. Then a miscue off of a clearing kick by Rensselaer was received by Vassar fullback
Claire Zickl (Batavia, N.Y.) and it was a 22-0 Vassar lead.
Rensselaer responded well and managed to get into the Vassar 22 where they picked and went over so at the half the score stood at 22-5 to the home team.
The start of the second half saw Vassar get off to a good start as Bailey went over for her second try and the team's fifth but Rensselaer converted a try in the left hand corner made it 29-10 as the Engineers continued to make their presence known in the conference showdown.
Lauren Showalter (Harrisburg, PA) had a strong game at Number 8 and with Bailey and Baker bursting through the line, Vassar was back in charge. Both Bailey and Baker scored six tries between them and the team had weathered the storm of two yellow card periods.
Rensselaer slipped through the middle of the Vassar defense and Zickl made a superb touchline tackle to snuff out the danger. RPI did score again to make it 36-15 late in the second half before Baker finished her strong outing with tries seven and eight on the contest. Four tries from the forwards and the same from the back division completed the Vassar victory.
Local rivals Marist College are next up on the schedule and it will be a short journey across town to take on the Red Foxes on Saturday for a 12:00 p.m. kickoff.
Tries: Asia Baker (3), Andie Authers (1), Sophia Bailey (3), Claire Zickl (1).
Cons: Zoe Lynch (4).
Team: 15 Claire Zickl 14 Julie Geller 13 Caeli Porette 12 Isabel Rodriguez 11 Zoe Lynch 10 Kasey Drake 9 Sophia Bailey 1 Andie Authers 2 Katie Canavan 3 Asia Baker 4 Grace Skakel 5 Sylvia Martinez 6 Samuel Tang 7 Sarah Winickoff 8 Lauren Showalter.
Subs: Yasmeen Kassem-Scott for Sarah Winickoff, Mette McKinney for Samuel Tang, Yael Tuckman for Andie Authers, Elise Johnson for Isabel Rodriguez, Ariel Birnbaum for Sylvia Martinez, Maya Winter for Sophia Bailey.
