Poughkeepsie, NY -  Last Spring the Brewers played the University of Vermont (UVM) twice in tournament play at the Beast of the East and then on the road up in Burlington winning all 3 contests. There was a concern that the team would take their opponent today too lightly and be overconfident. The opening 18 minutes was predominantly UVM in possession and it was just the reminder that the Brewers needed. Vassar had to defend multiple phases and play well without the ball and that they did, dampening the visitors' enthusiasm. 

Vassar College Women 89 v 5 University of Vermont Women
Tries: Matty Sumrow (2), Jude Robinson (4), Sophia Bailey (2), Maisy Richardson (2), Sabine Weil (1), Gus Pointer Mace (1), Emma Niehaus (1), Ella Maniatis (1) & Leah Dourmashkin (1).
Cons: Emma Niehaus (7).

In the first 18 minutes of this match the Vassar team had possession of the ball for approximately 75 seconds, had made 46 tackles, conceded 2 penalties, committed 3 turnovers and scored 1 try to lead 5-0. UVM had come to play and gone through multiple phases trying to push the ball wide, running off the fringes and kicking. The Catamounts offloaded in contact and also picked some at the ruck but there was no way through. In fact, the visitors struggled to get out of their own half and the low return on all that effort was to prove prophetic.

Matty Sumrow only had to launch themself to score but had put in a couple of solid tackles earlier so must have felt rewarded. Jude Robinson had a field day running in the second try of the match and overall getting 4 in the 80 minutes. The distribution from Sabine Weil was generally good and the flyhalf enjoyed being behind a dominant set of forwards. There was a real method in the Vassar attack and while there were some dropped passes the error count was low.

Sophia Bailey scored try number 3 and it was encouraging to note that the team was functioning relatively well without some regular starters due to injury.

Flanker come prop Maisy Richardson scored a brace of tries and is settling into the forward pack having previously been at 9. Greater consistency and confidence must come next and if so competition for starting places will likely heat up considerably.

At the half it was 34-5 as UVM did have a couple of sorties into the Vassar end, one of which led to a try. The Catamounts scored it when Vassar had 22 points on the board and while it offered a glimmer of hope at that time the response was swift and spectacular. Vassar's try number 6 was scored by Sabine Weil and it was a try that should never have been! The flyhalf received a ball inside her own half about 55 meters from the opposition goal line. Ordinarily a whole back division would have been aligned outside her but centers Weldon and Maniatis had gotten caught up in the very ruck from which the ball came. It was a case of pure survival and Weil took off running between 2 UVM forwards and she found herself in an open meadow with just the fullback to beat. The commitment had been full and the UVM fullback was a mere spectator as Vassar's Weil sailed by to score.

In total 15 tries were scored by the Brewers and as the students go into their Fall Break they will have a couple of days off before preparing for the Tri-State Conference playoffs. Next Sunday Vassar will play in a quarterfinal and that opponent will be decided tomorrow after the last regular season game. In addition to or in place of that game, the Brewers plan to take on the United States Military Academy (U.S.M.A.) JV team, aka Army Women JV. This has yet to be finalized but it would be the perfect preparation heading into postseason competition. 

The Brewers used to play in Division I and regularly took on Army in Conference play as both squads topped the Met. NY Conference. However, the Army program went Varsity a number of years ago and Vassar has since played their JV twice. In October of 2018 Vassar won 29-22 at West Point and in October 2017 Vassar won 61-26 also on the road at the Anderson Rugby complex.

Team: 15 Jude Robinson 14 Matty Sumrow 13 Ella Maniatis 12 Makaela Weldon  11 Leah Dourmashkin 10 Sabine Weil 9 Sophia Bailey 1 Cae Bardsley-Cutler 2 Emma Niehaus 3 Gus Pointer Mace 4 Tate Wagner 5 Kiki Takata 6 Mette McKinney 7 Maisy Richardson 8 Sarah Towne.
Subs: Rosie Perkinson for Kiki Takata & Nadya LaMarr for Sophia Bailey.

2025-26 Record: 7-0-0.

Next: Sunday October 26th, 2025 11:00 am Vassar College Women in Conference Playoffs at Vassar Farm & 12:30 pm versus USMA, West Point JV.

Saturday October 18th, 2025

Vassar College Women B 10 v 0 Uni. of Vermont Women B
Tries: Rosie Perkinson (2).
Cons: 
For the second week in a row the Vassar Women emerged with a "W" and throughout the contest looked good value for their efforts. The team shape was very recognizable and players were quick to the breakdown.

Nadya LaMarr stepped into the scrumhalf role and distributed well and at flyhalf that woman Chloe Ellis pulled the strings to set the backs en route to 2 good tries.

But as most pundits will agree the game is first and foremost about the battle up front that determines the quality of ball with which to work. The mostly rookie pack did a decent job of winning rucks and providing that platform.

The center pairing of Sadya Krell and Rosie Perkinson regularly found seams to run through and the latter was rewarded with 2 tries providing the margin of victory.

This game time is critical to the development of the players and the lessons learnt during a match lead to understanding the priorities in practice. Overall this was a solid performance and it bodes well for the future.

Team: 15 Rahmat Gambari 14 Dora Chen 13 Rosie Perkinson 12 Sadya Krell 11 Ava Rowland 10 Chloe Ellis 9 Nadya LaMarr 1 Gabby Gitau 2 Annika Szturma 3 Dea Edwards 4 Sylvie Lipskar 5 Ina Zaslavsky 6 Emi Mitchell 7 Megan Carpenter 8 Elle Carr.