Stony Brook, NY - The Vassar Women took a squad to the Stony Brook 7s Tournament on Long Island and competed with two teams.

The Vassar A-side went 2-1 in pool play defeating Syracuse University and Stony Brook University before falling to Columbia University. The Brewers did advance to the semifinal but were swept aside by the U.S. Coast Guard Academy before losing the 3rd/4th place consolation game to Fairfield.

The Vassar B-side went 3-0 earning wins over Fairfield University B, Marist University B and Columbia University B. 

So, overall the Brewers went 5 and 3 on the day and given the players have only had 3 practices it was a fair return. Every single player had some notable contributions and there was effort and plenty of constructive play witnessed. But all would readily admit that the overall fitness of the players was not up to the challenges faced and with the group being so inexperienced at playing 7s mistakes were  made, so lessons were learned.

Vassar College Women A 17 v 7 Syracuse University Women A
Tries: Sabine Weil (1), Leah Dourmashkin (1), Yasmeen Kassem-Scott (1).
Cons: Zoe Lynch (1).

Against a big and strong Syracuse team the Brewers did well to impose their style and ran out comfortable winners scoring 3 good tries. The clincher was when Leah Dourmashkin caught a restart and scorched the earth running a full 70 yards to seal the win.

Team: 1 Yasmeen Kassem-Scott 2 Emma Niehaus 3 Sarah Towne 9 Zoe Lynch 10 Sabine Weil 12 Rosie Perkinson 14 Leah Dourmashkin.
Subs: Maritza Flores for Sarah Towne, Nadya LaMarr for Leah Dourmashkin, Ella Maniatis for Rosie Perkinson.

Vassar College Women B 26 v 0 Fairfield University Women B
Tries: AC Smith (1), Nadya LaMarr (1), Maisy Richardson (1), Chloe Ellis (1).
Cons: Eleanor Jacoby (3).

The Vassar team was full of confidence on the back of the first game win and behind some good tackles from AC Smith and very directed set piece play dominated from start to finish. When Sadye Krell put in a couple of crunching tackles that belied her experience and frame it brought loud cheers of approval from her teammates on the touchline.

Team: 1 Tate Wagner 2 Eleanor Jacoby 3 AC Smith 9 Maisy Richardson 10 Chloe Ellis 12 Nadya LaMarr 14 Rahmat Gambari.
Subs: Sam Tang for Eleanor Jacoby, Ellie Carr for Maisy Richardson, Sadye Krell for Rahmat Gambari, Lydia Hong for Nadya LaMarr.

Vassar College Women A 24 v 12 Stony Brook University Women A
Tries: Sabine Weil (3), Sarah Towne (1).
Cons: Zoe Lynch (2).

This was a game to remember for Sabine Weil. The ever improving number 10 sliced through on a number of occasions and she was rewarded with a hat-trick of tries. The Vassar team did have to work hard and it was clear that fatigue was starting to be a factor but it was another good win.

Team: 1 Yasmeen Kassem-Scott 2 Emma Niehaus 3 Sarah Towne 9 Zoe Lynch 10 Sabine Weil 12 Rosie Perkinson 14 Nadya LaMarr.
Subs: Ella Maniatis for Nadya LaMarr, Maritza Flores for Emma Niehaus.

Vassar College Women B  22 v 15 Marist University Women B
Tries: Maisy Richardson (3), Chloe Ellis (1).
Cons: Chloe Ellis (1).

Scrumhalf Maisy Richardson had some strong runs and scampered in for 3 tries leading the Brewers to victory in this hard contested match. Ellie Carr made a habit of getting yards after contact and AC Smith kept up the good tackling.

Team: 1 Ellie Carr 2 Sam Tang 3 AC Smith 9 Lydia Hong 10 Chloe Ellis 12 Maisy Richardson 14 Sadye Krell.
Subs: Rahmat Gambari for Sam Tang, Ella Maniatis for Ellie Carr. 

Vassar College Women A 5 v 22 Columbia University Women A
Tries: Zoe Lynch (1).

Vassar opened the scoring in a very scrappy untidy game. Despite dominating territorially Vassar made error after error and ball placement proved to be their Achilles heel. Right at the end of the half Columbia had their one meaningful attack and looked to have scored but placed the ball over the deadball line. At halftime it was Vassar 5 and Columbia 0.

But the next 7 minutes it was Columbia who stepped up and ripped the game from Vassar. Although a wonderful break and sprint for the line by Sabine Weil would have given the Brewers the lead she was caught just short and robbed of the ball. This missed opportunity seemed to utterly deflate the Brewers and when Columbia slipped through and led the heads went down. Kudos to Columbia for scoring again and by doing so winning the match and the pool.

Team: 1 Yasmeen Kassem-Scott 2 Emma Niehaus 3 Sarah Towne 9 Zoe Lynch 10 Sabine Weil 12 Eleanor Jacoby 14 Rosie Perkinson.
Subs: Chloe Ellis for Zoe Lynch, Nadya LaMarr for Rosie Perkinson, Tate Wagner for Sarah Towne.

Vassar College Women B 36 v 5 Columbia University Women B
Tries: Maritza Flores (2), Rahmat Gambari (2), Chloe Ellis (1), Nadya LaMarr (1).
Cons: Nadya LaMarr (3).

Perhaps the A-side loss focused the Vassar Women for this match and certainly there was only one side in this match up. Maritza Flores sprinted in for a brace of tries and not to be outdone Rahmat Gambari did the same. The victory meant that the B-side had gone unbeaten with a 3-0 record.

Team: 1 Maritza Flores 2 Sam Tang 3 AC Smith 9 Maisy Richardson  10 Chloe Ellis 12 Ella Maniatis 14 Nadya LaMarr.
Subs: Rahmat Gambari for Ella Maniatis, Lydia Hong for AC Smith.

Semifinal
Vassar College Women A 0 v 43 U.S. Coast Guard Academy Women A
Vassar defeated the US Coast Guard Academy back in December in the National 15-a-side semifinal and here we were again. But the situation could not have been more different. First, this was 7s not 15s with the emphasis being on speed and athleticism rather than tactics. Second, Vassar was without 2 of their All-American backs, Sophia Bailey and Jude Robinson. Plus, earlier in the day, starting wing Leah Dourmashkin had tweaked a muscle and was unavailable. Third, this was only Vassar's third game of 7s since Spring 2024 whereas the Academy has played a few tournaments this spring already and probably 12 plus games.

Vassar certainly didn't help their cause in the first 7 minutes by allowing 3 restarts to bounce and not sourcing rucks which led to 4 turnovers in their own half. Three of these led to immediate tries!
The team looked exhausted and although individuals made efforts it was sporadic and disjointed. Coast Guard went on to win at a canter and then took the tournament title defeating Columbia in the final.

Team: 1 Yasmeen Kassem-Scott 2 Emma Niehaus 3 Tate Wagner 9 Zoe Lynch 10 Sabine Weil 12 Rosie Perkinson 14 Sarah Towne.
Subs: Maritza Flores for Yasmeen Kassem-Scott, Rahmat Gambari for Rosie Perkinson, Eleanor Jacoby for Emma Niehaus.

Third/Fourth Playoff
Vassar College Women A 5 v 15  Fairfield University Women A 
Tries: Maritza Flores (1).

A gutsy performance from the Vassar Women started well with Maritza Flores putting Vassar into the lead. But right on the stroke of halftime Fairfield leveled matters at 5-5.

The second half was a bridge too far for the Brewers and Fairfield scored twice to finish in third overall.

Team: 1 Maritza Flores 2 Eleanor Jacoby  3 Sarah Towne  9 Tate Wagner  10 Zoe Lynch  12 Ella Maniatis  14 Rahmat Gambari
Subs: Sabine Weil for Tate Wagner, Maisy Richardson for Sabine Weil.

Next: Sunday April 6th, 2025 at the Tri-State Conference 7s Championship being hosted by Siena College. Vassar's first game is at 11:20 am.