Poughkeepsie, NY - The Vassar College Women doubled down in the win column this weekend and followed up their Friday night victory over the Army Women's Developmental XV with an emphatic win over SUNY-New Paltz Women. The Brewers had 20 players remaining on campus for the Fall Break and the team that faced New Paltz had 11 players that did not feature against Army. The remaining 4 all played out of position and made a fair account of themselves. The New Paltz players never gave up despite being on the end of a 19-try demolition.
 
Vassar College Women 107 v 7 SUNY-New Paltz Women                                                               
Tries: Lila Gallivan (5), Eleanor Jacoby (1), Meg Carpenter (1), Nadya LaMarr (3), Ava Rowland (1), Ayala Romm (2), Emma Niehaus (2), Gemzi Tinoco (1), Emi Mitchell (1), Dea Edwards (1) & AC Smith (1).                                                                        Cons: Nadya LaMarr (5) & Ava Rowland (1).

Quite simply it was a stunning day at Vassar Farm. The backdrop of Fall colors and brilliant sunshine was the perfect complement to the rugby on display. Let's be clear this was a team with a host of rookies, 11 in total, who have been practicing and not getting games on account of teams not having B-sides. They needed these 80 minutes of game time to see where they are in terms of development and to get a better appreciation of performing under real game conditions. It's one thing to do a drill and compete with teammates and quite another to face an unknown foe.

The SUNY-New Paltz players are a keen and feisty team, but their lack of game experience is evident in several areas. The defensive line speed never really put the Vassar ball carriers under pressure, thus when tackles were made Vassar was over the gain line and on the front foot. It is very hard to defend when you are constantly backpedaling and that led to gaps across the defensive line. When the Vassar forwards were not punching holes around the fringes of the ruck, the backs were slicing through gaps wider out.

As if not getting ruck possessions was bad enough, at the scrum New Paltz put the ball in on the tight head side so possession was lost a few times.

The challenge for Vassar was to manage the game and play with shape rather than just have individuals break through. Initially, Vassar changed direction randomly at times but eventually settled and got structure into their game. Ava Rowland at scrumhalf had a decent afternoon but still needs to be quicker at the breakdown. She is the driver of the sled, and she needs to be one step ahead all the time as well as fast with her pass.

The forwards all got valuable experience and finally had a chance to time their one out runs as well as get their ball placement right. Too often a diagonal placement slowed matters and groundwork needs to be better.  

But it was encouraging to see each of the players running with ball in hand, hustling around the field and working for each other.

There is a whole slew of players one could mention, and all probably feel deserving of an accolade or two. The early try scorers when New Paltz was most competitive included Lila Gallivan and Meg Carpenter who ran strongly for scores. The former ran herself into the ground and had to leave we think on account of exhaustion! Nadya LaMarr filled in at 10 and directed the traffic quite competently and Ayala Romm ran tirelessly for the full 80 minutes.

It is hoped that next weekend the B-side will get to play Siena after the Columbia game. It is not a certainty yet but if it does happen it'll be another opportunity to improve under fire. Siena put 90 points on Stony Brook this weekend so Vassar may well get a good test playing without the ball.

Team: 15 O Arteaga-Johnson 14 Dora Chen 13 Lila Gallivan 12 Eleanor Jacoby 11 Alex Harris 10 Nadya LaMarr 9 Ava Rowland 1 Cai Bardsley-Cutler 2 Sydney Oren 3 Gemzi Tinoco 4 AC Smith 5 Arden Marburg 6 Meg Carpenter 7 Ayala Romm 8 Emi Mitchell.          
Subs: Emma Niehaus for Eleanor Jacoby, Dea Edwards for Lila Gallivan.

Overall record: 6-0-0.

Next: Saturday October 24, 2026 Vassar College Women v Columbia University Women at Vassar College Preserve & Farm KO 1:00 pm.