Palo Alto, CA - Winter is coming to a close and the Vassar Women's Rugby team traveled to California to get a jump start on the Spring Season. It's always a tough ask of the players because much like a grizzly bear the squad has been in hibernation for months. The last time Vassar played was on December 7th, 2025 and after just 2 outdoor practices under the California sun they faced a formidable opponent in Stanford University. The Cardinal is just wrapping up regular season play and as their competitive 15s season starts in January. Vassar fielded what was essentially a B-side XV as a host of starters were away studying abroad or unavailable. Stanford started for 20 minutes with a strong lineup and the gulf between the teams was immediately evident.

Vassar College XV 31 v 52 Stanford University XV
Tries: Sarah Towne (2), Maisy Richardson (2), Rosie Perkinson 1.
Cons: Sarah Towne (3).

This was a huge challenge for the Vassar players. Without captains Sophia Bailey (9) and Yasmeen Kassem-Scott (8) as well as regular starters Emma Niehaus (2), Tate Wagner (7), Ella Maniatis (13), Makaela Weldon (12), both wings Leah Dourmashkin and Matty Sumrow as well as fullback Jude Robinson and flyer Nadya LaMarr the Brewers were without two thirds of their team. But that said Stanford was able to quickly get into stride and either offload to support or dominate the collisions. Full credit to the Stanford attack as it ran with purpose and but for a few wayward passes found the mark slicing through the Vassar defense.

Unfortunately, the Vassar players were unable to maintain possession for any significant number of phases. Unable to apply any pressure on the hosts they were forced to defend. After a couple of straight forward tries it was all about damage control. The first 20 minutes was one way traffic and when Vassar did get the ball errors were made that gifted it back to the Cardinal. After 20 minutes Stanford had run in 6 tries and led 38-0.

Stanford rang the changes and got some of their B-side players into the match which slowed the assault but a score of 45-0 at the half was well deserved. Vassar was disappointed to fall off tackles and make some basic handling errors but there were some good moments. Rosie Perkinson at fullback made a number of one on one tackles against big strong Stanford ball carriers. Vassar's Number 8 Sarah Towne carried strongly and tackled to good effect.

The second half saw a new lineup in the game as Stanford B-side players and Santa Clara players combined. Santa Clara provided the majority of this lineup so now Vassar faced fresh legs!

Vassar was still a little bit shocked by the first 40 minutes but positional changes were made and some clarity introduced to the playing priorities, all of which led to possession and at last the Brewers were firing some salvos of their own. 

The first 10 minutes demanded some big defensive moments and it looked like Vassar would fall further behind but a tackle by Sarah Towne in the in-goal jarred the ball loose and it remained 45-0. The team gained some inspiration and it began to show.

The Vassar forwards ran off the fringes getting over the gain line and when the ball was delivered to the backs there were some line breaks. This led to belief and when Saah Towne went over for a try there was a real bounce in the team's step. Maisy Richardson, who had been at 9, was at 12 and she was rewarded with 2 tries in quick succession after powerful runs up the middle. 45-5 became 45-10 and then 45-17. Annika Szturma at hooker was busting through tackles and Gabby Gitau made good yards to put the Brewers on the front foot. In the lineouts Mette McKinney snagged some ball and now it was all Vassar on the attack.

The center partnership of Richardson and Maureen Regan, the latter playing her first game ever, was asking questions of the defense. Regan had some storming runs and once her defense improves she could be quite impactful.

Chloe Ellis had started the match at flyhalf but moved to scrumhalf and did a fine job distributing the ball. This may well be her best position for the future.

Towne collected her brace and over the course of the evening tallied 3 conversions. It was particularly fitting that fullback Rosie Perkinson scored try number 5 for Vassar and it took the total to 31 points.

Vassar will have a day of recovery tomorrow and then a light run out on Friday before taking on UC Santa Cruz on Saturday. There are a number of fixes that need to be addressed and the general consensus was that Stanford raised the bar of expectations and that is a good thing.

Team: 15 Rosie Perkinson 14 Ava Rowland 13 Sabine Weil 12 Maureen Regan 11 Sadye Krell 10 Chloe Ellis 9 Maisy Richardson 1 Cae Bardsley-Cutler 2 Annika Szturma 3 Gabby Gitau 4 Dea Edwards 5 Julia Wolff 6 Gus Pointer Mace 7 Mette McKinney 8 Sarah Towne. Subs: Dora Edwards for Ava Rowland, Sydney Oren for Gabby Gitau, Meg Carpenter for Julia Wolff.

Record: 12-2-0

Next: Saturday March 14, 2026 Vassar College Women XV at UC Santa Cruz Women XV kickoff 1:00 pm