Brewers Back to Winning Ways

Santa Cruz, CA - The location was picture perfect as the rugby field at the University of California-Santa Cruz is atop a hill overlooking the town. In the valley below the clouds of mist swirled and it was like playing on top of the world.

The Brewers did not disappoint and the standard of rugby, kicking aside, was a fitting tribute to the panoramic views. The Brewers had set themselves a few goals following their mid-week defeat against Stanford and the first two priorities were to make, not miss, tackles and get the defensive line to match the opposition.

Vassar College Women 47 v 17 University of California - Santa Cruz
Tries: Julia Wolff (2), Rosie Perkinson (3), Sabine Weil (1), Mo Regan (2), Annika Szturma (1).
Cons: Sarah Towne (1) & Sabine Weil (1).

UC Santa Cruz has a squad of 65 players and their top 23 were away at Fresno State, so Vassar faced a B-side. Vassar's lineup was two thirds B-side players (10) and fortunately for the Brewers some key figures stepped up and ran the show.

Chloe Ellis slotted in at scrumhalf and had a good day both passing and tackling. Sabine Weil was the Vassar quarterback pulling the strings that allowed the Vassar backs to flourish. Rosie Perkinson at fullback had another top quality game and Sadye Krell rarely put a foot wrong. Maisy Richardson ran with power and authority in the center and was the perfect foil for the rookie, Mo Regan, who sliced through on several occasions. Ava Rowland on the wing is coming into her own and put in a couple of good tackles.

Up front the Brewers are getting game time into a host of first year players. Dea Edwards is a whirling dervish with ball in hand and Meg Carpenter is a fearless tackler doing a lot of the less seen work that allows a team to function. Annika Szturma hustles and bustles around the field and Gabby Gitau carries the ball well.

It was an inauspicious start as the kickoff did not travel 10 meters but at the scrum Vassar drove UCSC, the Banana Slugs, back unceremoniously. The hosts moved the ball wide and at the ruck Gus Pointer Mace stole the ball and advanced upfield. Vassar went through 14 phases with forwards and backs carrying before captain Julia Wolff went over near the posts. In fact , the Brewers held the ball for 2 minutes 27 seconds and 14 of the 15 players on the team had ball carries. Can you spell continuity?

The start was just what the doctor ordered and the feel good factor was a constant throughout the game. UCSC made tackles and built the defense but the ball was quickly won at the breakdown despite being contested.

Julia Wolff would get another try, her first brace ever for Vassar, and the team tallied 9 tries on the day with just 2 conversions.

After the first score UCSC applied pressure for about 5 minutes as Vassar conceded a couple of penalties and the Banana Slugs punched their way over the goal line only to be held up. Vassar's Sarah Towne alertly dropped kicked to wing Sadye Krell who gathered the loose ball and scampered upfield. The home side attack had been thwarted and Vassar drove upfield with the backs pushing the ball wide to Rosie Perkinson for a good score. Perkinson would score try number 3 as now Vassar knew they had the measure of the opponents. Line breaks by Towne and Regan put the team on the front foot and when Weil swung it wide Perkinson was there to finish the job.

At the half it was 29-5 in Vassar's favor as UCSC did manage a foray into the Vassar 22 and picked to go over. It was a deserved try given the effort they were putting in all over the field. Vassar's fifth try was well taken by Sabine Weil after a number of good phases, and the flyhalf slithered through the defense to score under the posts. Weil converted her own try.

Another 5 tries in the second 40 minutes illustrated Vassar's commitment to the basics. Initially the picking game was tried but carriers were getting isolated and the ball poached so the team adopted a more expansive approach moving from touchline to touchline. The backs were happy to be constantly involved as the major thrust whereas the forwards had to work hard in the sunshine.

Tries 6 and 7 were scored by Mo Regan playing just her second game of rugby. One was an interception as UCSC tried to put the ball down the line and she picked off a pass then sprinted clear of the defense. 29-5 became 39-5 after those scores but the home team showed real ambition and character, scoring twice in that final quarter. Perkinson scored Vassar's last try and it gave her a hat-trick.

One would be remiss not to mention Mette McKinney's contributions as she stole a number of lineouts, tackled well and always seemed to be in the right place at the right time.

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

Epilogue
All in all a good amount of meaningful game time was gained by the players and with the spring season ahead the build for next fall has certainly begun.

The team was well supported by Vassar alums as well as families. Former captain Charlie Williams '80 aka Bear attended both games. Mindy Lauck '96, Jessica Arnold '97 and Jayme Mogen '98 all captains, met with the team for dinner and Mindy and Jess brought their offspring to the UCSC game. Class of '15 players, John "Jake" Sheehy and Kenta Hasui gave the team a tour of the Google campus in Mountain View, provided lunch and offered sage career advice as well as networking opportunities. Maisy Richardson's parents hosted the team for dinner on the Friday night in Piedmont which was a lovely evening. Cayla Niepris '15 works at UC Santa Cruz and was the reason we visited the Banana Slugs. All are so very deserving of our thanks.

Stanford University Head Coach Richard Ashfield kindly loaned the facilities for our practices and the UCSC Head Coach Jeremy Sanford encouraged our students to look into post grad work at UCSC. He is a professor and chair there in Molecular, Cell & Developmental Biology. He also made sure we had pizza post game!

Record: 13-2-0
Next: Sunday March 29, 2026 Vassar College Women XV versus U.Mass., Amherst XV kickoff 1:00 pm

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Players Mentioned

Chloe Ellis: Sophomore

Sadye Krell: Sophomore

Mette McKinney: Senior

Rosie Perkinson: Sophomore

Gus Pointer Mace: Senior

Maisy Richardson: Sophomore

Sarah Towne: Sophomore

Sabine Weil: Junior

Julia Wolff: Senior

Maureen Regan: Junior

Players Mentioned

Chloe Ellis
: Sophomore

Sadye Krell
: Sophomore

Mette McKinney
: Senior

Rosie Perkinson
: Sophomore

Gus Pointer Mace
: Senior

Maisy Richardson
: Sophomore

Sarah Towne
: Sophomore

Sabine Weil
: Junior

Julia Wolff
: Senior

Maureen Regan
: Junior

Vassar College Athletics

Players Mentioned

Players Mentioned