Women's Rugby Falls to Vermont, Rebounds With Win Over UConn at Beast of the East

Vassar will take on UConn tomorrow in the playoff round

Portsmouth, RI - It's the weekend in the spring that has seen Vassar so often triumphant. Sixteen (16) consecutive games won at the Beast of the East Tournament and 4 Tournament Championship titles won in 2022, 2023, 2024 & 2025. But on this grey and chilly day in Portsmouth, RI the Brewers fell to the University of Vermont having battled back to tie matters up at 17-17. Fortunately for Vassar there is a road to redemption and if they can defeat the University of Connecticut on Sunday morning they will get a rematch with the Catamounts.

Vassar College Women 17 v 22 University of Vermont
Tries: Yasmeen Kassem-Scott (1), Rosie Perkinson (1), Maisy Richardson (1).
Cons: Chloe Ellis (1).

Last weekend Vassar traveled to the University of Vermont and won 24-20. The home team certainly took on board lessons and went straight on the attack as the teams met again in the Beast of the East Tournament in Portsmouth, RI. The same issues that plagued Vassar last weekend reared their ugly heads with missed tackles, the ball being poached at the tackle, and poor support the main culprits. The Vassar rucking was improved so that was some consolation.

Vassar fell behind when from a scrum inside their own 22 the UVM flyhalf dummied a switch and then kept the ball slicing through and it was 5-0.

The response was good. Defensive pressure led to Maisy Richardson intercepting a ball and now Vassar had the ball. A few phases later and Yasmeen Kassem-Scott went over from close range. It was all tied up at 5-5.

Vassar conceded a penalty with a high tackle and that allowed UVM territory. The Catamounts kept the pressure up with some strong runs and offloading but in reality Vassar kept gifting possession after holding out. First following a scrum and another phase Annika Szturma picked and got isolated so the ball was stolen. Then after holding a UVM ball carrier up over the line, the goal line drop out restart was scuffed 5 yards forward directly in front of the posts! Another penalty and a lost lineout all invited UVM to keep battering away at the goal line. They scored and it was 10-5 at the half.

Vassar knew they were in a real scrap and the message was that support had to be right there for any ball carrier. In addition much more dominant tackling was required. Vassar pressed the UVM goal line after Mette McKinney stole a lineout. But squandered the opportunity to score as the ball was taken out of the driving maul only to have the ball carrier robbed of possession. Then from a scrum still only 10 meters out a backrow move was botched with a bad pass. Finally, Gabby Gitau produced a bit of magic when she picked up a loose ball, headed for the line and offloaded to Rosie Perkinson for a try. Now it was game on at 10-10.

Vassar threw away a golden opportunity to score. The backs had good ball but a dropped pass just 10 yards from the goal line drew a collective groan from the supporters.

UVM battled back after considerable pressure with a couple of big clearing kicks and took the lead 17-10 after some direct running and missed tackles.

Vassar came roaring back and was living in the UVM 22. Another dropped pass with the line begging was 5 or 7 points lost. Additionally, a try was disallowed as the referee deemed it knocked on when Mo Regan went over right under the posts for what seemed a lovely try. The referee thought the ball was dropped as she went to touch it down. Dive rather than reach is the lesson now learnt.

In any event Maisy Richardson crashed over to tie the game again at 17-17 and with just minutes left it looked like the game was headed to a tie. But UVM rallied and after Vassar was turned over deep in their own half it was a good hard earned victory when their #6 blindside flanker scored. Final score 22-17.

Team: 15 Rahmat Gambari 14 Rosie Perkinson 13 Maureen Regan 12 Maisy Richardson 11 Sadye Krell 10 Sabine Weil 9 Chloe Ellis 1 Cae Bardsley-Cutler 2 Annika Szturma 3 Gabby Gitau 4 Dea Edwards 5 Meg Carpenter 6 Dora Chen 7 Mette McKinney 8 Yasmeen Kassem-Scott.
Subs: Jo Ellis for Meg Carpenter, Emi Mitchell for Dora Chen, O. Arteaga-Johnson for Gabby Gitau, Julia Wolff for Cai Bardsley-Cutler.

Did not play: Tate Wagner, Ellie Carr, Ava Rowland,Gus Pointer Mace, Sydney Oren.

Unavailable: Sophia Bailey (Injured), Jude Robinson (Injured), Sarah Towne (Injured), AC Smith (Injured), Gemzi Tinoco (Injured), Zoey Ojalvo (Injured), Grace Rich (Injured), Chloe Bilger (Injured), Ella Maniatis (JYA), Makaela Weldon (JYA), Lydia Hong (JYA), Emma Niehaus (JYA), Leah Dourmashkin (JYA), Nadya LaMarr (JYA), Kiki Takata (JYA), Maggie Nealis (JYA), Matty Sumrow (Retired), Ina Zaslavsky (MIA).

Vassar College Women 29 v 14 University of Connecticut Women
Tries: Rosie Perkinson (2), Mo Regan (2), Tate Wagner (1).
Cons: Julia Wolff (2).

The Vassar Women were determined to make amends for their morning loss and it was the UConn Women who bore the brunt of that anger. It was a much more physical and disciplined performance and Vassar has now set up a rematch with the same team in a playoff game Sunday morning. The winner will play UVM in the final at 12:40 pm.

Vassar looked much more purposeful in this game and immediately got into stride against UConn. with line breaks and good ball retention. Not only were the Brewers more focused, the opposition was less confrontational.

Vassar never looked like losing this match despite the serious firepower that UConn had in their centers. A 17-0 lead was cut back to 17-7 but then Vassar opened up a 29-7 lead before UConn scored right at the end to give the scoreline a bit more respectability.

Sabine Weil was the player of the match without a doubt. She tackled, distributed and ran with real authority and was an inspiration for her teammates. But it was the cohesiveness of this effort that made the result all the more satisfying. Players were much more selfless and worked hard with individual effort and it kept UConn from getting a foothold in the game.

Rosie Perkinson and Mo Regan collected a brace of tries each and they were well set up with the Vassar forwards doing a good job of narrowing the defense before the ball went wider.

The set scrum performed well and Mette McKinney was a real pest in the lineouts. It was also good to see Tate Wagner getting her first run out of the spring after returning from injury.

Every team member has played some part in these games and now Vassar has a shot at going to the final for the 18th time in 18 tournament appearances.

Team: 15 15 Rosie Perkinson 14 Ava Rowland 13 Maureen Regan 12 Rahmat Gambari 11 Sadye Krell 10 Sabine Weil 9 Maisy Richardson 1 Julia Wolff 2 Annika Szturma 3 Dea Edwards 4 Ellie Carr 5 Tate Wagner 6 Gus Pointer Mace 7 Mette McKinney 8 Yasmeen Kassem-Scott.
Subs: Sydney Oren for Dea Edwards, Jo Ellis for Yasmine Kassem-Scott, Chloe Ellis for Sadye Krell, Gabby Gitau for Julia Wolff, O. Arteaga-Johnson for Annika Szturma, Emi Mitchell for Mette McKinney, Meg Carpenter for Tate Wagner.

Unavailable: Sophia Bailey (Injured), Jude Robinson (Injured), Sarah Towne (Injured), AC Smith (Injured), Gemzi Tinoco (Injured), Zoey Ojalvo (Injured), Grace Rich (Injured), Chloe Bilger (Injured), Ella Maniatis (JYA), Makaela Weldon (JYA), Lydia Hong (JYA), Emma Niehaus (JYA), Leah Dourmashkin (JYA), Nadya LaMarr (JYA), Kiki Takata (JYA), Maggie Nealis (JYA), Matty Sumrow (Retired), Ina Zaslavsky (MIA).

Record: 17-3-0

Next: Sunday April 19, 2026 Vassar College Women v UConn Women at The Beast of the East Tournament, KO 9:30 am

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Players Mentioned

Leah Dourmashkin: Sophomore

Lydia Hong: Sophomore

Nadya LaMarr: Sophomore

Ella Maniatis: Sophomore

Maggie Nealis: Sophomore

Emma Niehaus: Sophomore

Zoey Ojalvo: Sophomore

Jude Robinson: Junior

Kiki Takata: Sophomore

Makaela Weldon: Sophomore

Players Mentioned

Leah Dourmashkin
: Sophomore

Lydia Hong
: Sophomore

Nadya LaMarr
: Sophomore

Ella Maniatis
: Sophomore

Maggie Nealis
: Sophomore

Emma Niehaus
: Sophomore

Zoey Ojalvo
: Sophomore

Jude Robinson
: Junior

Kiki Takata
: Sophomore

Makaela Weldon
: Sophomore

Vassar College Athletics

Players Mentioned

Players Mentioned