Vassar Rugby Wins Conference Opener Over RPI

By Tony Brown

TROY – The Vassar College Women’s Rugby squad traveled the short journey north from Poughkeepsie to the campus of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY. This was the first conference game of the year and with a few players out with injuries there was some concern that the combinations might take time to gel. But right from the first whistle the players went to work and showed good shape in a feisty physical match-up.

Vassar College Women 39 v 17 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Women
Tries: Tate Wagner (3), Kiki Takata (1), Sabine Weil (1), Andie Authers (1), Sophia Bailey (1).
Cons: Zoe Lynch (2).

The Rensselaer team is full of fierce competitors and they brought physicality for the full 80 minutes in this absorbing contest. Vassar played a conservative game and forced the hosts to continuously reset their defensive line as the Brewers pack punched over the gain line repeatedly.

Zoe Lynch at 9 was like a Iditerod competitor urging the forwards to take on the opponents. When the ball went wide Sabine Weil was confident and composed as playmaker.

Tate Wagner bagged the first try from short range and would collect two more on the day. The fact that the sophomore Number 8 scored Vassar’s 6th and 7th tries speaks volumes for the work rate throughout the contest.

Every forward put in a good shift and while there were some errors they were few and far between. Kiki Takata, much like her Number 8 colleague, had a barnstorming afternoon. Her numerous line breaks rocked the RPI defense and led to a try for the flanker.

The backs had a couple of drops in the first half and that cannot continue if the team has postseason aspirations but all in all Makaela Weldon and Maddie Sumrow impressed. Flyhalf Sabine Weil slipped through to score try number 3 after RPI had breached the Vassar defense, so the score stood at 17-5 in the Brewers favor.

When Vassar’s Andie Authers scored to make it 24-5 one felt that RPI might let their heads drop and dial in the rest of the performance. But that was not the case and in fact the teams traded scores before halftime and it was 29-12.

The second 40 minutes was a cagey affair and Vassar outscored RPI two tries to one. The Vassar pack steamrolled the RPI scrum and maybe might have made more of their territorial advantage.

In the end analysis Vassar scored seven tries to Rensselaer’s three and always held the lead in the match. The players faced quite a vociferous home crowd and on a number of occasions, when an RPI player made a line break, the Vassar defense scrambled back and held strong as the crowd roared their approval of the RPI attack. Sophia Bailey did a pretty good impression of Jude Robinson stopping would be scorers one on one a number of times.

Game one is in the record books and Vassar will play RPI again in a couple of weeks at the Farm. Both teams will be better for this experience.

Vassar faces Fairfield University next weekend and that likely will be a step up since they defeated RPI 26-21 last weekend. Hold on to your hats this Conference schedule should produce some tough games.

Team: 15 Sophia Bailey 14 Ella Maniatis 13 Maddie Sumrow 12 Makaela Weldon 11 Leah Dourmashkin 10 Sabine Weil 9 Zoe Lynch 1 Andie Authers 2 Emma Niehaus 3 Eleanor Jacoby 4 Julia Wolff 5 Sam Tang 6 Kiki Takata 7 Mette McKiney 8 Tate Wagner.

Subs: Nadya LaMarr, Lydia Hong, Foster Schrader, Maggie Nealis for Makaela Weldon, AC Smith for Kiki Takata, Nina Fishman, Ina Zaslavsky for Sam Tang, Maritza Flores.
Vassar College Women B 5 v 17 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Women B

Tries: Nadya LaMarr (1).

Despite conceding three tries to the home team the Vassar B-side enjoyed the lion’s share of possession and territory in this game that followed the A-side game. The Vassar rookies acquitted themselves quite well given their limited rugby game experience.

It was really against the run of play that RPI scored and it was on account of missed tackles which is readily fixable.

Maisy Richardson was thrust into the scrumhalf role and had some good passes and a few decent runs. Sarah Towne at Number 8 was excellent in contact carrying the ball and tackling. Rosie Perkinson showed good pace and bravery slithering through the defensive line and tackling RPI ball carriers.

It was such a shame that good field position didn’t result in tries for there were enough opportunities for the Brewers to win this match up. At the half it was 10-0 to RPI and the Engineers went further ahead and led 17-0 before Nadya LaMarr scooped up a loose ball and went over.

There is much work to be done but there can be massive improvement in the next 2 weeks with this group and the expectation is that a win wil bring redemption.

Team: 15 Nadya LaMarr 14 Lydia Hong 13 Maggie Nealis 12 Rosie Perkinson 11 Foster Schrader 10 Zoe Lynch 9 Maisy Richardson 1 AC Smith 2 Maritza Flores 3 Nina Fishman 4 Ina Zaslavsky 5 Zoey Ojalvo 6 Ellie Carr 7 Gus Pointer Mace 8 Sarah Towne.

Subs: Eleanor Jacoby, Caedwyn Bardsley Cutler for AC Smith, Gabriella Gitau for Ina Zaslavsky, Sophie Moreaur for Foster Schrader, Claire Blisard for Ellie Carr, Leah Dourmashkin for Gus Pointer Mace, Sabine Weil for Zoe Lynch.