Box Score
PRINCETON, N.J. – West Chester scored 27 unanswered points in the second half to come from behind and defeat host Princeton, 32-17, in the Division I Eastern Pennsylvania Rugby Union (EPRU) championship game Sunday afternoon.
The Golden Rams (4-3), who defeated the Tigers earlier in the fall, have downed Princeton in each of the last three seasons for the Division I title of the union.
Princeton started strong, opening the scoring with a 90-meter run in the game’s first two minutes. After the Tigers tacked on another score, West Chester got into the match with two straight trys, the last by Sasha Stauffer at the 10:30 mark that evened things up at 10-10.
“Princeton put a lot of pressure on us at the tackle situations and caused a lot of panic in our attack,” said WCU head coach Tony DeRemer. “We threw many passes that we normally wouldn’t throw and it translated into two scores for Princeton.”
Two of West Chester’s passes were intercepted over the next 20 minutes of the first half and both were run in for scores of 70 meters.
However, Megan Lamm scored twice in the second half, and Kate Rada, Erin Furlong and Drew Groswith each added a try of their own as West Chester took full control of the match.
“We were all over the field in the second half,” DeRemer commented. “Once we gained a little confidence and momentum, we rarely allowed them inside of our half of the field.
The win qualifies the Golden Rams for the MARFU playoffs in the spring. Of the eight teams that qualify for the MARFU’s, the top four will go to nationals next April.
Today’s win guarantees West Chester a home match in the first MARFU playoff match next March. If WCU wins that match, it moves into the MARFU top four and automatically into nationals.
