Box Score
WEST CHESTER, Pa. – Samantha Manto scored three trys and Coartney McKinney registered four conversions to lead visiting Eastern Illinois to a 38-5 victory over West Chester Saturday morning in a rematch of last year’s initial NCAA women’s rugby contest.
Manto scored on long runs of 65, 60 and 20 yards, displaying the Panthers’ team speed that the Golden Rams had difficulty with all afternoon. Eastern Illinois (4-0) scored four of its six trys on runs from longer than 30 yards out.
Ashley Jenkins got EIU started with a 30-yard run two minutes into the tilt. That sparked a 21-point surge by the visitors over the game’s first 10 minutes that West Chester (2-1) could not recover from.
Sasha Stauffer pushed the ball over the try line in the far corner in the 52nd minute for the Golden Rams’ only points on the afternoon. That try pulled WCU to within 31-5 early in the second half. EIU held a commanding 31-0 advantage at halftime.
The loss was West Chester’s first in three NCAA matchups. The Rams defeated Eastern Illinois one year ago, 20-19, and later downed Norwich University, 43-20, in the spring.
West Chester will try to get back on track when it travels to Penn State next Saturday afternoon for an 11 a.m. match.
