West Chester Opens Rugby 7s Schedule With Fourth-Place Finish

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - The dawn of a new era in intercollegiate rugby took place Saturday afternoon on the fields of Cambridge, Mass., as Harvard University hosted the first Women's Rugby 7s tournament featuring NCAA varsity programs.

West Chester started out the day versus Sacred Heart Uniersity (Conn.) and won its inaugural match, 27-5  Lili Riley (Doylestown, Pa./Montgomery) scored two trys, Miranda Northcott (Coatesville, Pa./Coatesville), Aalea Ray (Landisville, Pa./Hempfield) and Jane Campbell (Radnor, Pa./Radnor) each scored a try as well. 

In the second match of the day, the team started getting the hang of 7's a little more, and the Golden Rams defeated Navy's "B" team, 36-10. The team scored six trys in the 14-minute match, a pair by Riley and Sophia Schwab (Oakland, Md./Southern Garrett), and one each by Ray and Campbell.

The third game in pool play featured West Chester vs varsity 15's champion, Quinnipiac, who was also 2-0 in pool play. The winner would advance to the cup semifinals vs the second-place team in the B pool while the loser would face the winner of the B pool. WCU came out strong on defense, but Quinnipiac took the lead two minutes into the first half. However, the Golden Rams held strong and scored just before halftime on a long break by Schwab to take the lead, 7-5, at the break.

Quinnipiac came out in the second half with increased physicality and scored two more trys throughout the half to go up 17-7 with one minute to go. The Bobcats tacked on a late try, making the score 22-7 at the final whistle.

The 2--1 record led WCU into the cup semifinals versus tournament host, Harvard University.  The winner of that match would play for the championship versus the winner of Quinnipiac and Navy first team. West Chester fought hard, but fatigue was setting in as WCU lost, 29-10, to the Crimson. Scoring for WCU was Ray and Lizzy Groff (Glenmoore, Pa./Downingtown East).  

Finally, in the cup consolation, West Chester played Navy, who lost to Quinnipiac in the other semifinal. Playing for third place, WCU got down early in the match, after allowing four quick trys by Navy. Battling back in the second half, the Golden Rams scored trys by Ray, Riley and Jocelyn Janey (Slatington, Pa./Parkland). The comeback came a little too late as time ran out on West Chester with the Rams losing, 31-15, and placing fourth in the first 7's tournament.

Overall Scoring:
Aalea Ray:  4 trys 2 conversions  24 points
Lily Riley:  5 trys, 2 conversions  29 points
Sophia Schwab:  3 trys, 1 conversion  17 points
Jane Campbell:  2 trys 10 points
Miranda Northcott:  1 try  5 points
Jocelyn Jany:  1 try   5 points
Lizzy Groff:  1 try  5 points

2 wins, 3 losses

Made cup semifinal and cup consolation
Finished 4th out of 8 teams

Next up:  Quinnipiac 7's next weekend

Coach DeRemer's Take: "The team did very well for its  first 7's experience. I was very happy with the way they adapted to the new style of game, and the way they improved throughout the tournament. The team grew in confidence throughout the day and even though we took losses in the playoff rounds of the tournament, I could see them getting used to the differences between 7's rugby and 15's rugby."

NOTES: Rugby 7s is a 7-person per team variation of the sport with the same size field and seven-minute halfs with a one-minute halftime period. The pace and flow of the game is constant for 14 minutes and 7's will be featured this coming summer in the 2016 Olympics in Rio.