ATLANTA, GA – West Chester women's rugby squad took the field in three matches for the first day of the USA Rugby 7's Collegiate Championships on Saturday. The Golden Rams went 0-1-2 overall during their three matches taking on Brown University (T, 12-12), Dartmouth College (L, 24-7), and Lindenwood (L, 47-0).
West Chester tied Brown at 12 in their first match of the day. The Golden Rams were down 12-0 at the half but came back in the second half scoring two trys from
Autumn Czaplicki (Pillow, PA / Line Mountain) and
Julianna Aliprandi (Rockaway, NJ / Morris Hills), who scored with 1:30 left and also made the conversion for WCU to start the Tournament off with a tie.
In the second match of the Tournament vs heavily-favored Dartmouth, which was broadcast live nationally on CNBC, Czaplicki put the Golden Rams in the lead by a score of 7-5 in the first half after a stellar 78-meter run turned try and conversion for West Chester. Dartmouth scored once more before the halftime break to make the score 12-7 heading to the intermission. Dartmouth, who had four players recently selected to the USA National Team and the National Intercollegiate Rugby Association Tier 1 15's Champion continued to plug away at the West Chester defense, scoring two more trys before the end of regulation to come away with a 24-7 victory. Aliparandi and
Ty Hickey (Harleysville, Pa./Souderton) each turned in solid defensive efforts in this contest, chasing down BIg Green runners on long breakaways and preventing them from scoring as it proved to be good, late field position, which helped Dartmouth score its final trys of the match.
In the final match of the day, West Chester lost to Tournament favorite Lindenwood, 47-0.
The Golden Rams will resume action for the rest of the Tournament on Sunday in an elimintation game against American International beginning at 11:20 am. If West Chester can prevail against the Yellow Jackets, the Golden Rams would advance to face the winner of the Brown/Queens match in the Bowl Final at 3:33 p.m. with that contest appearing on CNBC.
