HOUSTON, TX. - The West Chester women's rugby team made its long-awaited return to the pitch on Saturday at the second annual USA Rugby 7's National Championships in Houston, Texas at the home of the Houston SaberCats. West Chester battled against stiff competition, and the Texas heat throughout the afternoon, playing its final match of the afternoon in 90-degree heat with the heat index hovering just below 100. The Golden Rams earned a crucial victory over Long Island University to go 1-2 in Pool play and advance to the Bowl Round tomorrow beginning with a 10 a.m. match against Sacred Heart.
West Chester started its day against Central Washington and fell by a final of 17-5.
Brooke Crago (Moon Township, Pa./Moon Area) provided the lone score of the match for West Chester with a 50-meter scamper after securing a loose ball. But, CWU used its speed and physicality to top the Golden Rams.
"We had some first game jitters to get out of our system early," acknowledged head coach
Tony DeRemer. "We played tough rugby throughout but made some costly mistakes against a very talented team."
With its some of its early nerves quieted, West Chester returned to action top-seed Dartmouth. Dartmouth, featuring a number of current or former USA Eagles on its team used this high-level playing experience to earn a 43-0 victory over the Golden Rams. DeRemer spoke highly of the offensive efforts by
Faith Morley (Glenmoore, Pa./Downingtown West) in this contest along with a handful of try saving tackles by
Ty Hickey (Harleysville, Pa./Souderton), which helped West Chester stay in the game against Dartmouth for much of the contest.
Facing off against LIU in its third match of the afternoon in 90-degree heat, West Chester got out to an early 10-0 lead, before Crago got a yellow card for an intentional knock-on. LIU capitalized and scored a quick try, before the half to make it a 10-5 score heading into the break. West Chester countered quickly to open the second half, scoring a pair of quick trys by
Erica Arnold (Lewisburg, Pa./Lewisburg) and Crago with a conversion by Hickey to take a 24-7 lead. LIU scored once more in the final minutes of the match, but it was not enough to complete the comeback as West Chester prevailed by a 24-14 final.
Following the last match of pool play, DeRemer said, "We scored some well executed team trys in this match and defended very well as a team. It was also nice to put forth a strong effort like this in our final game of the day and gain some confidence heading into tomorrow."
West Chester returns to the pitch tomorrow in Bowl Competition starting with a 10 a.m. eastern (9 a.m. local) match against Sacred Heart. West Chester currently holds a 2-0 record in 7's play vs Sacred Heart, a team WCU has not faced since the Spring of 2017. Tomorrow's games will be live streamed free of charge on The Rugby Network.
