Game Stats (PDF)
CHARLESTON, Ill. -- Samantha Manto scored six trys and three more Panthers added three apiece as the Eastern Illinois women's rugby squad decimated visiting Eastern Kentucky on Saturday afternoon, 98-0. The blowout win upped the Panther record to 6-2 overall.
The match-up was the home finale of the season for the Panthers as seniors Jaki Brophy, Marlise Davidson and Eileen O'Rourke were honored prior to kickoff for their contribution to the Panther rugby program.
"Senior day is always very special and emotional for all of us," said EIU head coach Frank Graziano. "Considering the weather conditions we had a wonderful crowd who have always been very supportive of our program and our student-athletes. Our deepest appreciation goes out to our friends, family and fans."
Besides Samantha Manto's six scores, Crystal Jones, Marlise Davidson, and Molly Clutter each ran-in three five-pointers as EIU easily defeated their traditional Ohio Valley Conference rival in a majority of sports offered at EIU.
Amanda Fromm tied the school-record for assists in a single-game, earning six. Defensively the Panthers were led by Stephanie Militello's 10 solo tackles. Crystal Jones added two steals at tackle and Jaki Brophy nabbed seven total tackles, six solo and one assisted.
"Defense was the key to this game," said Graziano. "We gave up too many points versus Illinois last week, so we focused on defense all week in practice. Not only stopping the opposition but using defense to create scoring opportunities while shortening the field. We did well in this aspect of the game. Molly, Stephanie and Jaki dominated the defense. Molly controlled the EKU backs, Jaki controlled the forwards and Stephanie was her usual self and all over the field making tackles."
Graziano continued. "We also did very well at gathering up loose balls and stealing them from the opposition while moving the ball to teammates away from pressure which created opportunities to attack. We did this as well as we have ever done. Crystal, Molly and Amanda did an excellent job of this as well as their teammates making runs off this type of play."
The Panthers return to action this coming Saturday afternoon as they travel up to Champaign-Urbana for a 1 p.m. rematch with Illinois, which was recently added to the schedule.
More comments from Coach Graziano:
"On offense we had too much speed with Samantha and Crystal making long runs but the key is our support play. We have been getting opportunities because we are hustling around the ball and moving the ball wide quickly. Chase Cain is a perfect example as she did not score but was the key link in many of our scoring opportunities. Molly and Amanda's angle runs are getting better each week and are the key to getting through the opposition defense.
Our seniors had a wonderful final home game. Jaki was all over the field both offensively and defensively, scoring once and Marlise scored three trys in a game for the first time in her career."
... for more info, contact Bart Rettberg, Asst. SID
