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CHARLESTON, Ill. -- Sasha Sauffer's five-point try with 4:27 left in the game propelled West Chester (Penn.) to a 20-19 victory over Eastern Illinois, in the historic first-ever NCAA women's rugby contest. The large crowd of 1,237 at EIU's Lakeside Field witnessed an intense, hard-fought contest between two equally talented squads
EIU's Molly Clutter scored two tries in the first half as EIU took a 12-5 halftime lead, following a try by WCU's Katy Black. After halftime, West Chester scored two consecutive five pointers off Black and Whitney Hartshorne to take a 15-12 lead.
That's when EIU's Samantha Manto scampered for a dramatic try to take a 19-15, following the two point conversion from Victoria Rosales. However, the Golden Rams (1-0) kept the pressure on and was able to take the lead as Sauffer jumped on the ball for the score following a scrum near the goal line.
"This was a great win... either team could have won," said West Chester head coach Tony DeRemer. "Thankfully we were able to keep the ball away from EIU by taking advantage of scrum possessions. We kept the ball, which helped us win. We knew that EIU was a well coached squad and had incredible speed, so we made some adjustments to counter that speed with our tight defense and ball possession."
Unofficially, WCU won 16 scrums to EIU's six. The Panthers (2-1) had an advantage in tackles with 97 total compared to 35 for the Golden Rams, unofficially. Line-out possessions won were tied 13 apiece, once again, unofficially.
"What a great way to start NCAA play," said EIU head coach Frank Graziano. "Both teams played their guts out today, either team could have won, unfortunately we came out on the short end. We were ungunned and we were unable to take advantage of our speed game. Our forwards did an amazing job all afternoon. I'm so proud of this squads determination and grit... I could not have asked for anything more than what our team displayed out on that field today."
Coach Graziano also ruminated on the importance of the game as compared to the final score. "This was a great game, you could see the difference of talent as compared to club rugby. The score is secondary as compared to getting this game on the record books. Obviously it's a much more interesting contest as compared to a 73-0 score, and today was a perfect example of how exciting this sport can be. I'm hopefully other teams around the nation take note and join up at this level."
The Panthers will take a few days off before preparing for their next context on Friday when they travel to Indiana.
For more information, contact Bart Rettberg, Asst. SID
