Boxscore (PDF)

CHARLESTON, Ill. -- The Eastern Illinois women's rugby squad ran in 15 trys to completely dominate visiting Missouri, 87-6, on Saturday afternoon as part of the weekend Homecoming activites.

The win improves the Panthers to 7-0 on the season and moves their program best winning streak to 23 consecutive games.

Senior Crystal Jones led all players with four trys, while newcomer Lauren Doyle added three of her own.  Fellow senior Ashley Jenkins chipped in two five-point trys as well as Eastern enjoyed a 46-0 half-time lead.

Six more players earned a try of their own as Kayla Heal, Stephanie Militello, Kelsi Wright, Jazmine Moore, and Ashley Aardsma each touched the ball down in the endzone for scores. 

Coartney McKinney, who finished with a 6-15 day on two-point conversions, put the icing on the cake by intercepting a Missouri dish and running the ball to the endzone for her first try of the season.

Defensively, senior Chase Cain led with nine solo tackles, with classmate Stephanie Militello stopping eight.  As a team, the Panthers finished the game with 58 solo and 17 assisted stops.

Of the 15 total trys in the game, nine of them came off a key assist with both Ashley Jenkins and Narissa Ramirez dishing out three apiece.  McKinney added two of her own.

With the game played on a cloudy, cool and less-than-ideal field conditions, the Panthers jumped out to a 22-0 lead halfway thru the first half as jones, Moore and Doyle ran in scores.  Heal, Wright, Jenkins and Doyle would get on the board to push the lead to 46-0 heading to the break.  That included a score by Doyle with just ten seconds remaining on the clock.

Mizzou came out in the second half and took advantage of a Panther miscue by nailing a penalty kick, but EIU would counter with four more runs for score including two straight by Jones within four minutes of each other.  

Mizzou would again bury a penalty kick and continued to fight, but the panther offense was just too much as three more Panther scores gave Eastern the Homecoming romp.

“The team is getting better each week," said EIU head coach Frank Graziano.  "They continue to do a good job of making adjustments within each play, which must be called prior to the development of the play. So the more we are able to make those correct audible calls, we'll have a better chance of success.”

EIU continues their season-long three game homestand next weekend, hosting arch-rival Illinois on Saturday, Oct. 24 at the Panthers' own Lakeside Field.  Kickoff is set for 11 am.

MORE NOTES & COMMENTS FROM COACH GRAZIANO:

"The midfield offense and defense of senior Ashley Jenkins and freshman Lauren Doyle continue to develop and put up big numbers... Jenkins had two trys, and three assists, while Doyle finished with three trys, an assist and four runs-over-20-yards.

Crystal Jones was as swift as ever making several runs over 50 yards while scoring four times... it's great to see Crystal enjoying the game of rugby so much... she truly gives 100% in practice and in games, while her teammates continue to look to her to make the key play at the key moment... although she has had a fantastic career, she seems to have saved her best performances for her senior year.

Coartney McKinney earned her first try of the season via a pass pick off and run for 40 yards.

Stephanie Militello and Chase Cain once again led the defensive charge with eight and nine tackles, respectively, while Militello added three steals.

Our scrum continues to develop and has become a big part of our attacking platforms... we were able to steal a few of the Missouri scrums putting even more pressure on the Tiger defense... the team was able to build on their momentum from the Northern Iowa game last wweek and improve upon the simple technical aspects of the game.

A quick look at season and career numbers, Chase Cain has eclipsed her single season tackles mark now at 79 vs her previous 78. Stephanie Militello and Cain are now No. 1 & No. 2 all-time in career tackles.

Narissa Ramirez has moved No. 7 all-time in assists just past halfway through her second season as a Panther.

The squad is closing in on the single season tackles record of 519, with a current 483 total, which should be broken this coming weekend versus Illinois.

In career steals-at-tackle, Cain is now fourthJones is fifth, and Militello tied for 6th.

Coartney McKinney, meanwhile is now tied at second for career two-point conversions."


… for more info, contact Bart Rettberg, Asst. SID