Boxscore (PDF) | Coach Graziano Notes

URBANA, Ill. – Six different players scampered for a score as Eastern Illinois women's rugby crushed Illinois, 91-7, on Saturday afternoon in the first road game of the season for the Panthers.

With the win, EIU improves to 4-0 on the year and extend the all-time series lead over the Illini to 7-2 overall.  However, the seven points by the Illini ends two consecutive shutouts at the hands of the Panthers.

Junior Kayla Heal led the Panther attack as she registered six trys to set a new career high in the process while also tying for the third best single-game mark in EIU history.

Heal also dished out two assists to go along with her 30 points.

Sophomore Cara Hahne added four trys in the rout, tying her previous career-high that she set in last season's win over Illinois.  Junior Lauren Doyle and newcomer Nia Williams each chipped in two five-point trys as well.

Both Heal and Hahne collected five runs over 20-yards in the romp of the Illini.

Senior captain Narissa Ramirez earned her own try and tied Doyle with three assists apiece.  Madison Kissner tallied her first career try in addition to feeding off two assists.

Doyle helped the Panthers in two-point conversions on the day, going 9-for-16 for an additional 18 points.  That tally not only sets a new personal best conversion mark but also ties for the third highest number in a single-game.

Defensively, Ellen Wilson and Tina Crema both tied with six solo tackles apiece, while Wilson added two assisted stops to lead all Panthers.

Sarah Sremaniak nabbed three steals-at-tackle followed by two by Hahne.

EIU will continue road play next weekend, traveling to Wisconsin-Milwaukee on Saturday (Oct. 8), with kickoff set for 1 p.m.

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HEAD COACH FRANK GRAZIANO ON ILLINOIS WIN:
"We did most of our scoring from the restarts; scrums, lineouts, kick offs and quick penalties. After four games and over a month of practice we are finally starting to understand the philosophy behind our plays and the attacking  space and angle.

Our newcomers have a lot of talent and are being asked to take a more active role in these plays and are now beginning to understand. Madison Kissner scored her first of her career and Nia Williams added two more to her short career.  Both Kayla Heal and Cara Hahne did well attacking down the sideline putting up big numbers during the day.

Tina Crema is getting better every game playing a very challenging flyhalf position. Her defense is solid and she has developed an excellent repore with scrumhalf Narissa Ramirez. It can take years to completely understand the flyhalf position and Tina has done well in such a short time, especially this being her first full season at that spot.

Our scrum is getting better as we start six of eight newcomers, including five freshmen. Freshman Ellen Wilson has made excellent strides in her performance. Her scrum and tackling technique are much improved and we are now creating plays for her offensively.

Our open field play needs more improvement but this is mainly due to inexperience and we hope to have that ready before the next Quinnipiac game. So we will test some of those opportunities in the upcoming Milwaukee game this weekend."

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