Boxscore (PDF) | Coach Graziano Notes

CHARLESTON, Ill. – Eastern Illinois women's rugby ran past visiting rival Northern Iowa for a hard-fought 24-5 victory on Sunday afternoon to remain undefeated at 7-0 on the season.

Four different Panthers earned a try on the day, as junior Ashley Aardsma scampered for a score off an assist by sophomore Cara Hahne at the 13th minute of the first half.

Less than three minutes later, senior captain Narissa Ramirez finished a big run with her own score, and following a two-point conversion from junior Lauren Doyle, the Panthers held a 12-0 halftime lead over UNI.

Hahn would earn her own try following the start of the second half to extend EIU to 17-0 over the visitors.

The Purple Panthers of UNI would counter with their own score but fail in their two-point conversion attempt to trail 17-5.

Doyle would put the finishing touches on the Eastern scoring with a try up the gut of the UNI defense and then boot the two-pointer for the final 24-5 margin of victory.  She would end the day at 2-for-4 in conversion points.

Unofficially, the game featured a combined 47 penalties as both squads continued their intense rivalry on the rugby field.  The EIU Panthers have now won three straight over the UNI Panther unit.

In other unofficial statistical numbers, EIU topped UNI in scrums won via a 16-12 advantage, while the Purple Panthers outpaced EIU for line-outs at 10-to-seven.

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POST-GAME NOTES FROM COACH GRAZIANO...

"We always struggle with Northern Iowa as we do not match up size wise (sometimes giving away 50 pounds) and they play such a physical style which makes it difficult for us in our one on one tackles.

Our goal all week in practice was to match their style of play and intensity on defense so we had several days we included full contact drills. Normally we never have full contact drills during the week but UNI is always a special case during the season.

I asked the team to become very emotionally involved in this game with the full contact drills during the week you could see our intensity was building... the team delivered its toughest performance of the season not only matching UNI intensity but actually controlling the physical parts of the game... I was very proud of our effort and toughness we displayed.

The backrow combination of junior Mahan and freshmen Burge and Williams were outstanding with their tackling all over the field and were a key to stopping the UNI attack.

Our scrum and lineout play were solid considering we are still playing with six newcomers in the forwards... while Burge, Pilch, Youhas, Dial, Wilson, Williams are more experienced now six games into the season, it's important to remember they have only been playing rugby for two months so their performance to date is excellent."

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