Penn State (3-1, 2-0 Big 10) hosted Rutgers (0-1 Big 10) under the lights Saturday at West Fields and came away with a 98-5 win.
The weekend saw several brand new rugby players suit up with the Nittany Lions for not only their first Big 10 game but their very first rugby game ever. And for two of them, Teasia Stewart (Flanker) and Katie Sayer (Hooker) their very first trys. Through the course of the game Rutgers struggled to contain Penn State’s offloading game leading to several sensational team trys by Tess Feury, Kyla Chipman, Katie O’hare, Amanda Berta, Maggie Carly, Az Nalbandian, Madison McCormick and Gianna Solomon.
Rutgers was able to deny Penn State a shutout with a try late in the second half with Rutgers fielding a Penn State kick and take advantage of a disconnected defense to dot down in the corner. This season marks Rutgers first foray into Division I Rugby and their inclusion in the Big 10 East conference. And unfortunately for Rutgers, Penn State was their first hard lesson in that arena, but showed flashes of brilliance that will certainly serve them well going forward in the season. Penn State Captain, Gabby Cantorna said “Rutgers really challenged our backrow defense on scrums. Their number 8 was very athletic and helped create a lot of positive attacking momentum.”
In regards to Penn State’s performance Coach Daley stated “I was excited to see our brand new players get their hands on the ball and proud of our more experienced players for working hard to help them learn through the course of the game.”
Penn State hosts their last regular season Big 10 game against Ohio State next Friday night @7pm before taking on Life University Saturday at 10am.
Penn State 98
Tries: Feury (3), Chipman, O’hare (4), Berta, Carly, Nalbandian, McCormick, Solomon(2), Stewart, Sayer, Fromstein
Conversions: Cantorna (9)
Penalties: None
Rutgers 5
Tries: Shai Hodges
Penn State Line Up
- Az Nalbandian @40 Katie Sayer
- Kira Garnett
- Jess Molnar
- Maggie Carly @60 Andrea Schwartz
- Fallon Joseph @40 Meghan Lowe
- Madison McCormick @ 55 Alexis Weisser
- Rachel Campbell @45 Teasia Stewart
- Kyla Chipman @40 Kate Payson
- Ellie Fromstein
- Gabby Cantorna
- Angela Fair
- Gianna Solomn
- Tess Feury
- Katie O’Hare
- Amanda Berta
