Women's Rugby | 4/24/2015 6:19:00 PM
PITTSBURGH, PA (April 24) – The Central Washington University women's rugby team overcame a 17-5 deficit to defeat Life University 40-17 and advance to the Spring Championships.
The Wildcats scored 35 unanswered points to punch their ticket into the Spring Championship game against BYU tomorrow at 1 p.m. PDT, with the winner getting a May 9 matchup with Fall champion Penn State.
Life University jumped out to a 5-0 lead, but the Wildcats answered when
Heather Johnson found the try zone to knot the match at 5-5.
Life had momentum going into halftime scoring twice more before the break making one of two conversions to take a 17-5 lead.
"Conditions were not ideal in the first half," CWU Head Coach
Mel Denham said. "We had the sun in our eyes and had a hard time gaining position. Life was very physical, they matched up with us well and took advantage of the conditions."
The second half was all Wildcats as they played with the sun at their backs.
Cassidy Meyers got CWU going, scoring off a line break and after a
Katerina Long conversion, CWU cut the lead down to just five points.
Heather Johnson would later score her second try of the contest and
Queen Fina Toetuu followed suit minutes later finding the try zone to put the Wildcat up 26-17 with Long making both conversions.
"We made some good adjustments after halftime and executed our game plan very well." Denham said. "We were able to retain possessions going forward and we kept ourselves in good position throughout the half and the players did a great job getting low and making tackles."
The offensive barrage by the Wildcats didn't stop with Sammy Pinson and Jenny Johnson both touching down with tries and Long booted her fourth and fifth conversions of the match to put the Wildcats up by the final 40-17 margin.
"Jenny had a really good game today," Denham added. "She did a good job maintaining control in the back of the scrum, which made a big difference for us offensively."
Be sure to follow @CWUAthletics and @CWURugbyWomen to get live updates of tomorrows 1 p.m. championship match.
