PROVO, Utah (Oct. 27) – The Central Washington University women's rugby team fell to Brigham Young University 35-26.
"Today was frustrating to say the least," CWU Head Coach
Trevor Richards said afterward. "We had a horrendously slow start and, when combined with ill-discipline, we struggled to build positive momentum. We failed to take care of the ball and turned it over as often as the leaves fall in autumn."
Rachel Ogden opened the scoring for the Cougars, before Rachel Strasdas found the try zone for a 12-0 BYU lead. A pair of penalty kicks from Katie Gurney gave the Cougars an 18-0 advantage.
Suiluana Sooialo A'au scored the Wildcats' first try in the waning moments of the first half and
Shona Kennedy knocked through the conversion, but the Wildcats found themselves trailing 18-7 at the half break.
The second half opened with a try from Brooklyn Grange, giving the Cougars a 25-7 lead. The Wildcats responded with a try of their own from
Natalie Goodwin, cutting the deficit to 25-14.
"The second half was more noteworthy," Richards noted. "We managed to assert ourselves at the contact point and started to get over the gain line with greater ease. We exchanged scores with BYU, but clawed our way back into the match and the gap closed to the point where victory could've been ours if we managed to execute the basics."
A Cougars' lineout led to Strasdas' second try of the fixture, pushing BYU's advantage to 32-14. Again the Wildcats responded, this time it was
Tiara A'au who found her way in for the try, bringing CWU closer at 32-19.
Kennedy found her way in for the Wildcats before a penalty kick from Gurney staked out a 35-26 lead for the Cougars.
"In the end it was too little, too late," Richards added. "Overall, it was a frustrating game that was certainly winnable. The silver-lining is that there were a lot of freshmen that gained valuable experience. Additionally, the issues present are definitely fixable. I'd like to thank those Wildcat families that traveled to Utah to support our team. It's greatly appreciated and makes those long trips much more enjoyable."
The Wildcats will be closing out their fall campaign in the coming weeks before resuming their season in January.
