ELLENSBURG, Wash. – Central Washington University Women's Rugby (1-0) takes down the Brigham Young Cougars (0-1) in their season opener 43-13.
"It's a great feeling coming out like that after not playing almost 364 days." CWU Head Coach
Trevor Richards said. "The ladies totally deserved that today, they showed up and performed. We have asked them to a lot of things the general public would not understand, and their hard work paid off"
"On the lesser side there were some 50/50 passes we should not have made; ball security will be a big focus for us this week going forward." "Really happy to see what our forward pack did; they were very dominant in the scrums and that really got us going forward and set the tone for the game." "Really glad to see our outside backs working as well, seeing
Sammy Stern get the hat trick was exciting and she's such a blast to watch."
The Cougars jumped out to an early lead with a penalty kick by Nicole Lyons. The Wildcats were quick to answer with a try by
Haley Abeyta in the fifth minute. The Wildcats and Cougars battled in a defensive stalemate throughout most of the first half. The Wildcats began their offensive storm with a breakaway by
Sammy Stern easily outrunning the Cougars over 30 yards for the try, putting the Wildcats on top 10-3. Bailey Duce and the Cougars tried to pour it back on before the half, cutting the lead to Wildcats 10 Cougars 8.
The second half started strong with a try by
Philomena Namosimalua followed by a Cougar try by Nicole Lyon, The Wildcats quickly gained momentum again as
Sammy Stern torched the Cougar defense again through five defenders untouched for the try.
Sammy Stern would quickly follow it up with another 35-yard untouched run to complete the hat trick.
Sammy wasn't all of the Wildcats offense however as tries by
Jherish Moananu,
Tessa Hann and conversions by
Jherish Moananu and
Keia Mae Sagapolu launched the Wildcats out in front. The Wildcats defense held strong to finish the game.
The Wildcats next outing is March 6
th at Grand Canyon University.
