Quinnipiac Captures Inaugural Women’s Rugby Varsity National Championship

The newly formed National Collegiate Women’s Varsity Rugby Association (NCWVRA) held their first Varsity National Championship this weekend. This one of a kind event took place at Brown University and included national semifinal games on Friday, November 20, and the national championship game on Sunday, November 22.

Before the semi finals were set, the teams faced off in the quarterfinals. Quinnipiac outlasted West Chester, Norwich defeated Dartmouth, AIC overtook Brown and Army beat Harvard. This matched up four powerhouses in the quarterfinals: Norwich vs Quinnipiac and Army vs AIC.

In the first quarterfinal matchup, Norwich got on the board first but Quinnipiac answered quickly with three tries and that gave the Bobcats the lead for good. At halftime the score stood 24-12 in favor of Quinnipiac. The second half proved to be a defensive battle and while both teams scored, Quinnipiac rocked their way into the Championship by a score of 36-22.

In the other quarterfinal, Freshman Anne-Laurence Harvey of (Quebec, Canada) registered all 21 points for American International College but even that wasn’t enough to hold off a tenacious Army team. This marks the third time this season that West Point has defeated AIC all by just a total of nine points, this time the final was Army, 25-21.

The finals were set with Quinnipiac to face Army in the first ever Varsity National Championship. With tough muddy conditions on the playing field, QU took an early 5-0 lead just four minutes into the game. Out of the scrum, Quinnipiac swung the ball all the way across the field to find Emily Roskopf in space for the wide open score.

Three minutes later, Army captured their first score, punching the ball through the middle to tie the game. Army added a successful conversion to take a 7-5 lead. After two scores in the opening seven minutes, neither side was able to get much offense going until Army extended their lead with about 17 minutes to go in the first half.

The Bobcat defense held strong on multiple Army attempts to score, but the Black Knights finally snuck through a hole in the back line to take a 14-5 advantage after another kick sailed through the uprights.

With ten minutes left in the opening half, Quinnipiac scored their second try to cut the lead to 14-12 heading into the break. Off an Army penalty, Mason Johnson found Karee Helgerson in the middle of the field who took the ball and two defenders with her in for the score from just a couple yards out.

The Bobcats opened the second half in identical fashion to the first. Just four minutes in, Flora Poole was stopped one yard short of the try. Johnson scooped up the ball and passed to Rachel Stimson who fought her way in for the score as she was being brought down. A successful conversion by the Bobcats brought the score to 19-14.

With 10 minutes left in regulation, the Black Knights tied the game after a long possession of working the ball up field. Army missed the kick to take a two point lead. Quinnipiac answered just four minutes later to take the lead for good. Roskopf scored the championship clinching try with six minutes left in the game. The Bobcats stole the Army scrum and Maher found the freshman with her second assist of the day.

The Black Knights threatened to tie the game and possibly take the lead as time was winding down. With under a minute to play, Quinnipiac came up with multiple stops and eventually took over possession and the title.

Congratulations to Quinnipiac and all of the teams that took part in this momentous event.

Quinnipiac clenches first inaugural women's varsity national championship.

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Competition

11/14/2015 Quinnipiac 84 West Chester 7 QFs
11/14/2015 Norwich 14 Dartmouth 7 QFs
11/14/2015 AIC 27 Brown 19 QFs
11/14/2015 Army 58 Harvard 21 QFs
11/20/2015 Norwich 22 Quinnipiac 36 SFs
11/20/2015 Army 25 AIC 21 SFs
11/22/2015 Army 19 Quinnipiac 19 Final

Current NCWVRA members include: AIC, Army, Bowdoin, Brown, Central Washington, Dartmouth, Davenport, Dowling College, Eastern Illinois, Harvard, Life, LIU Post, Molloy, University of New England, Norwich, Notre Dame College, Quinnipiac, Sacred Heart and West Chester.

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