Glendale Keeps Rolling | ORSU vs Glendale Match Report & Video

The Glendale Raptors continued to roll through the first round of WPL action with an emphatic 64-7 victory over ORSU at Fuller’s Farm in West Linn, Oregon.  After two weeks of action, Glendale has outscored their opponents 121-21.

The opening minutes of the match were all ORSU. They picked up where they ended last week with wide channel ball to Adrian Acosta, created clean ball for flyhalf Jess Shipley who found Anna Symonds on a beautiful chop line. Symonds dismissed two Glendale backs and scampered thirty-five meters to score her third try of the season and put ORSU up just 1:57 into the match. Jackie Lewis converted and it was 7-0 ORSU.

ORSU continued to play hard, retaining possession and putting together multiple phases, but Hannah Stolba went aerial, and what looked like a promising counter attack from Liz Stone turned tragic for ORSU as she offloaded to USA Eagle Sarah Chobot who intercepted and went untouched into the try zone. Five meters from the sideline, Stolba’s left-footed strike made the conversion look easy.

Still knotted, the hard-hitting contest came to an abrupt and tragic halt as Glendale winger Kelly Mullen left the field with a broken arm.  The extended break didn’t help the home team as Glendale quickly went up 10-7 on a beautiful forty meter penalty kick from Stolba. Two minutes later Rachel Ryan raced thirty meters to score while Stolba slotted another great conversion five meters from the sideline to push the lead to 17-7.

ORSU was still in the match when San Juanita Moreno made a try saving tackle, driving Chobot into touch, but Glendale played a quick lineout to Hannah Stolba who scored as ORSU watched, pushing the Glendale lead to 22-7.

The Hannah Stolba show was in full effect. She threw a double miss pass twenty-five meters to Laura Miller at pace on the wing right before the half time hooter. The gorgeous ball from Stolba was a gut punch to ORSU and made the majority of the crowd wonder how Stolba didn’t see more time in France this last summer. Halftime score: Glendale 27- ORSU 7.

It only took Glendale two minutes to get Chobot through for her second of the day. Glendale’s pressure in defense consistently put ORSU in a tough spot. The Glendale forwards were relentless, and then the backs started in with positive tackles that made it hard for ORSU to find the gain line.

Rachel Ryan was dynamic at hooker, playing way more like a seven, and Kitt Wagner kept ORSU off-balance, mixing up the attack. ORSU captain Te Awhina Ho Chee gave Kitt massive props, “They had great leadership but especially from Kitt at 9. Glendale was technically way better than us.”

It wasn’t just Kitt. Rachel Ryan continued to play at only one speed—all out. Despite a couple of early penalties, she kept pushing the envelope, pressuring ORSU, and when the ball turned over, Ryan was dynamic with ball in hand.

ORSU kept fighting throughout, and put together a sixteen phase drive, but Glendale wouldn’t yield. They just kept pouring with tries to Jess Sexaur, Ryan again, Andrea Prusinski with a pair, Jenna Anderson, and finally Laurie Miller getting her second to push the Glendale try total to eleven on the day.

As the heat and the game wore on, Rachel Ryan just kept getting stronger. “In the last twenty minutes, Rachel Ryan impresses the “expletive” out of me,” Hannah Stolba remarked.

Intense forward pressure from Glendale, Rachel Ryan continuing to shine, and Hannah Stolba putting on a highlight reel show left Glendale all smiles, but when I sat down and chatted with Kitt Wagner, it’s clear this team is going to be gutted with anything less than a WPL Championship this year.

For ORSU, they’re left to deal with their first lopsided defeat in years. “Sometimes you got to suck it up, get your butt kicked and build some character,” Anna Symonds reflected after the contest and continued, “This is the kind of rugby that is going to make us better.”

Both teams are on the road next weekend. Glendale will have to look elsewhere for playmaking as Hannah Stolba won’t be traveling to Berkeley. They’ll also need to start developing some depth at scrumhalf as Kitt Wagner acknowledges eighty minutes isn’t ideal for her rugby-worn thirty-five year old body. ORSU hopes Sharon Blaney will be back with some extra fire in her belly after missing this week’s action, and with a little more clean ball, the dynamic back trio of Shipley, Symonds and Moreno will look to shine against the Surfers in San Diego.

Glendale

1. Sarah Chobot
2. Rachel Ryan
3. Jen Montoya
4. Laura Miller
5. Monica Van Buskirk
6. Jo-Jo Kitlinski
7. Katie Hathaway (first WPL start)
8. TT Breenan
9. Kitt Wagner
10. Hannah Stolba
11. Jenna Anderson
12. Gedda Rodrigues-Howard
13. Andrea Prusinski
14. Kelly Mullen
15. Jessica Sexaur
16. Kathleen McLaughlin
17. Val Kraucunas
18. Mary Pezzulo
19. Rachel Stelting
20. Jeanna Beard
21. Julie Tordonato
22. Elizabeth Heidi Bauer
23. Carmen Tomko

ORSU

1. Melody Glasgow
2. Cambell Boucher
3. Adrienne Acosta
4. Karie Hoffman
5. Te Awhina Ho Chee
6. Valerie Laschen
7. Rachel Johnson
8. Molly Luft
9. Claire Lundy
10. Jessica Shipley
11. Jackie Lewis
12. Anna Symonds
13. San Juanita Moreno
14. Jess Wright
15. Liz Stone
16. Elise White
17. Beckett Royce
18. Liz Kilgore
19. Kiana Saluni (WPL debut)
20. Brianna Pickering
21. Sara Diehl
22. Krystal Franklin
23. Austyn Byassee

Scoring

Glendale tries–Chobot(2), Stolba, Ryan(2), Miller(2), Prusinski(2), Sexaur, Anderson

ORSU tries—Symonds

Glendale penalty—Stolba

Glendale conversions—Stolba 3-10, Tordonato 0-1

ORSU—Lewis 1-1

Match Video

View the complete WPL schedule, results and more here.