The women’s rugby team outscored Colby 46-7 on Saturday, maintaining their perfect record in league play and entering the playoffs as the first seed.
Bowdoin (8-0, 5-0 NESCRC) will host the NESCRC playoffs on Saturday, November 3.
Colby and Bowdoin played back and forth in the midfield during the first few minutes, with neither team gaining discernible yardage until the Bowdoin backline broke through, carrying the ball deep into Colby’s defensive zone.
Scrumhalf Kameryn Sanchez ’14 passed to prop Anissa Tanksley ’14 who broke through the Colby defense line to score the match’s first try.
Randi London ’15 converted the kick to make the score 7-0.
In the week leading up to the game, Coach MaryBeth Mathews says she emphasized catching and passing drills at practice.
“Last week at practice the focus was on improving their ball handling,” Mathews said. “We also worked on the mental skill of anticipation so they can react with quicker organization and realignment both offensively and defensively on phase play.”
The changes in practice paid off, as the team scored four more tries by the end of the first half.
Captain Kerry Townsend ’13 stretched the Colby defense and scored three tries in the match by sprinting to the corners of the try-zone. She also set up a try for winger Charlotte Kleiman ’15.
As a Colby tackler brought down Townsend, she offloaded the ball to Kleiman, who quickly finished off the drive and added to the insurmountable lead.
Colby was more aggressive in the second half, forcing several Bowdoin penalties. Colby’s inside center was stringing together several strong runs up the middle in their phases of play and ultimately Colby touched the ball down underneath the posts to put their first points on the board.
Bowdoin resorted to kicking the ball while on defense to disrupt the Colby momentum and cause them to turn over the ball.
Captain Uche Esonu ’13, London and Ally Glass-Katz ’16 each scored one try in the second half to put the game out of reach.
Mathews said higher quality passes were a major factor in the win.
“The results in this game were that the backline had improved passing, and that was evident in their ability to move the ball more quickly to space, allowing for scores on the outside, by the wing and fullback,” Mathews said. “While there is still more work to be done, their passing, depth and pace were much better.”
Bowdoin clinched the first seed for playoffs and will host the conference championships on Saturday, Nov 3.