Women's rugby saw its fall season come to an end last Sunday with an 8-0 loss to Stonehill College in the NERFU (New England Rugby Football Union) Division II tournament finals. The loss dashed the squad's hopes of making it to the Northeast Regionals.
Bowdoin hosted the tournament last weekend, where they beat UVM 17-0 on Saturday before falling to Stonehill. Although the top two teams advance to the Northeast Regionals, the second spot is decided by point differential.
The team needed to lose to Stonehill by less than six points in order to qualify for the postseason tournament.
"Defense won the UVM game for us," Head Coach MaryBeth Mathews said.
In the beginning of the game, Anna Nicol '11 fielded a kick and with lots of speed ran it down, but before she could hit the end zone she pulled her hamstring, which put her out of commission for the rest of the tournament.
Forward Danielle Carniaux '10 scored the first try by supporting the back line, which created an overlap, allowing her to touch it down in the corner. The kick was not converted.
Becky Stevens '11 recovered the ball off of a scrappy play, snuck around the base of the ruck and brought the score to 10-0 before half time.
"As good as UVM was they never really looked to threaten us and our defense just kept taking away their momentum," Mathews said.
Carolyn Levin '11 took a pass from Hannah Larson '10 from the outside of the back line and sprinted 60 meters into the end zone. Stevens made the conversion shutting out UVM 17-0.
Nylea Bivins '12 had a particularly good game.
"She was all over the field, made good tackles, set up well defensively, and popped up in places she was needed. For a rookie she had a great season," Mathews said.
Bowdoin went into the final with two big setbacks. Both Nicol and Levin couldn't play due to injuries. "To start the championship final without those two was tough?they're hard to replace," Mathews said.
Stonehill played a quick continuous game and Bowdoin's game plan was to slow down their game and interrupt their possession.
Stonehill got ahead late in the first half. In a scrum five meters from the Bowdoin end zone the ball was kicked out of the scrum into our end zone. When a Stonehill player jumped on the ball, Stonehill took the lead, 5-0.
With nine minutes left in the game, a penalty was called on Bowdoin, allowing Stonehill to score on a penalty kick, making it 8-0. This ended the Polar Bear's hopes of making it to the Northeast Regional tournament.
After the penalty Bowdoin was also forced to play a man down for 10 minutes. Even while outnumbered, Bowdoin kept Stonehill from scoring.
"They had the best total defensive performance I've ever seen in rugby and they should be proud," Gary Devoe, USA Level 1 Referee said of Bowdoin's performance. "They never gave up and kept up the relentless defensive pressure, hitting the tackles and rucks with a ferocity I've rarely seen at any level. It's too bad only two teams go through, because on balance I think that Bowdoin was the second best team last weekend."
Stevens was selected as Most Valuable Back for the tournament by referees and tournament administrators. Unfortunately, in the last 10 seconds of the Stonehill final game, Stevens tore her ACL.
The team finished its regular season having only given up 35 points. "There was a spirit about the team that was special. They played for each other and for the love of the game; they should be very proud of themselves," Mathews said.