After a dominant performance that won them the D-II bracket at the Beantown Preseason Tournament this past weekend in Amherst, Mass., the women's rugby team will face Williams tomorrow in its first non-tournament game of the season.
The Polar Bears played too fast for Amherst Saturday morning, earning them a 58-0 shutout victory. In a match punctuated with strong line breaks followed by support, Uche Esonu '13 played well.
"Uche had multiple line breaks where she broke multiple tackles," said Assistant Coach Bob Mathews. "She also scored one try from about the midfield line and assisted in another."
Esonu passed the ball to captain Katie Mathews '12 on the 5-meter line, who led a pick-and-go with Kam Sanchez '14 to score the first try.
"Katie scored one with footwork and a ball fake to beat her defender," said Head Coach MaryBeth Mathews.
More scoring in the first half came from Ali Cavanaugh '13, Laurel Mast '14 and Lynn Freedman '13. Anita Shah '14 and first years Randi London and Maddie Baird scored in the second half, while Katie Mathews converted multiple times.
The Polar Bears also faced off against Williams on Saturday afternoon. Maura Allen '14 started off the scoring with a long run, well-supported by Shah and Lynn Freedman '13.
"In our Amherst game we definitely controlled the possession the whole time," said Katie Mathews. "In the Williams game our defense was tested a bit more, but it definitely held."
Allen scored again, along with Esonu and a conversion from Mathews, to wrap up the first half 17-0. A second half try by Freedman and a Mathews penalty kick brought the final tally to 25-0.
"Our level of competition improved each game, but the lack of competitiveness from our opponents was surprising," said MaryBeth Mathews. "But we got some offense and we didn't get beat up, and that's what nice about a three-day tournament."
Bowdoin earned a bye on Sunday morning following reseeding, and in the afternoon faced off against the St. Joseph's Eagles for the championship.
"It was interesting because for the first eight or nine minutes we started out on defense and they were pounding in our half," said Katie Mathews. "But we adjusted well, regained our composure, and dictated the game as we wanted."
The Polar Bears took a 7-0 lead into the half off of a try from Esonu.
Said senior captain Allie Dupont, "In the previous two games I felt that we were better and it was easy, and now [against St. Joseph's] it was like 'oh right, this is how we have to play.'"
Bowdoin came out firing in the second half with Allen and London each scoring. The game ended with a final score of 19-0.
"Our scrums were good and we pushed them off the ball," said Bob Mathews. "We had the better of them and we defended well. They never made a break, but they had good defense and they played well."
"They played a good kicking game and were smart territorially because our defense was so good," said MaryBeth Mathews. "But they were well coached."
Cavanaugh ended up turning in a fine performance in her position on the line outs. She also had a few nice carries with the ball off of rucks and a few nice tackles. The whole team looks to turn it up for this weekend's rematch against Williams.
"We are going to try and play a little bit faster in comparison to this past weekend," said Bob Mathews.
"We'll look to create and use space a bit better," added Marybeth Mathews.
"I think [our performance this weekend] showed that we really do have a lot of great potential," said Katie Mathews. "And it was great for people to see all their hard work over the summer and preseason pay off."