The women’s rugby team trounced Williams in this weekend’s season opener at home, defeating the Ephs 65-0 to maintain its perfect record (4-0 overall, 1-0 NESCAC).
Bowdoin’s explosive offense, combined with a defensive strategy comprised of strong, open field tackles and consistently effective rucking, made for the win.
The Polar Bears started the match carrying the ball downfield into the Williams defensive zone, where scrum-half Kameryn Sanchez ’14 fed the ball to Anissa Tanksley ’14. Tanksley then evaded a lone Williams defender to score the first try of the match.
Randi London ’15 made four conversions in the match, scoring 13 points and earning the title of conference player of the week.
Captain Kerry Townsend ’13 and London each made two tries. Captain Uche Esonu ’13, Lynn Freedman ’13, Laurel Mast ’14, Maddie Baird ’15, Charlotte Kleiman ’15, Rachel Henderson ’15 and Anna Piotti ’16 all scored one try each.
The strong lead gave Coach MaryBeth Mathews the opportunity to substitute six non-starters, who got some playing time and competitive experience.
“It’s far more valuable for them than playing in a B-side match because of the higher level of experience,” Mathews said.
“It wasn’t a very tough game, but we still tried to play at our level and attempted to work on plays we may not normally try in games,” said Townsend. “I think we are getting more and more comfortable playing with one another, which is important because we will have some much tougher games ahead.”
“Williams was a good game to play as we start integrating some of our rookies and get our current line up more comfortable with each other on the field,” Esonu said.
Esonu also cautioned that the team anticipates that the competition will become more heated as the season progresses.
“Williams has been weaker at the Beantown Tournament, but has come back very strong once the season gets underway, so I think most of the returners were surprised at our game on Saturday,” said Esonu. “That doesn’t mean that [Williams] still won’t improve significantly by the play-offs.”
Tomorrow, the team will travel to Lewiston for a match against Bates. Kick off is at noon.