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(New York's Hedwig Aerts is one of several impact players who suffered an injury Sunday. Ed Hagerty photo.)
By Jackie Finlan
Once again, Beantown was involved in another two-point match; only this time, they came away victors. With time winding down, New York had an opportunity to overtake host Beantown with a penalty in front of the posts, but the kick ricocheted off the post and sealed the home team’s third win.
“We were lucky,” Beantown backs captain Kelly Seary said. “We’re happy with the win, but it was closer than any of us would have liked.” The lead changed four times. “We’re happy to have turned things around from the previous week,” Seary referenced the 15-13 defeat to Keystone, “but we’re by no means satisfied with our level of play. We’re not playing our best rugby yet and still have a lot of work to do over the next month.”
The match was even for the first 30 minutes, even as New York continued to weather some major blows. Flyhalf Hedwig Aerts went down around the 20-minute mark and replacement Maura Weikman took field.
"Maura came on and played really well in a tough situation," New York coach Ryan Dunnett said. "She nailed a sideline penalty early on." Then Vanesha McGee was sent to the sin bin a few minutes later. The team almost escaped the man-down situation unscathed, but Eagle center Amy Daniels took advantage of the weakened defense and logged the first points of the match, 5-0 Beantown.
Injuries would follow, and Beantown would replace the injured Katie Dowty at fullback with Seary, and bring in Ashley Snyder off the bench to flyhalf. New York would lose star flanker Phaidra Knight – nearly irreplaceable at #7.
Weikman put New York on the board with a penalty, and as the halftime break approached, McGee redeemed her earlier yellow card with a retributive five-pointer. Her 10th try this season as the leading points scorer made it 10-5 NY.
"Vanehsa had a few strong runs," Dunnett said, "but we didn't use her well enough." The coach also spoke highly of Katie Brethel's performance.
In the second half, the teams traded converted tries within three minutes of each other – Beantown wing Yancy Graf dotted down first, a try converted by Snyder (12-10); then wing Jenna Flateman’s try was converted by Weikman and NYRC retained the 17-12 lead for the next 12 minutes.
Replacement Emily Jones touched down the final points of the game at minute 68, a try that would put the home team up by two, 19-17. Beantown held on for the win, and sighed a breath of relief as New York’s last penalty attempt didn’t clear.
“We didn’t change our game plan against New York, compared to Keystone,” Seary said, “but rather, we made a commitment to it. We also focused on improving our communication and staying positive, even if we fell behind.”
"We need to start the game with a bit more trust in our ability," New York coach Ryan Dunnett said, "and we need to have a greater strike rate of turning our line breaks into points. We created enough opportunities in the last 10 minutes to win, but the last pass or drop ball cost us the game."
New York can expect another tough match against the Women's Premier League East #2 team, Keystone, in two Sundays' time. Beantown travels to DC for the Oct. 25 rematch.
Beantown 19
Tries: Daniels, Graf, Jones
Conversions: Snyder 2
New York 17
Tries: McGee, Flateman
Conversions: Weikman 2
Penalties: Weikman
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