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By Jackie Finlan
The huge crowd at Army’s Anderson Rugby Complex got the nail-biting match it was anticipating as the home team defeated Brown women 17-12 in Saturday's clash of the top-ranked women's college teams in the nation.
“Both teams were in it,” said Brown coach Kerri Heffernan. “Neither wanted to budge an inch.” But Brown budged just a bit more. In addition to losing a key lock (broken collarbone) off the bat, the visitors also lost their flyhalf (jaw, not season-ending).
“We had to completely rework the backline,” Heffernan said. Additionally, there were scrumhalf issues, and Brown’s inside center slid over to the halfback position. “We just didn’t adjust well, especially with the backs’ outside defense.”
And that’s where Army took advantage. By halftime, Army’s back three, led by All-American fullback Jessica Sexouer, put two breakaway runs from the outside into the try zone, going up 12-0 by the break.
The drizzling rain, however, didn’t promote a backs-dominated game, and Brown’s forwards took up the charge in the second half. They focused their attack around the fringes. The Hartley twins contributed to the pummeling and continued to crash it back inside.
The punishment worked, and suddenly Brown’s forwards had evened up the match with 12 points of their own. And there the score stood until the 69th minute, when Army attacked wide again for the go-ahead try.
Referee Nick Priscott eagerly relayed the match details, calling the game “head and shoulders above” the women’s DI rugby he’s reffed this year. “It was definitely playoff rugby.”
But as time wore on, the players’ decorum started to wear thin. “By halftime, the match started to get a little chippy,” Priscott said of the five yellow cards he issued, with high tackles being the main offense. “But I guess that shouldn’t come as a surprise, given the rivalry.”
Brown hammered away at Army’s diminished defense, who were down to 13 by the final whistle, but the West Pointers withstood the onslaught and held onto the 17-12 win.
“The adrenaline got the best of us,” Heffernan commented, “which led to some handling errors. But overall, I’m happy with the performance. It’ll all come together in a couple weeks, and we’ll hopefully get to see Army again.”
With the win, Army takes the #1 NERFU seed and faces New York State’s #3 seed, Hamilton College. Brown prepares for the NERFU #5 seed.
As for those other pesky seeds, Connecticut defeated Vassar 19-7, UMass defeated Yale 53-10 and Dartmouth crushed Providence 70-5. All that means is Army wins New England, Brown is 2nd, UMass 3rd, Dartmouth 4th, UConn 5th, Vassar 6th Yale 7th and Providence 8th.
So that makes the NRU playoff matchups as follows:
Army v. Hamilton
Dartmouth v. Syracuse
UMass v. Cornell
UConn v. Brown
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