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The West Point women are the Northeast’s top team, defeating Brown 36-10 in the DI College Championship. Army will be seeded fourth overall at the national Sweet 16s next spring, while Brown takes the overall sixth seed.
The pitches hadn’t recovered from yesterday’s downpour, so another forwards battle ensued as both teams tried to keep the ball in hand.
“Brown has a size advantage on us in the forwards,” Army coach Will Riddle explained, “and their game is in tight. During the past few weeks, we really worked on our technique in the tackle and around the breakdown.”
Led by eightman Kayla Orvik, who was runner-up for MVP of the championship, and flankers Alex Bradshaw, Ashley Sorensen and Melissa Niehus, Army was able to shut down Brown’s forward attack with aggressive fringe defense.
“They just got it into their heads that they weren’t going to be beat,” Riddle said of the forwards. “The entire pack put in a huge effort today. It was the best we’ve played all season.”
The forwards were able to secure enough clean ball for the backs, who logged 24 points to Brown’s three (penalty from Chelsea Garber) in the first half. Even though the weather made it difficult to play a wide-out game, the back three – composed of MVP Jessica Sexauer and wings Anne Lee and Ashley Miller – made the most of their attacking opportunities, accounting for the majority of the tries on the day.
In the second half, Brown’s scrum started to dominate and the forwards pushed a maul over the try line, with Naomi Briendel-Oberman touching down and Garber converting, 24-10. Army’s defense dug in, as Brown continued to pressure inside Army’s 22 for the next 10 minutes, but long runs from Sexauer and Lee quelled those threats, 36-10.
That’s it for the Northeast region. After a winter full of workouts and spring warm-up matches, Army will face MARFU’s fourth seed and Brown will see the South’s lone team come mid-April during the national round of 16.
- Jackie Finlan
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