[Photo: The Beantown defense came through for their second-straight shutout. Bill English photo]

Beantown improved to 2-1 in the Women’s Premier League and did so with another shutout win against Keystone, 47-0.

Now in second place in the Blue Conference, Beantown pulled off the big win without several of their star players, like Mel Denham, Mari Wallace and Jen Cotton. Younger players like Lane Standige stepped up at No. 8 and rounded out the pack nicely. The strength for which the Beantown pack is known set a good platform for the team to attack.

But it wasn't all easy sailing throughout the game. It took the better portion of the first half for Beantown to establish dominance.

“Keystone has a big, physical pack and challenged us up front early on,” Beantown coach Richard Ashfield said. “It was tight for the first 30 minutes, but we were able to slowly wear them down.”

Once Beantown took full control, the points started to pile on. Wing Ashley Clancy led with two tries, one of which showcased her fantastic speed over 70 meters. Emily Jones matched the point tally on a try, penalty and conversion, while Rachel Milligan, Sharon Wacht, Ali Pappas, Liz Fierman and Evan Hoese added tries as well. Katie O’Malley also added a conversion in the second half.

“We’ve really been focusing on our defense, so we’re pretty happy about our two shutouts,” Ashfield reflected on the wins against DC and Keystone. “The younger players have bought into our system and are stepping up.

“Evan Hoese was fantastic at outside center,” Ashfield added. “So was Jackie Rompre at inside center. They have a good defensive partnership and were able to shut everything down.”

Ashfield was pleased with the outcome, but not necessarily satisfied with the entire 80 minutes.

“There were a number of occasion when we were close to the line and got white-line fever,” Ashfield said. “We forced some things to happen and need to improve our control.”

Beantown’s progress will be truly tested against the Twin Cities Amazons, a game that won’t occur until Oct. 21. The Amazons won the first battle 38-14 in Minnesota.

“We’re not thinking ahead to the Zons; we still have DC this weekend,” Ashfield ensured. “We don’t want our best game of the season to be against the Amazons; we want it to be in the national final. As much as we’d like to win our side of the conference, our first goal is to make sure we qualify for the final four, then we’ll see what happens.”

Qualifying for the final four shouldn’t be a problem for Beantown, nor Twin Cities, which defeated DC 65-0 this weekend.

Below are the current standings: