Women’s Rugby Outlasts Queens, 36-29

Saturday, October 26

Emmitsburg, MD

11:00 AM

Brown University

Queens

10/26/2019 1:10:00 PM | Women's Rugby

EMMITSBURG, Md. – The Brown women's rugby team fought off a late second-half rally to defeat Queens, 36-29, on Saturday at Echo Field. The Bears improved to 5-3 overall and 5-1 in Tier II play with the win while Queens dropped to 5-2 on the year and 4-2 in Tier II action.

Junior Olivia Duba (San Ramon, Calif.) led Brown in scoring with two tries and two conversion kicks while freshman Mahdia Parker (Harlem, N.Y.) scored for the fifth-consecutive match.

"We knew going into this match it would be a tough fight as Queens is a strong team both in the forwards and backs," said head coach Kathy Flores. "Despite having had several injuries last week, our reserve players came through and gave us the win!"

Queens struck first in the matchup, taking a 3-0 lead on a penalty kick from outside the 22. Sophomore Ainsley Clapp (South Berwick, Maine) followed with a big line break but the Royals' poached the ball off of the ensuing breakdown. After two 5m scrums, junior Karina Wang (Ottawa, Ontario) punched in a try for Brown for a 5-3 lead.

Duba next touched down two-straight scores for the Bears, which included an intercept and a successful conversion for a 19-3 advantage. Queens recorded a try before the end of the half to bring the score to 19-10.

Senior Abby O'Keefe (St. Louis, Mo.) forced another intercept and recorded a try while Duba connected on the conversion to increase Brown's lead to 26-10.

Parker came up huge defensively with a try-saving cover tackle in the Bears' defensive end.

Queens next took advantage of a player-up opportunity to pull within 11 (26-15) but Brown would score back-to-back tries to pull away with scores from sophomore Emmajane Rhodenhiser (Ann Arbor, Mich.) and Parker for a comfortable 36-15 lead.

A try by the Royals' and a successful conversion brought the score to 36-22. Queens started to gain momentum and added its second consecutive score with an added conversion to bring the contest to 36-29 but time would run out as the Bears held on for the victory.

Brown will next wait for seeding for the NIRA postseason, with semifinals slated for Saturday, Nov. 9 and the championship match scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 17.