Women’s Rugby Clipped at West Chester, 25-14

Saturday, September 7

West Chester, PA

11:00 AM

Brown University

West Chester

Women’s Rugby Clipped at West Chester, 25-14

9/7/2019 1:47:00 PM | Women's Rugby

WEST CHESTER, Pa. – The Brown women's rugby team was defeated by West Chester, 25-14, on Saturday at the South Campus Rugby Pitch. Junior Karina Wang (Ottawa, Ontario) led the Bears in scoring for the afternoon, recording two tries.

"West Chester did a great job of supporting their rucks and penetrating our defense though early in we answered with a few tries," said head coach Kathy Flores. "Ultimately we will need to be faster and better consolidate at the gainline if we are to retain more possession in order to score."

Junior Lexi Nelson (Foxboro, Mass.) stopped an early breakaway attack by West Chester (1-0) soon into the contest. Senior Alexandria Simon (Kaunakakai, Hawaii) continued the defensive effort for Brown (1-1), coming up with several key tackles to keep the match scoreless.

However, the Rams would later register back-to-back tries to build a 10-0 lead. Wang responded and touched one down for the Bears with senior Abby O'Keefe (St. Louis, Mo.) providing the conversion kick to pull within three (10-7).

West Chester took advantage of some penalties against Brown and closed out the opening half with a try for a 15-7 advantage at the break.

Wang started the second half with a score and O'Keefe again added the conversion as the Bears were within one, 15-14.

Brown's defense was rejuvenated in the second as junior Janelys Torres (Lawrence, Mass.) and sophomore Gemma Ryu (Denver, Colo.) were among the multiple players contributing.

West Chester was able to break through, scoring a try with 10 minutes left for a 20-14 cushion. With six minutes remaining, the Rams sealed the match with another try (25-14).

Freshman Kate Molloy (Sudbury, Mass.) generated a counter ruck on four Rams players and won the ball for Brown, but a knock on brought it back to a West Chester scrum as the home team held on.

Brown will next return to Marvel Field and will host Dartmouth on Saturday, Sept. 14 with kickoff set for 11:00 a.m.