QU Women's Rugby Falls Late to Army West Point, 29-24

Saturday, September 12

West Point, N.Y. / Anderson Rugby Complex

12:00 PM

Quinnipiac University

Army West Point

QU Women's Rugby Falls Late to Army West Point, 29-24

9/12/2015 6:54:00 PM | Women's Rugby

By: QU Sports Information

WEST POINT, New York – The Quinnipiac women's rugby team fell to the Army West Point Black Knights, 29-24, Saturday afternoon at the Anderson Rugby Complex in the inaugural game for both teams in National College Varsity Women's Rugby Association play.

"This NCAA D-1 match up is one of many that we will learn from this season," head coach Becky Carlson said. "We came out strong and put points on the board with moderate effort to begin with. Army found a way to punch up the middle and was exploiting the rucks to earn their ground back a few yards at a time."

Emily Roskopf (Pleasanton, California) was dominant once against for the Bobcats, leading the team with two trys in the losing effort. Roskopf has now recorded a team-leading five trys for 25 points through the first two games of the season. Not only did Roskopf lead the Bobcats in trys for the second straight game, she also record a team-high two runs-over-twenty.

Maggie Myles (Emmitsburg, Maryland) and Lindey Wise (Franklin, Wisconsin) also added tries for the Bobcats in the loss. Myles was a big contributor on the defensive side of the game as well, picking up eight solo tackles, good for second on the team. Madison Gegeckas (Dowington, Pennsylvania) was 2 for 4 on conversions.

Ilona Maher (Burlington, Vermont) tied Karee Helgerson (Portland, Oregon) for the team-lead with nine solo tackles against the Black Knights while Maher also recorded an assist. Christie Albers (Castle Rock, Colorado) and Megan Johnson (Olympia, Washington) each picked up assists on the afternoon, while Albers also recorded one run-over-twenty.

"Megan Johnson was relentless in the middle of the field and absolutely added stress and an incredible physical presence to the opposing scrum half," Carlson said. "Karee Helgerson and Jenna Chubet shined brightly in the pursuit of the quality hits on Army's Tranelle Patterson who really created problems for our fringe. Maggie Myles was solid as always on defense and really is the glue that works tirelessly to keep your unit together in the back line."

Quinnipiac (1-1, 0-1 NCVWRA) held a distinctive advantage in lineouts for the second straight game, winning eight of the 10 lineouts against Army West Point (2-0, 1-0 NCVWRA) on the afternoon.

The Bobcats jumped out to an early 14-0 in the first half to control play early. Myles crossed the try line for the Bobcats eight minutes into the game before Gegeckas followed with the conversion.

Five minutes later, Roskopf tallied her first try of the game to give the Bobcats a 12-0 lead before Gegeckas put through the conversion kick to extend the lead to 14-0.
Just short of halftime, Army West Point cut the Quinnipiac lead in half to 14-7 as Nicole Heavirland recorded her first try of the season and Arianna Efaw nailed the conversion kick for the Black Knights.

Similar to the first half, the Bobcats recorded the first two trys of the second half. Roskopf recorded her second try of the game just two minutes into the second half to take a 19-7 lead over the Black Knights.

Wise tallied her first try of the season just six minutes later to extend the Bobcats lead to 24-7 with just over 30 minutes remaining in the second half.

Army West Point's captain Mariah Caid-Loos snapped the Bobcats scoring streak with 26 minutes remaining in the second half to cut the lead in half once again at 24-12.
Heavirland took over for the rest of the game for Army West Point to lead them to victory, starting with a try to bring Army with in seven points at 24-17. Shortly after her second try of the game, Heavirland added another try for the Black Knights with a long run down the left flank. Heavirland also added the conversion kick on the play to tie the game at 24-24.

Army West Point completed the comeback in the waning minutes of stoppage time as Heavirland added her fourth and final try of the game to give the Black Knights the 29-24 advantage.

"QU plays at their best when we have something to prove and this loss is the perfect opportunity to draw the good and bad out of the battle and move on to the next," Carlson said. "It's all about how we respond in the coming weeks that matter."

The Quinnipiac women's rugby team returns to action on Saturday, Sept. 19 at 12 P.M. for their home opener at Alumni Field when they host the Dartmouth Big Green.