Bobcats Set for Trip to Dartmouth

Quinnipiac (1-1) vs. Dartmouth (2-0)
Saturday, Sept. 23, 2023 | 1:00 PM
Hanover, NH | Brophy Field

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HANOVER, NH – Quinnipiac women's rugby is set for its second consecutive road game, as the Bobcats travel to Dartmouth for a 1:00 PM matchup on Saturday, Sept. 23.

QU is coming off a 46-3 win over Navy last weekend in Maryland.

VAN DER VALK CLOSING IN ON TACKLES MILESTONE

Riva van der Valk is now currently 5^th all-time in QU history in tackles. She recorded 15 tackles vs. Harvard during the opener, then 17 more tackles during QU's last time out at Navy to put her at 153 for her career.
Van der Valk passed former QU standouts Mason Johnson, Ilona Maher, Raechel Stimson and Taylor Schussler on the all-time tackles list already this year.

BOBCATS WIN vs. NAVY (Sept. 16)

Quinnipiac women's rugby earned a big road win, topping Navy by the final score of 46-3 on Saturday, Sept. 16. The Bobcats improve to 1-1 on the new season with the victory.
QU found the try zone five times in the first half, then scored once more in the second half of action.
Kelsey Thomas led the Bobcats by reaching the try zone twice. She scored at 24:44 in the first half, then recorded QU's lone try of the second half.
Lucy Lamborn, Alexis Haskins, Breana Wertman, and Riva van der Valk all chipped in with a try.
Fódhla Ní Bhraonáin added two penalty kicks, and converted on five conversion attempts.

SEASON OPENER vs. HARVARD (Sept. 2)

Quinnipiac women's rugby opened up the 2023 season on Saturday night in Hamden, falling vs. Harvard by the final score of 55-14.
Hannah Pfersch and Anna Van Dyk each scored for the Bobcats in the second half. Pfersch scored with just under 10 minutes to go, then Van Dyk registered QU's second try of the game with less than one minute left in regulation.
Fódhla Ní Bhraonáin was successful on both conversion attempts for QU.

QU's 2023 SCHEDULE

Quinnipiac's fall schedule features eight matchups in total – with four games set to take place on campus in Hamden.
"Quinnipiac rugby returns this fall with high expectations for our performance within the NIRA," Head Coach Becky Carlson said. "Kicking off the season with an early preseason matchup against our Canadian opponents will be an exciting dress rehearsal for our NCAA schedule. We're also particularly excited to square off with our newest Division I NIRA opponent – the United States Naval Academy. We're looking forward to expanding our travel down to the Mid-Atlantic area to help showcase the quality of rugby both at Quinnipiac and in the NCAA. We have a talented group heading in to 2023 and we're looking forward to starting the year!"
The Bobcats begin the fall campaign with a pair of home matchups against Harvard (9/2) and LIU (9/9). Quinnipiac will then head to Navy (9/16) and Dartmouth (9/23), before returning to Hamden to host Sacred Heart (9/30).
The Bobcats travel to Army (10/13) following the bye week. QU will host Senior Day at the QU Rugby Stadium (10/21) vs. AIC, following by the regular-season finale at Mount St. Mary's (10/28).
The NIRA Semifinals are slated for Nov. 11 (at highest seed), and the title matchup will be on Nov. 18 (hosted at Harvard).

HEAD COACH BECKY CARLSON

Carlson enters her 13th year at the helm of the Quinnipiac Women's Rugby team in 2023-24, leading the transition from a new varsity program into a three-time national champion. Carlson has been a key advocate for women's NCAA rugby and equality in athletics for over a decade.
As the original head coach of the Quinnipiac women's rugby team added in 2011, Carlson boasts an all-time record of 71-26-1 including back-to-back-to-back Division I NIRA national championship titles in 2015, 2016 and 2017.

ROSKOPF RETURNS TO BOBCATS

During the preseason, Quinnipiac Women's Rugby announced the hiring of Emily Roskopf ('19) as Assistant Coach.
Roskopf, a former NIRA All-American and Scholar-Athlete, will join Carlson's staff at Quinnipiac as the team heads into the fall 2023 campaign.
The Dublin, California-native played for the Bobcats in the fall of 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018. She helped lead the program to back-to-back-to-back Division I NIRA national championship titles in 2015, 2016 and 2017.
Roskopf returns to Quinnipiac after serving as Women's Rugby Head Coach at Newberry College since the fall of 2021. She helped build the entire Division II program from the ground up, as Newberry College is only the second NCAA team created without prior existing club infrastructure.
While at Newberry College serving as Head Coach Roskopf was responsible for recruiting, player development, NCAA compliance, budgets/fundraising, scholarship allocation, social media, equipment/field management and more. She also served as co-advisor for the student-athlete advisory committee (SAAC).
Prior to Newberry, Roskopf spent a year as a middle school teacher at Achievement First Hartford Summit, teaching the history of indigenous nations in the United States as well as the history of the western hemisphere from the beginning of time for students of all ability levels.

LAST YEAR

QU went 5-3 during the 2022 regular season, winning each of their last four games during the regular season.
Quinnipiac rugby advanced to the NIRA Semifinals for the ninth time in 12 seasons under Head Coach Becky Carlson.
Anna Van Dyk and Gracie Cartwright were tabbed 2022-23 Division I All-NIRA selections.
The Bobcats defeated Brown in the season opener (47-14), earned a victory at Princeton (78-5), topped Sacred Heart in Hamden (44-5), defeated LIU (31-17) on the road, then bested Mount St. Mary's in the regular-season finale (62-10).
Over the last four games of the regular season, the Bobcats outscored their opponents 215-37 in total.
The Bobcats reached the NIRA Tournament, falling in the semifinals vs. #1 Dartmouth in Hanover.

For more information on the Quinnipiac Women's Rugby program, visit gobobcats.com/rugby and follow the team on Twitter (QU_Rugby) and Instagram (QURugby).

Schedule

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Players Mentioned

Gracie Cartwright

Alexis Haskins

Lucy Lamborn

Fódhla Ní Bhraonáin

Hannah Pfersch

Kelsey Thomas

Riva van der Valk

Anna Van Dyk

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Upcoming Events

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Upcoming Event: Women's Rugby versus Sacred Heart on Oct. 18, 2025 at 1:00 PM