INDIANA, Pa. - The women's rugby squad played against the University of New Haven at a neutral site on October 29. The final score against the Chargers was 118-0 resulting in the sixth win of their 15's season and leaving the Panthers at 6-0. The team has not hit a triple digit score since last year in September against Ohio State.
The team played remarkably well this weekend as they are nearing the end of their regular season. Considering they are a merging NCAA team, they had never played the University of New Haven, and came into their game not knowing exactly what to expect. Confidence was key this weekend and the hopes of bettering themselves as a team were on each player's goal list along with "big hits" and productive set pieces. In the first ten minutes of the match, Abbi Kowalczk and Ashley Cowdrey were able to score tries, allowing Davenport to set themselves up for success. By the end of the first half the score was 53-0, but Davenport remained focused and humble.
When the second half began, they were able to obtain possession almost immediately after the kickoff and maintain possession for almost the whole 40 minutes minus some penalties. Davenport focused this game on bettering themselves as individual players and their ability to run plays correctly and efficiently as a team. It seemed to work out in their favor because in the second half alone they had 11 tries and five conversions alone totaling 65 points.
Something that stood out in this match in particular is the before game chant when they say, "Day by day, we get better and better, so we can't be beat". Davenport uses this chant as their ritual, reminding all of the players that their strides to get better each and every day throughout the season is worth the effort. Next week is their last regular season match against West Chester University before entering the road to nationals. All updates on further games will be posted on the Davenport Athletics page as well as the team's social media pages.
Scoring Breakdown for Davenport v. New Haven
Aubrey Crist - 5 tries (25 points)
Abbi Kowalczk - 4 tries (20 points)
Ashley Cowdrey - 3 tries and 3 conversions (21 points)
Addy Ochoa - 2 tries (10 points)
Jasmine Hernandez - 2 tries (10 points)
Lily O'Connor - 1 try and 1 conversion (7 points)
Anise Tuia - 1 try (5 points)
Ellis McKay - 1 try (5 points)
Taylor Badal - 1 try (5 points)
Ashleigh DeWitt - 5 conversions (10 points)
Next week our Davenport Women's Rugby team takes on West Chester on Saturday, November 5th in Wheeling, West Virginia. Kickoff will be at 7:00 PM.
Story by: Taylor Badal
