Stanford 74, Reno 0

The Cardinal played their second league game on February 6th against the University of Nevada Reno, winning 74-0. Although the ground was extremely muddy, the Cardinal succeed in moving to the ball to the outside, aided by successful offloads and quick ball movement. Powerful scrummaging as well as powerful counter-rucking resulted in several turn overs. Strong runs resulted in trys by Jessica Watkins, Kasonni Scales, Alex Nana-Sinkam, Amelia Villines, and Melanie Nacouzi. The Cardinal look forward to their next game on Saturday, the 13th, against Sacramento State.

Crawford 24, Reno 15

The Stanford Crawford team also played Saturday against the University of Reno, winning the game with a score of 24-15. Throughout the 25 minutes halves, the Crawford team dealt well with the muck, fighting hard to keep possession and have clean ball movement through out the game. Tough defense and good communication lead to the victory for the Cardinal. The Crawford team plays their next game on Thursday day, the 11th, against University of California Berkeley.

Stanford 5, UC Davis 10

The Saturday morning game of January 23rd was played on the home turf of UC Davis. The wet conditions were a result of the massive amounts of rain the West Coast has been receiving this past week and made for an interesting playing field. Starting the game off in the slippery mud, both teams had to adjust their strategic game to accommodate for the challenging environment. The first half of the game found UC Davis in good footing, utilizing a simple pick and go off of the breakdown method which resulted in a 5-0 lead. Throughout the second half, however, Stanford turned up the intensity and began to fight back with an awesome corner try from Melanie Nacouzi who bravely took it up alongside the touchline. Despite a lot of hard work from the Stanford scrum and a good strategic game offered up by the backs, UC Davis managed to score another try against The Card. The final score of the game, 5-10 Davis. Although the match was a major upset for the women's team, it is not to say they did not work hard to compete in the mud and the sludge. Captains, Coaches, and Players see the match as a lesson and an incentive to work even harder. Of course SWR will step up to the challenge.

Stanford Invitational

The Stanford Women hosted yet another successful Invitational Tournament on January 16 and 17, 2010. Stanford finished second behind the University of Colorado, losing to the Buffaloes 0-14 in the final.

The tournament field included Western Washington, UCLA, Oregon State, UC Davis, University of Nevada at Reno, Oregon, and Cal (UC Santa Barbara dropped out). Each team played three or four 40 minute pool play games on Saturday, and two or three bracket games on Sunday. The final rankings for the Invitational were:

1. Colorado

2. Stanford

3. Cal

4. UC Davis

5. Univ. of Oregon

6. UCLA

7. Reno

8. Western Washington Univ.

9. Oregon State

The MVP Forward was Lauren Daly, Lock for Colorado, and the MVP back was Cameo Motley, Winger for Cal.

The following is a summary of Stanford’s play in the tournament:

Stanford 21, Western Washington 0

In their opening game of the Invite, Stanford eased into the weekend with a lopsided performance against Western Washington. Stanford's speed carried them to an easy win. Outside center, Olabisi Ibrahim, Fullback, Jessica Watkins, and Prop/8-man Janae Grijalva recorded tries against Western Washington.

Stanford 19, UCLA 7

The first 20 minutes were dominated by UCLA's offense with hard lines and consistent passing out to the backs. But, the Cardinal was able to stop the UCLA backline attack with good tackles from centers, Melanie Nacouzi, Olabisi Ibrahim, and Amelia Villines. Eventually, Stanford was able to retain possession and found space on the outside.

Stanford 31, Oregon State 6

In the last game of the day, Stanford gave their greatest performance against Oregon State. Flyhalf, Amelia Villines booted the ball down the field, putting the Beavers under pressure, and Center, Melanie Nacouzi had a number of good line breaks, getting her team past the gain line. The Stanford forwards showed great courage with improved tackling, led by flanker, Chelsea Smith-Carmichael, Lock, Sarah Roe and Prop and Captain, Janae Grijalva.

Stanford 5, UC Davis 0

On the second day of the Invite, Stanford opened up with a close win over UC Davis. While the Davis forwards played a tight game, taking the ball up the sides of the breakdowns on most of their possessions, Stanford was able to hold them with a number of try saving tackles by Stanford's flankers and forwards.

Stanford 5, Cal 5

In the opening game of bracket play, Cal and Stanford played to a tie in overtime. Stanford allowed MVP back, Cameo Motley to get around the outside early in the match which led to a try. Stanford came back after the Cal try with a quick ball off a clearout up the sideline. Stanford had a few more good chances to put in another try, as did Cal, but both teams failed to do so before time expired.

Stanford 0, Colorado 14

Colorado's pack dominated Stanford for most of the game in the set pieces, and the Cardinal could not get enough possession to allow their backs room to operate. MVP forward, Lauren Daly was hard to stop, as the Cardinal lost in the final 0-14. The loss gave Stanford a good starting point for their regular season.

Stanford 102, Santa Clara 5

Last Friday at 7 pm, Stanford squared off against Santa Clara underneath the Steuber Stadium lights. The chilly air and wet conditions provided both teams with several scrums throughout the night. The first half of the game found the Santa Clara Broncos on their heels throughout much of the game and in some penalty trouble as well. Stanford scored their first try approximately 6 minutes into the game after a Stanford defensive scrum underneath the Santa Clara posts was won and the ball run in by scrumhalf Charlotte Eilbert. The first half would also see the Broncos score their single try of the game after several penalties incurred by Stanford pushed them back to their goal line and the Broncos punched a hole through the Card's goal line defense. The second half of the game was all Stanford with multiple trys each from hooker, Jessica Talbert, flyhalf, Amelia Villines, outside center Bisi Ibrahim and and fullback Jessica Watkins. This inaugural game of the year was also the first game for junior returners Jess Talbert and Katie Lampert after being abroad the previous quarter. The team also welcomed back Jennifer Cooperrider and Jennifer Bido from their quarter abroad as well.

Crawford 10, Claremont 0

As a beautiful finish to their weekend in South California, Stanford Women's Rugby played Claremont College in a friendly game where both A-side and Crawford players joined in. Both Clementine Stip and Melanie Nacouzi got to practice the position of fly-half, with Melanie performing extremely well in her quick adaptation to this new position after only a few months of rugby in her pocket. Though the opponents' offense put the Cardinals on their heels a few times, they held strong and did not let Claremont score one try. Players Olabisi Ibrahim proved really aggressive on defense and broke the line several times on offense, always making yardage and scoring several tries. This game was also a shining moment for Charlotte Eilbert's as the scrumhalf scored her first try at this position, breaking through as she picked up the ball and ran on the side of the breakdown. This was also a formative game for the forwards as Alexandra Nana-Sinkam played her first game as a number 8 and made some great runs under the effective mentorship of Frances Wehrwein who led the forwards with her forceful tackles. Janae Grijalva also played a key role in the defensive work of the team. Though the team struggled a little bit at first to find its place on the field, their determination helped them regain dominance of the game. After a strong closure to the game, Claremont offered great food and songs, wrapping up the weekend in a delightful manner, punctuated by Mrs. Grijalva's delicious cupcakes! Special thanks to Claremont for their warm welcome and to the Grijalva family for being so amazing all throughout the weekend.

Stanford 48, UC Santa Barabara 5

It was a warm, sunny afternoon when Stanford Women's Rugby faced the University of California at Santa Barbara on Friday, November 13. Santa Barbara started the game off quickly, when they returned the kick and ran fifty meters to score their first try within the first five minutes of the game. Unfortunately, that would be their only try - the Stanford women immediately turned on their game, playing great offense and impenetrable defense. With one try by senior forward Janae Grijalva and several from junior back Bisi Ibrahim, Stanford quickly started racking up the tries. With a competitive first half and beginning of the second half, Stanford locked in the final 48-5 score by the 60th minute. Stanford played nearly entirely defense for the last quarter, but due to their strong defensive plan, Santa Barbara's score remained at 5. The game was a preseason show of the new talent that the team is boasting, and was followed by a win at Claremont later that weekend.

Crawford 5, Oregon 17

Stanford Women's Rugby played their first Crawford Side game on Sunday, November 8^th, against University of Oregon. It was a very exciting day because it was the first time playing a full rugby game for many of the rookies. With only a handful of returners on the field to guide them, the rookies did an amazing job of diving into their first full game experience. For the first ten minutes, Stanford put strong pressure on Oregon, but as Stanford's organization began to falter, Oregon was able to make several line-breaks, and led the score 17-0 at halftime. The Stanford women began the second half determined to make life considerably harder for their opponents. Although they spent most of the second half in their own half of the field, Stanford continued to work hard and pressure Oregon, refusing to allow them to score another try. Stanford struggled significantly with maintaining possession of the ball, and therefore spent most of the second half of the game playing defense. But in the last few minutes of the game, Stanford was able to bring the ball all the way up the field, and in a strong, determined push led by Janae Grijalva right over the try line, scored a try of their own in the last seconds of the game. Although Stanford lost the game 17-5, it was a highly valuable learning experience and a very fun first Crawford game of the year. Stanford would like to give a huge thank you to the University of Oregon team for coming all the way down here to play!

Stanford 17, Davis Double Deckers 43

Friday night provided Stanford Women's Rugby a chance to play under the lights of Steuber Rugby stadium against the Davis Double Deckers women's club team. The 8:00 PM game provided both the returners with their first 15's game of the season, and for the rookies their first ever 15's game. Both sides came out strong, with the Cardinal playing a tenacious 38 minutes of defense in the first half, allowing only 15 points. The aggressive and fast-paced game featured three tries by senior Jessica Watkins. Although the game did not end in the favor of the Cardinal, who lost 17-43, the game provided a rich learning experience for all players, who will continue to improve as the season progresses. The game against DDD was a fantastic game to compete in under the Friday night lights.

Stanford 10's Tournament

On October 31, 2009, Stanford Women's Rugby hosted its annual Stanford 10's Tournament. Not only did teams show up ready for an intense day of competition, but they also sported some festive face paint in the Halloween spirit. On the women's side, nine sides showed up to participate in this year's event to battle for the top spot. One club team SF Fog, seven collegiate teams including one side from Santa Clara and two sides each from Cal, Stanford, and UCSD. The Stanford graduate team, the Sequoias, also participated and ended up taking home the first place trophy. It was another successful year for Stanford Women's Rugby with the Sequoias taking first along with Stanford Red and White teams placing 5th and 6th. Emi Briggs, a member of The Sequoias, was also named MVP of the tournament. For the Men's tournament seven teams participated but the championship was won by theStanford GSB. Berkeley, Santa Clara, and Stanford all had teams participate. The Men's side of the tournament was just as successful for Stanford with Tim Lew from the Stanford GSB team winning MVP of the tournament. Overall, it was an excellent tournament and a great way to spend Halloween day.

The Final Women's Rankings for the day were:

1. Stanford Sequoias

2. SF Fog

3. Cal White

4. Santa Clara

5. Stanford Red

6. Stanford White

7. Cal Blue

8. UCSD White

9. UCSD Blue