Stanford 52, Dartmouth 5

Tuesday night marked Stanford Women's Rugby's first game under the lights as they hosted the green ruggers from Dartmouth. Tuesday also marked the first day of Stanford's much anticipated Russian River Spring Break Camp. However... as seems to be the theme in so many of these posts, while Stanford was able to clinch a win versus Dartmouth, they did not carry as much positive momentum throughout the game as they would have liked. It was the case that there was some really good stuff happening at times, but often enough, the ball was knocked on by wild throws, mostly from the backs. The forwards dominated the scrums in the first half but then had some trouble in the second half as Dartmouth stepped up their game. All in all, the game was still a good opportunity for Stanford to look to readjust their play in relation to having a different line-up, with younger players looking to step up their game. A shout out should also go to Miss Jessica Watkins, back for her first full Stanford game after competing with the US National 7's team at the World Cup. Kenya believe that!?!


Again, Stanford would like the thank Dartmouth for coming out to California! It's always a treat to play new teams.

Stanford 22, Chico 15

Stanford's last league game followed their bout in San Diego as they traveled to Chico, California to play the most important game of the season thus far, versus Chico State. The weather was far more favorable on Saturday than it was two years previous, and Stanford's lack of injuries sustained during the game called the experience a success, in some respects. In other respects, the game was a success as well. When Stanford did good stuff, as always, it was really good. The the balls scored touched many hands before touch-down, and forward running was key. However... not all aspects of the game were a success. It seemed that at any given time, only a few players were really in the match, though it had been requested of each them to give a full 80min. Yet, knock-ons were in fashion for the backs in the first chunk of the game, and the AB channel could have been defended better by forwards near their own goal line. All-in-all, not the worst, not the best. Illumination is given to places for improvement. Stanford now looks to their last season game vs. Dartmouth and from there will push on to spring break and PacCoast playoffs, where they have the number one seed.

San Diego Champagne Classic

This past weekend brought another tourney to put in the books for the Stanford Card. The San Diego sun spoke of high intensity play as it beat down on the Stanford players. All received its kiss, along with bountiful snacks provided by Team Moms (first edition and version 2: San Diego). No Gatorade G2 was consumed. 'Protein Bars' which have contents extremely similar to candy bars were had by one.

A summery of game play from Jennifer Cooperrider:
We lost the first game 41-5 to the Last Call (Beantown). We won the second against Coast, and lost the third to Belmont Shore, but we were still able to avoid the loser's bracket, since we won a game. The fourth game, which we played against the San Diego club team, was the first game of bracket play in the tournament. It was fast-paced game, full of constant competition for the but, but we won, and this allowed us to continue on to play on Sunday. We were again matched up against Beantown/Last Call, which we excited for, since it was going to allow the team to show growth over the course of the weekend. We lost this game to knock us out of the tournament, BUT the score was only 17-5, and Beantown's last try came in the last minute. Griff called this performance the "performance of a lifetime" (wow...right?), and we showed significant progress in our intensity and attacking the gain line. Bisqit gave a slightly more accurate description of the match as the "performance of the season so far."

But significant progress was made!

Next week brings our last league game of the season vs. Chico. After that, Stanford will play a spring break match versus Dartmouth and then continue on to the PacCoast Playoffs!

Stanford 41, Davis 19

Donning the Saturday of parent's weekend was Stanford's match-up with the UC Davis Aggies. Like a previous set of Aggies, the Davis Aggies liked to pick and go around the fringe, much to Stanford's chagrin. While Davis was able to score at least two tries off of such methods, Stanford was not passive at the breakdown. Clear-outs were much better than in previous games, as documented by the stats. Additionally, forward motion was a key element of the game, and the first half showed much continuous play, with offloads and passes to the wing securing a number of Stanford tries. Key try scorers of the game were Ono Nseyo and Nomis Okolo. Trying out a new position as 8-man, Janae Grijalva ran her heart out, proving that she can take it and give it. Also popping up everywhere was yes-woman Alyssa Tennant.
Due to sub confusion and forward illusion, Stanford's lineouts weren't as good as they traditionally have been, but we suspect that prevalence will shoot to the heavens during Stanford's next match-ups in San Diego. Stanford will be playing four 40-min halves, feat. hard work and perspiration.

Stanford 17, BYU 15

The Stanford Rugby Women welcomed the BYU Women to Steuber Rugby Stadium this past Saturday. It was a hard-fought match all around. The match was extremely fast paced, meaning both teams had to react quickly.

The final score was 17-15. BYU was up at the half, with a converted penalty, and a try after multiple phases of picking and going around the breakdown. Diana Peng blocked a kick off of BYU's own goal line and touched it down.

The second half went slightly better for the Cardinal Ruggers, with more possession. Teresa Molina, better known as t-mo, scored in the corner off of a few phases of brilliant rugby. Melissa Smit also had a try.

A huge thank you to BYU for coming out and playing some outstanding rugby. It was a great experience for both teams!!