With their performance Saturday, the women’s rugby team reached a new high.
The Bulldogs earned their highest score of the season in a 53-5 rout of Boston University. With the win, the Elis improved to 4-2 this season.
Players said this weekend’s impressive final score reflects consistent hard work and steadily improved skills, which may not have been as obvious in lower-scoring games.
“It was probably one of our better games of the season,” flyhalf Phil Thomson ’06 said. “We’ve been gradually working on improvements, and I think it all came together that game.”
Saturday’s game was certainly the team’s best in terms of the final result. The Bulldog’s previous scoring high was the 32 points they posted against Williams Sept. 19.
“We played pretty well, and it was our best overall game,” wing Patti Breech ’06 said. “But there are other games in which we’ve rucked better, for example.”
Back Sammy Stone ’07 scored twice and back Emily Roller ’07 tallied three times to lead the Elis.
Thomson noted that Stone and Roller seemed to feed off each other throughout the game.
“Whenever any one of them scored it was because the other had set them up with the ball,” she said.
Prop Kasia Wegrzyn ’07 also had a great all-around performance Saturday.
“The whole sophomore class was leading the team Saturday,” tri-captain Margaret Fox ’05 said. “We have some great rookies this year that are really stepping it up.”
Wing Ali Oliva ’05 and prop Caitlin Jo Dean ’05 are the team’s other two captains.
The Bulldogs opened their season against Navy Sept. 18 at the Beantown Tournament hosted by UMass-Amherst. They lost narrowly, 10-5, but bounced back the next day to shut out the Williams Ephs, 32-0.
“We lost narrowly to Navy but expected much worse,” Fox said.
Yale defeated the University of Connecticut 10-5 Sept. 25, before falling to Boston College, 18-0, the following weekend. The Elis redeemed themselves with back-to-back victories, downing Smith, 15-0, Oct. 9 and BU last weekend.
“We were unlucky to have lost that one game against Boston College,” Breech said. “We just weren’t on top of our game that day. If we had beat them, we would be number one in our league, and I think we should be there.”
Although the team lost some valuable seniors to graduation last spring, returning players and rookies have been coming through in games. Thomson said the team has improved noticeably in recent years.
“We’re a lot better than last year,” she said. “This is the third year I’ve played, and we’re getting better and better each year.”
Breech agreed that the team is probably the strongest it has been in the past two or three years.
Fox attributes the team’s improvement to its coaches.
“They’ve been doing an excellent job of really getting our scrum together, and their effect on the team overall has been really positive,” she said.
The Bulldogs next take on Wesleyan Saturday at home. Aside from a likely postseason game against Harvard, the team will be done for the regular season after this weekend.