The West Chester women’s rugby team ended their season on Saturday with a 29-3 finish over Quinnipiac University.
The beginning of the game started rather slowly, but it didn’t take too long for the team to wake up. The scoring began in the ninth minute of play, when captain Beth DiMassa touched the ball down in the try zone for five points.
A few minutes later, the team from Connecticut responded with a penalty kick that was good for three points to bring the score to 5-3. Within the first half, Lauren Wertz scored for another five points as did MaryKay Heaton for five of her own.
Within the first 40 minutes, much of the game was played in the home team’s try zone. And they defended with all of their might to keep the visitors from scoring, which turned out to be very successful.
When the second half began, the Rams brought the heat and the game play intensified. The offense heated up as Heaton scored for her second try of the game. “In the first half our team did not come ready to play. In the second half we brought it back and we dominated the field,” Jessica Narvid said.
As the score for West Chester began to grow, the anger of Quinnipiac became obvious and they started to play dirty. “It was easy to see that (Quinnipiac) was breaking down as their game became sloppy, but I am proud that our team stuck to the rules, played hard in return and controlled ourselves. It really showed in the end when you looked at the score board,” Beth DiMassa said.
In the last minutes of the game, Anna McGlade brought it to an end with a try of her own and a successful conversion kick, bringing the score to 29-3.
With the season now ended, the team was very proud of their 5-1 standings. They worked really hard this season to get as far as they did. “The team bounced back very well from last weekend with their loss against Penn State University. The game started out a little flat but by the second half the team had really picked up the pace. The defense came on very strong but there were a few errors that were made that could have been avoided,” head coach Tony Deremer said.
He was very proud of how well the team played over the course of the season and how much heart and dedication the team put in. The team is very excited for the spring season to begin in a few short months ahead.
Coaches and players expect great things from this team in the season ahead as they fight to get their spot at the National Championships.
Devon Petaccio is a third-year student majoring in communication studies with a minor in film. She can be reached at DP749140@wcupa.edu.