AMHERST, Mass. - The Norwich women's rugby team
won its opening league match of the year and improved to 6-0
overall, defeating Amherst, 39-0, on Saturday. Amherst, who
was recently relegated from the first Division, put up a valiant
effort as hosts, but was unable to deal with the intense pressure
provided by the Cadets.
Junior wing Ashley de Grasse (Colchester, Vt.) opened scoring
for the "Wick" after a tough and hard fought 10 minutes of
play. Amherst came back from the try and pressured for the
next 10 minutes. Junior center Ashley Lally (Sparta, N.J.)
broke through the Amherst defensive line and zig-zagged her way
through the backs to touch down for Norwich's second try. De
Grasse added another try just before half-time. With one
successful conversion from senior flyhalf Cassie Thompson
(Blackstone, Mass.), the half ended with NU in front, 17-0.
The second half saw Norwich gain composure and develop better
attacking opportunities. Senior flanker Charmaine Morris
(Detroit, Mich.) touched down for the next two "Wick" scores and
sophomore wing Clarissa Wynn (New London, Conn.) danced in for one
of her own. Wynn added a conversion and Thompson added a
conversion and a penalty kick to finalize the score at 39-0.
"We had trouble getting started and winning the gain line in the
opening half," said Norwich head coach Austin Hall. "Amherst
was very good at shutting down our space and we had to adapt our
attack to play with them. While the score was pretty
one-sided, the match certainly was not. We faced a difficult
opponent and we rose to the occasion. There are many
development opportunities for us to consider and we're still
shuffling around personnel at different positions. It was a
physical battle and I'm sure that players from both sides will be
making use of the ice in their freezers tonight."
The Norwich second XV were also victorious, winning 17-0.
The Norwich women's rugby team returns to the Norwich campus for
the next two weekends as Plymouth State arrives on Saturday, Sept.
29th at 11:00, before Williams comes to town on Oct. 6.
Norwich is 6-0, and 1-0 in conference play. Amherst falls to
0-1.
