NORTHFIELD, Vt. - The Norwich University women's rugby team advanced to the championship game of the New England College Rugby Conference (NECRC) playoffs with a 76-5 win over Boston University. The nationally No. 4-ranked Cadets sealed their 12th victory of the season and their 16th straight victory since spring of last year.
Sophomore Eight-man Vanessa Champagne (St. Naziere, Quebec) had an incredible match and weekend, donning both her #12 Norwich hockey jersey and her #8 Norwich rugby jersey. After a two-assist performance on the ice Friday night over Castleton State, she scored a rugby "hat-trick" with three tries to lead all scorers on Saturday.
Complementing Champagne in the scoring column were freshman flanker Hannah Bell (Newberg, Ore.) and junior center Jackie Derocher (Northwood, N.H.) who each ran in two tries apiece. With her two-try performance, Derocher became the 11th player in Norwich history to score 200 points in her career. Sophomore scrumhalf Emily Oor (Uxbridge, Ontario), junior prop Baylee Annis (Saranac Lake, N.Y.), junior wing Joya Clark (Scotia, N.Y.), and senior wing Andrea Vogt (Dedham, Mass.) also found the try zone for the Cadets.
Freshman hooker Caitlin Cataldo (Goshen, Ind.), playing in her first-ever 1st side match, also crashed her way in to the try zone for her inaugural career try.
Emily Baugus (Kingsville, Texas) converted eight of the 12 tries to give her 14 points on the day.
Boston University scored a try in the 73rd minute to become the first conference team to run one over against the Cadets this season.
"This was an exciting game," said NU head coach Austin Hall. "We put together some foxy attacks and we were able to celebrate the first game performance of Cataldo. BU is an excellent team to play – they stand up to our physical game, they have some very good players, and they don't give up. They were rewarded for their efforts with that try in the second half."
Norwich (12-0) will face University of Rhode Island for the conference championship on Saturday, November 10. Match location and time are still being sorted out by the league.
Tries: Champagne-3, Derocher-2, Bell-2, Annis, Oor, Clark, Vogt, Cataldo
Conversions: Baugus- 8/12
Lineup: 1-Annis(Whalen), 2-Cataldo(Weeden), 3-Zaweski(Ferrer), 4-McGuire(Blankenship), 5-Weppner, 6-Gunn(Inouye), 7-Bell, 8-Champagne(Campion), 9-Oor(Amodeo), 10-Baugus, 11-Clark, 12-Colesworthy, 13-Derocher, 14-Vogt, 15-Bernheim
-CADETS-
