written by: Head Coach Puscian

On Saturday, September 29, the Neumann University Women's Rugby Team kicked off their Fall 2018 season at local Swarthmore College. Due to Swarthmore's small numbers and request, the 15's game was changed to several 7's matches. 

In the first match, the Knights came out very strong and showed Swarthmore they were there to play by scoring within two minutes.  The play started with a strong run from Madison McDowell.  After dragging some defenders behind her, Madison made a great offload to a supporting Hayley O'Connor who ran down field before making a smart pass to the speedy Kayla Jewell.  Kayla then ran the ball in for the first try of the season and her first as a Neumann Knight.  Another try was questionably called back after a great run from Jewel Cook.  Neumann dominated possession the entire first half. 

The second half was similar to start with an impressive looking Neumann team and another great run by Kayla Jewell resulting in her second try of the day.  Unfortunately, Swarthmore had a little more left in the tank and was able to score two unmatched trys at the end of the game.  This tied the game and with one good kick, the Swarthmore team came out on top with a 12-10 win.

The second game and third games gave even more new players the chance to step in a rugby game for the first time.  Although the Knights did not come out on top in these two matches, the players showed great promise.  Effective proper tackles, strong runs and amazing offloads were some of the highlights in these games.

The coaches are very proud of the effort put forth and skill demonstrated in this first match and look forward to building upon this experience as the season continues.