FREDONIA, N.Y. - The Bowdoin College women's rugby team traveled to the banks of Lake Erie and defeated SUNY Fredonia, 29-19, in a Northeast Rugby Union Cross-over playoff match on Saturday. With the win, the Polar Bears advance to the NRU (Northeast Region) Championship Tournament at Vassar College Nov 12-13 with Norwich, Rutgers and Vassar.
Bowdoin kicked off to start the match and kept Fredonia under pressure, keeping the ball in their end of the pitch early in the game. The pressure resulted in a penalty against Fredonia and Randi London slotted the penalty kick for an early 3-0 lead. Bowdoin was able to maintain pressure and posession against a good defensive effort from Fredonia. Bowdoin's first try came off a scrum near midfield with the backline executing a fine running play; playing in her first game at fullback, Kerry Townsend inserted herself into the line, found holes and outpaced the Fredonia defense. London notched the conversion kick for a 10-0 lead. Fredonia's flyhalf and fullback mounted a kicking game to move the ball upfield, but Townsend and fellow back-row players Helen White and Lynn Freedman handled the kicks and counterattack very well. Later in the first half, the fowards drove the ball upfield, scrumhalf Anita Shah delivered to the backline and flyhalf Katie Mathews fed London the ball, who split the defense and sprinted to the goalline. Converting her own try, the halftime score was 17-0.
Not wanting to see their season end, the second half saw the Fredonia women come back strong, with good defensive pressure and well-supported attacking line breaks. Bowdoin's tackling suffered momentarily and the momentum seemed to shift as the fullback and flyhalf each scored on strong running plays, much to the delight of their hometown fan base. The FB converted one try, bringing the score to 17-12 early in the second half. Bowdoin countered with a try by prop Anissa Tanksley off a penalty play, and London added a beautiful conversion kick from a wide angle to increase the score to 24-12. Fredonia came right back with a crashing run from their inside center who broke tackles and scored under the posts and again their kicker notched the conversion. Bowdoin 24 - Fredonia 19 with 12 minutes remaining. The Bowdoin defense dug in with fine tackling from McAvoy, Esonu, Mathews, Townsend and Helen White. Freshman Emily Athanas-Linden added some fine ball carrying, rucking and tackling of her own to the effort.
Bowdoin was able to regroup during the final 12 minutes, apply pressure, maintain possession, inside the Fredonia 22 meter line, resulting in center Randi London picking up the ball off a broken play and scoring her second try with 6 minutes remaining. With tactical kicking and smart play, Bowdoin held on to the ball and the game.
