Princetons Signes Confident with his Squad
Despite falling behind 17-0 in the first half, with 5 minutes to go in the contest Princeton was on the rampage with a chance to win. With the score 32-17, taking into account the way Princeton was playing, three tries to win were not out of the question. Three second half Princeton tries had cut the deficit in half, but in the end Army settled and 32-17 was the final in favor of the Lady Black Knights.
Army started the scoring as their big #12 was unstoppable early. With a missed conversion the score was 0-5 Army. A bit later in the first stanza, within two minutes of each other, two Princeton players – Nida Leeuwenburgh ‘13 and Kelsey Henderson ’15 – were yellow carded, with the result that Princeton played 8 minutes with just 13 players. Army scored twice during the yellow card periods, and Princeton fell behind 0-17 by the half.
Despite a tight match called by the referee, Princeton remained disciplined in attack and played well enough to win in the second half. The early Army lead trurned out to be too much to overcome in the second period of the match. Princeton's three second half tries were from a lineout, a series of rucks (“Firestone” and “Sparta” for recent Princeton alums) both by Olivia Garard ’13, and a nice run into the corner by co-captain Morgan Arthur ’14.
Norwich Defeated Indiana
In the other Saturday match, Norwich beat Indiana. It was 12-3 at halftime, but the gates opened in the second half, and Norwich, a military school from Vermont – and the USA Rugby’s national sevens champions in 2011 and 2012 – won by a big score in the end.
Read about Princeton's victory over Indiana on Sunday »
Prematch Write-up: Princeton's Signes Confident with his Squad
Princeton Women earned the right to play in the final 16 USA Rugby collegiate teams in the country by defeating Brown University in the Ivy Rugby Conference finals. It is the 5th time for Princeton in the round of 16 in the 10 years Emil Signes has been at the helm.
“I’m not worried about our [collective] experience at nationals,” Signes looked ahead. “Even though we don’t have 30 first-team players – like Penn State, for example – we’re not afraid of anyone.” Signes is very confident in his starting 15 and small set of reserves.