Brown wins the Northeast!

The Northeast championship match pitted 2 of the top women's rugby programs in the country against one another. In a match characterized by big hits and tenacious runs Brown beat Army, the reigning national champions 36-17. Both sides go to the National playoffs in the spring.

The final kicked off on Brophy Field at Dartmouth College under sunny skies and a light breeze. Army grabbed the lead fifteen minutes in with a nice series out to a striking fullback.  But Brown was looking good – spending much of the first 20 minutes in Army’s half. In the twentieth minutes Army drove into Browns 22 - moving the ball wide. The Army wing knocked the ball on and wing Shakeela Faulkner ’12 scooped up the bobble and ran 80 meters to score, Chelsea Garber converted and the score was 7-7. 

Thirty minutes in wing Patti Ekpo ’15 took a ball wide and out ran her opposite – she shook off the fullback to bring the ball down to the Army 10. The Brown forwards patiently moved the ball forward until they were able to pull in the Army defense and pass to Patti Ekpo who dove over for the score and a 12-7 Brown lead. That score held through the first half.

Army stormed out of the gates in the second half and scored twice in 6 minutes to take the lead 17-12. Brown stayed composed and continued to push the larger Army forwards off the ball. In the 63 minute #8 Blaine Martin ’11.5 took a short ball in traffic and drove over to tie the score at 17-17. 

Brown was on the front foot and began to play bold rugby, pushing the pace and taking on the Army defenders. The Brown defense was stellar as the backs pushed the Army backs across the field running them out of room and negating the striking runs Army had used earlier. Army did a great job pressing and fighting for the ball eventually driving into Browns 50. Brown was able to turn over the ball in an Army ruck and send the ball to Captain and tournament MVP Chelsea Garber. Chels cut out and found a seam in the Army line, she raced wide and was 5 meters from the line when the Army wing in desperation slide tackled – the dangerous tackle took Chelsea down but the referee called a penalty try  - giving Brown the score under the posts. Chelsea notched the conversation and Brown led 24-17.

Army stormed back from the kick off and began flooding the rucks but Brown stayed patient delivering nice platforms for scrumhalf Blair Station ’12.  The stadium clock was ticking down to 8 minutes left in the match when Patti Ekpo struck again taking a nice feed from Laurel Oldershaw and racing 70 meters down the sideline to score and give Bruno a seemingly insurmountable lead 29-17. Brown sensed the victory and picked up the pace, in the final minutes Blaine Martin took a punch off a stolen lineout and stormed through the Army defense to score, Chelsea Garber converted and Brown finished out the match with a stellar 36-17 win.

The win was a total team effort and was classic courageous Brown rugby. The reward for the win was a nice trophy and a number one seed at the national championship.