Seniors Finish with 42-7 Win Over Temple
Spring 2013 Report #6 – 4/24/13:
Seniors Finish with 42-7 Win over Temple
Emil Signes, Coach, Princeton Women’s Rugby
Wednesday April 24, 2013-rev 3
Spring 2013 Schedule and Results (orange = home games)
DateVenueFirst XV (9-2)Second XV (3-4)
3/2/13@ Charlottesville26 North Carolina 100 UVA B 22*
3/2/13@ Charlottesville54 Maryland 07 Navy B 15*
3/3/13@ Charlottesville20 Pittsburgh 0 -VWIT SF19 Navy B 5* (est. score)
3/3/13@ Charlottesville10 Navy 17 - VWIT final
3/9/13@ DC61 George Washington 57 George Washington B 5
3/20/13@ San Diego, CA37 San Diego Surfers B 5
3/21/13@ Irvine, CA13 UC-Irvine A 15
3/30/13@ Providence49 Harvard 5 (Ivy Rugby Semifinal)
3/31/13@ Providence22 Brown 17 (Ivy Rugby Championship)
4/6/13@ Princeton15 U Penn A 14
4/13/13@ Pittsburgh 17 Army 32 (US Round of 16 SF)
4/14/13@ Pittsburgh17 Indiana 0 (US Round of 16 Consolation)
4/20/13@ Princeton42 Temple 77 Temple B 10
* at VWIT we combined with Pitt Panthers B to play as Cats
Dear Parents and Alumni/ae:
The season ended with a 42-7 win over Temple. All 9 seniors (plus 5th year Lauren Rhode) started the game, and by the time the first XV game was over, our team consisted of 100% undergraduates.
Temple is an accomplished team: the last time we met, it was in the 2011 CRC sevens championship in Philadelphia in front of more than 10,000 people … and we lost. And they’re not too shabby in 15s, either. They were the 2012 champions of MARC, the Middle Atlantic Rugby Conference.
Our second XV lost a tough 7-10 game vs. Temple. They came with a small number of reserve players, and we started a whole new team – 14 of them freshmen or sophomores! We used 17 players that didn’t start the first game, thus we were playing inexperienced players against mostly Temple’s first XV. In the long term it will be great for us!
-- Emil
Slow Start, Great Finish.12 minutes into the game we were losing 5-7, and what it looked like was probably what it was – a Princeton team that felt it should have been in the US Final Four was playing against a team to which it felt it was superior. But – as noted above – Temple has had some accomplishments in its recent history and wasn’t about to lie down.
Once the players woke up, they figured that out. Prop Elizabeth Sajewski ’13 had scored the first try from a Temple lineout where we stole the ball. Dot Mittow ’14 then scored from a penalty to give us a lead we never lost. The backs got back in business as Morgan Arthur ’14 and DevanKreisberg ’13 made the score 22-0 (with one conversion by Lauren Rhode).
Devan and Dot each scored again early in the 2nd half and we began to get the seniors out. Before we’d finished senior Ariel Jespersen scored her first try of the year, giving the first XV 18 different try scorers for the springseason. Cat Lambert ’15 came in for Lauren at FH and immediately hit a penalty, which turned out to be the last score; 42-7 was how it finished.
Second Game (3rd period). Because Temple came with only 18 players, we agreed to play three 30-minute periods, with the third serving as a “B” game. We played 26 players in the first two periods, and used 32 different players in the entire 90 minutes.
Well, in the interest of full disclosure, 31 actually played. Captain Olivia Garard ’13 was not cleared to play but was “announced,” and 1 second before the opening kickoff of the first game, came off the field and was replaced by Emilie Burke ’15.
Although we lost this game 10-7, it was a great performance against a good team’s first team. Juju Obioha ’14 was the only person that started this game that was not a freshman or a sophomore. Junior LelabariGiwa-Ojura came in later in the game when Ozi sprained her ankle, and Lauren Rhode was such a pain about wanting to play one last time, that I put her back in for about 2 minutes at the end of the game. Lelabari scored our only try after a huge run by freshman Maddy Lea; Cat Lambert converted it. (Note: in historical rugby parlance, a try – now worth 5 points on its own – was merely an attempt to earn a goal [now 7 points, originally 1] by converting the try into a goal with a kick [just like an extra point – or conversion – in football]. Originally a try was worth zero points, just an opportunity to get a goal.) (Lesson of the day, and … before my time).
Ever since the Virginia Women’s Invitational Tournament, where we combined with Pitt, our second XV has not had a game decided by more than 3 points. As we’ve almost always played a fresh side, that’s very promising. In rugby, because we don’t have unlimited substitutions, it’s considered pro forma to have two games even if you don’t have two full sides. (We only got all those subs in in this game because it was our senior game and we asked Temple if it was OK with them.) So, when teams don’t have enough for two full sides, they play a lot of their experienced players twice, and tend to win over teams with greater numbers by virtue of their additional experience.
And – anyway – two of our really close second XV games were against full first XV’s (a 13-15 loss to Cal – Irvine on tour, and a 15-14 win over Penn at home). So … great job, underclassmen!!
Lineups and Scoring: Leaving us in Blue
(there are no more rookies)
Princeton 1st XV (42) vs. Temple (7)
1. Olivia Garard ’13
2. Kelsey Henderson ’15
3. Elizabeth Sajewski’13 (T)
4. Victoria Richardson ‘13
5. Sarah Rounsifer ‘13
6. Maya Gainer ’13
7. Madeleine Karn ’13, R
8. Dot Mittow’14 (2T)
9. Stephanie Kim ‘15
10. Lauren Rhode ‘12*16 (2C)
11. DevanKreisberg’13 (2T)
12. Ariel Jespersen ’13 (T)
13. NidaLeeuwenburgh’13
14. Kristy Giandomenico ‘14
15. Morgan Arthur ’14 (T)
Replacements:
Emilie Burke ’15 for Olivia (at 0:00)
Andrea Malleo ’16 for Maya
LelabariGiwa-Ojuri ’14 for Victoria
Juju Obioha ’14 for Sarah
Maddy Lea ’16 for Nida (Kristy to OC,Maddy to wing)
Nicole Pennycooke ’15 for Madeleine
Cat Lambert ’15 for Lauren (PK)
Tzu-Yung Huang ’15 for Stephanie
Ozi Obi-Onuoha ’16 for Elizabeth
Leora Haber ’16 for Ariel
Shirley Yang ’16 for Devan
Princeton 2nd XV (7) vs. Temple (10)
Of 20 that played, 12 freshmen, 5 sophomores
1. Emilie Burke ’15
2. Melody Qiu ‘16
3. Ozi Obi-Onuoha’16
4. TanayaDukelow ‘16
5. Stephanie Diu ‘16
6. Abigail Johnson ‘16
7. Nicole Pennycooke ‘15
8. Juju Obioha ‘14
9. Tzu-Yung Huang ‘15
10. Cat Lambert ‘15
11. Wendy Li ‘15
12. Leora Haber ’16
13. Maddy Lea ‘16
14. Kasturi Shan ‘16
15. Shirley Yang ’16
Replacements:
Mariana Wu ’16 for Kas
Samantha Wu ’16 for Wendy
Jisoo Kim ’16 for Leora, Maddy to IC, Mariana to OC, Jisoo to wing
LelabariGiwa-Ojuri for Ozi, Bari to2nd row, Juju to prop, Steph to #8
Lauren Rhodefor Emilie … Lauren to #8, Bari to prop
Individual Scoring (Blue = Leaving us)
1st XV (9-2) scoring (18 different players ):
NameTCPKDGPts
Lauren Rhode6152169
Dot Mittow1220064
DevanKreisberg800040
Olivia Garard500025
LelabariGiwa-Ojuri500025
Stephanie Kim500025
Morgan Arthur300015
Elizabeth Sajewski300015
Cat Lambert121012
Kristy Giandomenico200010
Kelsey Henderson200010
Maddy Lea200010
Mireille Pardon200010
Emilie Burke10005
Ariel Jespersen10005
Andrea Malleo10005
Madeleine Karn10005
Sarah Rounsifer10005
Total611931355
Opponents1652093
24 of our 61 tries have been scored by our #8, 9 and 10. And if you count our SH as a forward (Steph plays like one), 39 of the 61 have been scored by forwards.
2nd XV (3-4) scoring to date:
VWIT individual scoring missing (from Cats’ games).
NameTCPKDGPts
Tzu-Yung Huang300015
Cat Lambert121012
LelabariGiwa-Ojuri200010
Maddy Lea10005
Missing (from VWIT) 430026
Total1151068
Opponents1541086
The totals for the 2nd XV are confused by the fact that, at the VWIT – [Univ.] Virginia Women’s Invitational Tournament – the Princeton Tigers2nd XV joined with the Pittsburgh Panthers to play as the [Pitts-ton] Cats; the totals reflect that union, but not the individual stats. It may be that all the scores for us in those games were by Pitt players; I don’t have any by the Tigers recorded.
cc: Team