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)
Date Venue First XV (9-2) Second XV (3-4)
3/2/13 @ Charlottesville 26 North Carolina 10 0 UVA B 22*
3/2/13 @ Charlottesville 54 Maryland 0 7 Navy B 15*
3/3/13 @ Charlottesville 20 Pittsburgh 0 -VWIT SF 19 Navy B 5* (est. score)
3/3/13 @ Charlottesville 10 Navy 17 - VWIT final
3/9/13 @ DC 61 George Washington 5 7 George Washington B 5
3/20/13 @ San Diego, CA 37 San Diego Surfers B 5
3/21/13 @ Irvine, CA 13 UC-Irvine A 15
3/30/13 @ Providence 49 Harvard 5 (Ivy Rugby Semifinal)
3/31/13 @ Providence 22 Brown 17 (Ivy Rugby Championship)
4/6/13 @ Princeton 15 U Penn A 14
4/13/13 @ Pittsburgh 17 Army 32 (US Round of 16 SF)
4/14/13 @ Pittsburgh 17 Indiana 0 (US Round of 16 Consolation)
4/20/13 @ Princeton 42 Temple 7 7 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 Devan Kreisberg ’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 spring season. 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 Lelabari Giwa-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 timeJ).
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. Devan Kreisberg ’13 (2T)
12. Ariel Jespersen ’13 (T)
13. Nida Leeuwenburgh ’13
14. Kristy Giandomenico ‘14
15. Morgan Arthur ’14 (T)
Replacements:
Emilie Burke ’15 for Olivia (at 0:00)
Andrea Malleo ’16 for Maya
Lelabari Giwa-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. Tanaya Dukelow ‘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
Lelabari Giwa-Ojuri for Ozi, Bari to 2nd row, Juju to prop, Steph to #8
Lauren Rhode for Emilie … Lauren to #8, Bari to prop
Individual Scoring (Blue = Leaving us)
1st XV (9-2) scoring (18 different players ):
Name T C PK DG Pts
Lauren Rhode 6 15 2 1 69
Dot Mittow 12 2 0 0 64
Devan Kreisberg 8 0 0 0 40
Olivia Garard 5 0 0 0 25
Lelabari Giwa-Ojuri 5 0 0 0 25
Stephanie Kim 5 0 0 0 25
Morgan Arthur 3 0 0 0 15
Elizabeth Sajewski 3 0 0 0 15
Cat Lambert 1 2 1 0 12
Kristy Giandomenico2 0 0 0 10
Kelsey Henderson 2 0 0 0 10
Maddy Lea 2 0 0 0 10
Mireille Pardon 2 0 0 0 10
Emilie Burke 1 0 0 0 5
Ariel Jespersen 1 0 0 0 5
Andrea Malleo 1 0 0 0 5
Madeleine Karn 1 0 0 0 5
Sarah Rounsifer 1 0 0 0 5
Total 61 19 3 1 355
Opponents 16 5 2 0 93
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).
Name T C PK DG Pts
Tzu-Yung Huang 3 0 0 0 15
Cat Lambert 1 2 1 0 12
Lelabari Giwa-Ojuri 2 0 0 0 10
Maddy Lea 1 0 0 0 5
Missing (from VWIT) 4 3 0 0 26
Total 11 5 1 0 68
Opponents 15 4 1 0 86
The totals for the 2nd XV are confused by the fact that, at the VWIT – [Univ.] Virginia Women’s Invitational Tournament – the Princeton Tigers 2nd 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