Quinnipiac Edges AIC in 1st Women's Varsity 7s
Quinnipiac Edges AIC in 1st Women's Varsity 7s
Quinnipiac won the first Women's Varsity 7s Series tournament, defeating AIC 17-14 in the final.
Tournament. The Bobcats finished the day 5-0 while outscoring their opponents, 110-31. Ilona Maher led Quinnipiac with six tries while Rebecca Haight added four. Quinnipiac defeated West Chester in the opener, with Maher scoring two tries while Hailey Wyatt and Jennifer Fremnd also touched down. Next up was Dartmouth, which Quinnipiac beat after coming back from a 5-0 deficit. Mason Johnson set up Maher for her third of the day, which tied the game right at the end of the first half. In the second, Haight scored two quick tries to put her side up 15-5, and then Taylor Schussler and Jessica Maricich added tries to finish the game 25-5.
Quinnipiac capped off pool play with a 15-7 win over Norwich. Again the opposition took an early lead, but the Bobcats replied with tries from Flora Poole and and, once again, Maher. Johnson added an insurance try in the second half.
AIC, meanwhile, went 3-0 in pool play, as well. The opening contest of the day was a tough 10-7 decision over Harvard. Freshman Anne-Laurence Harvey raced in for both AIC tries.
The second game against Norwich B was never in question as AIC exploded for the 43-0 triumph. It was the Harvey sisters dominating the action as both Annie and Elizabeth Harvey secured hat tricks in the blowout. So that led to the clash with West Point, a team that had beaten AIC three times in 15s in the fall. In 7s, though, the Yellow Jackets prevailed 31-5.
In the semifinals it was a match-up against Norwich's A squad and in a close contest Elizabeth Harvey opened the scoring and collected another hat trick while and sophomore Kayla Clark capped the scoring with the final try and the 25-5 victory.
Quinnipiac, meanwhile, defeated Harvard in impressive fashion 29-5. Poole assisted Haight for the game's first try and Maher converted. Harvard quickly answered but then Maher scored to make it 12-5. Johnson extended the Bobcat lead after a huge run by Haight. Poole then followed up Johnson's score with back-to-back tries to make the final, 29-5.
In the Cup Final against AIC, Maher gave the Bobcats an early 5-0 lead less than 30 seconds into the game. Quinnipiac then held up the Yellow Jackets in-goal preventing a try, and then turning the ball over. From the possession Poole set up Haight who raced 40 meters for the try. AIC rebounded as time expired in the half, with Shamira Robles doing the honors.
The Yellow Jackets then took the lead 14-10, but with less than a minute to play, Emily Roskopf gave the Bobcats the lead for good. Maggie Myles converted to finish it off 17-14. Harvard took 3rd by beating Norwich 15-5, while Army took 5th over Dartmouth.