The Women's Varsity College season is underway, with two official league games in the National Intercollegiate Rugby Association, and several more warmups.

Quinnipiac rode a nice second half to beat Army 32-19. Army led 19-17 at the break. More on this game here. Meanwhile, Dartmouth edged AIC 24-22 on Saturday

Two second-half tries from freshman Becca Jane Rosco put Dartmouth past the visiting Yellow Jackets. 

“We intentionally tried to schedule the best teams in the nation and it was clear that the final result shows that we were up to the challenge today,” Dartmouth Head Coach Katie Dowty said in the Dartmouth official game report. “We wanted a battle, and although I think we let up slightly at the end, it’s something we can learn from and improve upon moving forward.”

CWU and UVic players pose together after the game.

The teams were tied 5-5 before Dartmouth edged ahead 10-5 thanks to a try from Danielle Ramsay right on the stroke of halftime. Then Rosco scored her first, with Kat Ramage's conversion make it a 17-5 game. AIC came back with a try, and then Rosco scored another, with Ramage converting. That was key - Dartmouth led by nine with 20 minutes to go, meaning AIC had to score twice. The Yellow Jackets scored once, but that was it.

Central Washington will tke on the challenge of the varsity league this year, despite the rest of the competition being on the East Coast. CWU will host Army on September 24 and Quinnipiac on October 15, and will play Norwich and AIC away on a single weekend October 1 and 2. The Wildcats also have BYU and University of Lethbridge (Alberta) on the calendar. This weekend it was an away game at University of Victoria on Vancouver Island in British Columbia. A quick check of the map will show that while the teams are relatively close as the crow flies, getting from Ellensburg, Wash., to Shawnigan Lake, BC is a pretty long trip.

CWU hung in there after UVic took an early 17-0 lead. The Wildcats basically played the Vikes even in the last three quarters and got tries from freshmen Suiluana A'au and Yana Manoa i a 32-12 loss.

"U Vic is a great Canadian side; physical, smart, and skilled," CWU Head Coach Mel Denham said.  "This game provided a great opportunity to see where we are as we start off the new season."
 
The Wildcats feel behind 17-0 in the first half before freshman center Suiluana A'au broke the try line to get the Wildcats on the board.  Leah Ingold nailed home the conversion to cut the Vikes lead to 17-7 entering halftime.
 
Leah Ingold and Sammy Pinson also showed well. 

"Defensively we played well and showed our physicality and technique at the tackle," CWU Head Coach Mel Denham told Wildcatsports.com."  We also had a good shape on attack, but were unable to get the go forward ball necessary to put stress on their defense and create opportunities."

Brown took on varsity program Bowdoin, which plays in the NIRA Tier 2, and won 42-14. Head Coach Kathy Flores is just a few days past receiving a Women of Achievement award from the YWCA. She has a smart leadership group in captains Joanna Chatham, Oksana Goretaya and Hannah Yi, and the team got two early tries from senior Sofie Rudin to keep Bowdoin at arm's length.

Norwich has Castleton at arm's length all afternoon as the Cadets thrashed Vermont-bases Tier 2 NIRA team Castleton University 127-0. Alanna Girardin and Denisse Zambon both scored hat tricks on a day when 15 Cadets touched down.  

West Chester, Harvard, Notre Dame College, and Life were idle.

Next week, AIC hosts Quinnipiac on Friday evening, and Army hosts Dartmouth on Saturday. Norwich visits Notre Dame College in a game many will be looking at.

In Tier 2, there was only the one league game, but it was one of note as Molloy notched the program's first varsity victory, 45-22 over Sacred Heart. Seven different Molloy players scored tries - Caroline Nickels, Sam Guido, Jericka Ruiz, Megan Reveiro, Jacqueline Maida, Emily Kaminski, and Elizabeth Kaminski. 

So Molloy is 1-0 in Tier 2, while Dartmouth and Quinnipiac start Tier 1 1-0. But there's plenty more rugby to be played.