Central Washington University women opened their Women's D1A season with an impressive 43-13 defeat of BYU.

BYU actually scored first with Nicole Lyons slotting a penalty goal. But the Wildcats replied with a try from Haley Abeyta in the fifth minute. After the early scoring the teams settled down a bit. But as the first half progressed Sammy Stern sped in for a breakaway try to make it 10-3 Wildcats. BYU replied with a try from Bailey Duce, and the teams changed ends with Central Washington up only 10-8.

But the second half was more about the Wildcats. Philomena Namosimalua scored for Central before Lyon touched down her second for BYU, making it 15-13. But then Stern raced in for two more long-range tries, zipping through several defenders on her way to her hat trick. That made it 29-13, and Central put it away with tries from Jherish Moananu and Tessa Han.

Head Coach Trevor Richards echoed what other coaches has said about early games, saying it was just good to get out there. But he was also pleased with the performance.

"It's a great feeling coming out like that after not playing almost 364 days." Richards said. "The ladies totally deserved that today, they showed up and performed. We have asked them to a lot of things the general public would not understand, and their hard work paid off.

"Overall, we’re happy with our performance, although we have plenty to work on this next week. The rust was evident in the first half. We were frantic at times and this was compounded with some speculative passes and less-than-desirable ball security. But the ladies made good adjustments at the half and got us going forward with their physicality and dominant scrummaging."

Richards praised his forwards coach, Matt Ramirez, for how he has prepared the forward pack.

"Without our scrummaging today, it would have been a very different game," said Richards. "It was also lovely to see our backline syncing up with each other and accessing space in creative ways after knocking off the cobwebs in the first half. Sammy Stern was electric and managed to score a hat trick in her debut, which is a dream start for any player."

It was certainly a good start for Central, and the Wildcats join Lindenwood atop the D1A heap, for now. There are more games to play and also the concern that COVID could halt it all again.

"We are doing our due diligence in maintaining COVID-19 protocols and testing," said Richards. "It’s been a tall order for the team, but we are immensely proud of how hard they have worked under such trying conditions and expectations. We have a more condensed schedule than we typically do, but every match is going to be tough, especially since they’re in successive weekends. While we obviously plan out well in advance, we have done our best to make sure the team just wins the day. COVID-19 has been a lesson in living for the moment and appreciating both the big and small things in life that historically, many have taken for granted."