Central Washington Slams Navy in 2nd Game of Tour
Central Washington Slams Navy in 2nd Game of Tour
Central Washington followed up on Thursday's 63-12 defeat of Penn State, with a convincing victory over the US Naval Academy 69-8 on Saturday.
“Central Washington has a really strong squad and they played like it today,” said Navy Head Coach Murph McCarthy. “We’re glad they came out from Washington to play us today but we have work to do.”
Navy received the opening kickoff, but a quick turnover gave Central Washington possession deep in Navy territory. The Wildcats turned the turnover into a try for Emma McCabe just 78 seconds into the match to establish an early lead. CWU added another pair of tries over the next ten minutes to put Navy at a 19-0 deficit.
"It's a big challenge to play three games within the span of a week to start the season, but the team stepped up and answered the call against a great Navy squad," said CWU Head Coach Matt Ramirez, who is including October 1's 27-12 loss to University of Victoria. "Navy is in their first year of being a varsity sport under the athletic department at the US Naval Academy. It's what we have been waiting for. For more programs to take that jump into the varsity realm helping grow this sport."
Central Washington was able to go to work in the middle of the field utilizing the forwards to move the point of contact, go forward and also put the pressure on Navy's set-piece resulting in tries from Jessica Postle, Winnie Namosimalua, Ellie Frost, and Maddie Hadden. The pattern started to work well for the Wildcats and they led 47-0 at halftime.
Tessa Hann and Namosimalua added two more tries that half.
Navy never slowed down as the did well to utilize chop tackles and put pressure on the 'Cats.
"The trip was a great one for the program," Ramirez added. "To play quality rugby against quality programs helped us work out some different combinations and made it apparent on what we can work on to improve as we head into the next part of the season. It was a complete team effort from start to finish in both games, but I think the biggest growth was amongst the team as a whole during the road trip and building that trust. Very proud of this squad."
