NIRA D-I Wrapup: A Surprise or Two
NIRA D-I Wrapup: A Surprise or Two
Dartmouth, Harvard, Sacred Heart, and Queens all logged victories in NIRA's D-I, with four winners in five games.
Brown vs Quinnipiac
Brown and Quinnipiac played to a 17-17 tie Saturday. The game was even throughout. In fact it took more than 20 minutes for anyone to score. Finally, Quinnipiac used their kicking game to get themselves in the font foot in the Brown 22, and finally Kat Story snaked around and set up lock Kelsey Thomas to crash over. Fódhla Ní Bhraonáin converted for a 7-0 lead. Quinnipiac kept coming and a couple of big carries from flanker Riva van der Valk allowed Storey to speed around the outside for a try and a 12-0 lead.
Brown came back right after that and surged into Bobcat territory before Yona Allouche was set up nicely for a try and a 12-5 halftime lead.
In the second half, Brown kept up the momentum and some hard yards from No. 8 Nikki Lynch allowed the Brown star to score. Julia Murray converted to make it 12-12. On came Brown and while Quinnipiac held firm for a while, finally a powerful charge from Sorensen finalist Akilah Cathey put her over to put Brown ahead 17-12.
From the restart, Quinnipiac did well to force a turnover off the restart. While Brown was able to rip the ball away, they lost it forward. That gave Quinnipiac a scrum right under the posts. Diminutive flanker Ava O'Malley was shifted to No. 8 and then she scrambled snappily off the back of the scrum and scored wide right. That tied it up.
Both teams had chances and time to win it. Quinnipiac was right on the tryline a couple of times and seemed sure to win it. Brown held them off, and eventually the ball was at the other end of the field. As it was, Quinnipiac shut them down and the game ended in a tie.
Brown 17
Tries: Allouche, Lynch, Cathey
Convs: Murray
Quinnipiac 17
Tries: Thomas, Storey, O'Malley
Convs: Ní Bhraonáin
Navy vs Queens
Queens University of Charlotte surprised many with a dominant win at the US Naval Academy. The speed and power of the Royals' backline was in evidence early, when fullback Jay Stone exploited a tiny gap and raced over half the field to score. A powerful run from No. 8 Lea Preuss set up a quick ball to flanker Lily Separ which, with Cece Scarff's second conversion, it was 14-0.
Navy had chances and a break, penalty, and lineout didn't connect. Little execution problems undercut those Navy chances. More explosive running from Stone set up a try for prop Jada Medellin and with the Scarff conversion it was 21-0 at halftime. Leading the way for Queens was scrumhalf Salome Schmitt, who ran the attack well and allowed Queens to play quickly.
Schmitt got just reward for this as she scored after a quick tap. Another Navy lineout miscue led to Queens to put the pressure on, a couple more penalties, and finally No. 8 Preuss was over.
That made it 33-0. Finally Navy scored when Alexis Rohrbach fielded a kick and broke through a somewhat fractured Queens chase line and went about 75 meters in a brilliant individual effort. Jamison Wheeler converted. Schmitt finished it off scoring on a tap penalty, and that was it. Queens had won impressive 40-7.
Queens 40
Tries: Stone, Separ, Medellin, Schmitt 2, Preuss
Convs: Scarff 5
Navy 7
Tries: Rohrbach
Convs: Wheeler
Big Wins
Two teams wom big on the weekend and these results were, in the end, not surprising. Harvard beat Mount St. Mary's 106-0. There's little else to say about that as the Crimson dominated.
Sacred Heart's visit to Princeton wasn't in triple figures but, like Harvard, SHU is experienced and has recruited well, and shut out a developing Princeton side 67-0.
Dartmouth vs Army
Hosting West Point, Dartmouth played quick ball with serious brutality up front. Center Kaitlyn Walker scored the first three tries of the day for the Big Green, getting a nice offload from Sadie Schier for one, and capping off some good work from their forwards. Around that, Army Stevie-Ray Ricklick scored a well-taken try.
Up 17-5, Dartmouth finished off the first half. Once again they worked their way down to the line and then sent it a bit wide. OK, a lot wide this time, and wing Paola Arredondo Almeida was over. That made it 22-5 and then fullback Annie Henrich slotted a penalty to make it 25-5 at the break.
Army was plagued with skill breakdowns. They almost gave up a try by dropped a pass in their own in-goal (an earlier knock-on brought the play back), and several other times the key final pass was too high, or too in front, or just not there.
In the second half, Dartmouth started to express themselves a bit more. Army made fewer mistakes but mostly their best moments were defensive. They held on with determination for a while. They were a bit unlucky in Dartmouth's next try. Seirra Santiago scored but Dartmouth's distribution was not great.
Then Henrich scored on a smart line and blazed through for a score. And finally tries from outside back Kyla Widodo and flanker Allie Amerson made it 49-5. Henrich converted those last two from very difficult angles.
Dartmouth has started well, but it's worth noting for Army and Navy that the first weeks of time at a military academy doesn't give you a lot of time to work on connections. Expect Army and Navy to be better. Dartmouth's ability to fold in new players was impressive.
Dartmouth 49
Tries: Walker 3, Almeida, Santiago, Henrich, Widodo, Amerson
Convs: Savin, Henrich 2
Pens: Henrich
Army 5
Tries: Ricklick
