In what was one of the most entertaining and dramatic NIRA games of the season, West Point held off Sacred Heart 26-20 on Alumni Night in Fairfield, Conn.

This was a game that wasn’t perfectly-played—both teams made errors—but it was back-and-forth throughout and hinged on several key moments.

SHU started the game looking to test the Army deep backs with kicks. The plan looked to be to force a set piece in the Army end of the field and indeed they managed to do that and force a scrum inside the Black Knights’ 22. The Pioneers ran an eightman pick through Ashley Torres-Brown, Army kept them out, and then the ball ran wide to center Reese Torticill. She threatened the line and was able to lay the ball back quickly so that scrumhalf Marley Gurmendi sent it wide to flyhalf Alyssa Cunningham for the opening try.

SHU was back on the front foot again after a huge run from lock Ella Bortz—who had a big night—but the final pass to score didn’t go to hand.

Army hung on defending their line and finally opted to run their way out of trouble, even taking a tap on a penalty inside their own half. With centers Yesenia Morales and Gabrielle Woenker finding some inroads, wing Chloe de Leon being shifty, and No. 8 Cecilia Ollis also making ground, they forced Sacred Heart back.

After a couple of penalties, and with Cunningham off for a blood sub, West Point launched off a lineout and finally put prop McKhaye O’Boyle over under the posts. Flyhalf Alissa Eisenhart converted to make it 7-5 Army.

Sacred Heart replied immediately. Army was offside on their clearance kick after the restart, and the Pioneers sent prop Reece Woods over. Cunningham slotted the difficult conversion and it was 12-7 for Sacred Heart.

While Army was clearly the smaller team, they were tenacious, like a flock of burrowing owls, working their way through to the gainline. They played fairly quickly and their ball handling was solid.

They had some long periods of holding onto the ball and that was crucial for the Black Knights. Quick to the ruck, they worked their way down the field and put wing Alyssa Davis over for a well-taken team try. Eisenhart was good on the kick and Army led 14-12.

For Sacred Heart, their plan to use some slightly more sophisticated backline moves was undercut by handling and timing errors. They would set up good chances, and then see the final key connection fail. Despite some ascendency in the scrum SHU was not able to ruin Army scrum possession enough to make it count.

In the second half SHU came out with renewed vigor and threatened immediately. Army’ defense held on, just, but SHU was able to regain the lead with a Cunningham penalty to make it 15-14. 

Back came Army. A brilliant counter-attacking run from fullback Emily Steen, ably backed up by Woenker and flanker Taimane Fiatoa, set them up for a chance. They were eventually held-up, but the Army backs countered again and finally O’Boyle crashed over for her second.

Army let 19-14.

Neither team had been able to get a lead of more than one score … until now. SHU was on the charge and looking like they would keep that trend going. But Eisenhart stepped into a pass and raced off for 60 meters under the posts. It was a heavy body blow by the Black Knights.

“In my head I was like, I’m just going to run as hard as I can to keep them behind their gain line; I read she was going to pass and I actually didn’t think I was going to catch it,” said Eisenhart after the game. “But then I suddenly had the ball in my hands and I was like oh, shoot, I gotta run.”

Eisenhart converted to make it 26-15, and, crucially Army had a two-try lead.

Sacred Heart had to bounce back from that, but that try hurt.

the Pioneers threw everything they had at Army, and the Black Knights, to their credit, defended with tenacity and made it very difficult for Sacred Heart to break through. Finally a quick pass out to Sarah Gray got her over in the corner. The Pioneers were operating on a penalty advantage at the time, and perhaps a try nearer the posts would have been better. As it was, Cunningham’s kick from the touchline was on the right line, but a bit short, and Sacred Heart needed a converted try now to win it. 

They didn’t get it. They had the ball and a chance to move down the field, but Army’s defense held, and a knock-on ended the game.

Sacred heart were gutted, to be sure, but they had been a part of a truly special contest. Head Coach Michelle Reed said lack of execution at key moments and a feeling of frustration at those moments throughout the team affected her squad. They pressed when perhaps a more cool-headed approach would have sufficed. Little mis-timed passes helped the Army defense do their job.