Army West Point Athletics
Army West Point
Norwich
Army Drops Home Opener to Norwich
September 13, 2014 | Women's Rugby
WEST POINT, N.Y. - The Army women's rugby team fell to Norwich 39-5 in its rain-soaked home-opener from Anderson Rugby Complex.
"On a day like today, it was just difficult to handle the ball," head coach Bill LeClerc said. "The conditions made it difficult to play the way we wanted to play."
It was all Norwich in the first half as the Cadets got the scoring started less than four minutes into the game to take the 5-0 lead. With 25:00 remaining on the clock, the Cadets scored again to go up 10-0.
Norwich would add two more scores though with 18:18 to go to take the 20-0 lead.
Army's defense stood strong, however. With just minutes to go, the Black Knights came out of a scrum which had Norwich threatening, sending the teams into the break with Norwich leading 20-0.
The Black Knights' defense picked up right where it left off in the second half, making key stops and keeping the Cadets from scoring through 15 minutes of play.
The Cadets, however, would go on to score to more tries and add two successful conversions to get up by a score of 39-0 with just over 10 minutes to play.
Army responded when Kate Roose blocked a kick attempt by a Norwich player. Roose scooped up the ball on the left side of the pitch and ran untouched for the score. Arianna Efaw missed on the conversion attempt.
With the score 39-5 and just minutes remaining on the clock, Allison Wilson gave the Black Knights hope, grabbing the ball in Army territory and making a nice run, eluding three Norwich defenders and brining the ball into the Cadets' territory.
Norwich was able to regain control of the ball with time running off the clock, but Army's defense remained strong, preventing the cadets from another score. However, the Norwich offense proved too much for Army as they walked away with the 39-5 victory.
"We were a little naïve heading into contact, we weren't protecting the ball well and we didn't maintain possession for any length of time," LeClerc said. "Turnovers were costly, as they are in any position based game, but we just couldn't hold on to the ball."
With the loss, the women drop to 0-2 on the season. They'll hit the road next week for a matchup with Connecticut. Game time is set for 6 p.m. on Sept. 20 from Mansfield, Conn.
Players Mentioned
