News

No. 3 BYU overcomes No. 5 Quinnipiac Women

Wed, 10/15/2014 - 5:26am

Tags: 
Friendly, USA Rugby News

Nicole McCollough feeds the scrum.
Captain Nicole McCollough (9) gets ready to feed the scrum.

Saturday, October 11, 2014 : 09:00am  -  Cougar Rugby News

PROVO, Utah - The Quinnipiac University women's rugby team was defeated by the Brigham Young University Cougars on Saturday morning, 36-19. In a tough match up between two nationally ranked top five teams, the Bobcats could not stop the Cougar attack in the second half despite tries from Natalie Kosko (Sebastian, Fla.), Christie Albers (Castle Rock, Co.), and Elisa Cuellar (Palm Bay, Fla.).

The contest between the Bobcats and Cougars marked the first time in women's collegiate rugby history that a top 10 team from the east coast matched up against a top 10 west coast team outside the national tournament or playoffs. Quinnipiac (2-2) came to Utah with a No. 5 national ranking against a BYU team (2-0) ranked 3rd in the country.

Play began with little ball movement and excellent defense by both sides' back lines. After a scoreless opening 20 minutes, the Cougars were first to put points on the board through Jordan Gray (12), but were unable to convert on the kick. The half continued to be a defensive stalemate after the first try and Quinnipiac entered the break facing a 5-0 deficit.

BYU downs Colorado

Wed, 10/15/2014 - 5:04am

Tags: 
Mountain West Rugby Conference

Saturday, September 27, 2014 - 11:00am - Cougar Rugby News

Meighan Stevens (5) prepares for lineout.

Provo, UT - BYU Women's Cougars dominated Colorado on Saturday putting up 106 points to Colorado's 5. It was one sided affair and the Cougars looked to be the more experienced team. Colorado is in it's rebuilding year, and this is certainly one of the games to learn from.

Led by All American No.8 Jordan Gray playing at center, the Cougars put up 50+ unanswered points in the first half alone. Dana Mortensen (10) was also at her usual best operating and guiding the Cougar offense at No. 10.

Final Score: BYU 106 Colorado 5

Next up - BYU vs Quinnpiac - Sat October 11, 2014 - 9am

 

 

Stanford gets past BYU in Elite Eight

Fri, 05/23/2014 - 1:01pm

Tags: 
USA Women's Collegiate DI Championship

By John Reid San Jose Mercury News Daily News Staff Writer -Posted:   04/28/2014 07:06:11 PM PDT0 Comments | Updated:   25 days ago

Jordan Gray on offense for BYU vs Stanford 2014. Dana Greenwood in support.
Stanford women's rugby has been a fixture at the USA Rugby National Championships for over a decade. Why change things?
Stanford is off to the Division I Final Four after a hard-fought 26-17 win over BYU in an Elite Eight match at Steuber Rugby Stadium on Saturday. Stanford won't have to travel far as it is the host site for the championships May 8-10.

"BYU was athletic, physical and a worthy adversary," Stanford coach Matt Sherman said. "They were committed with their season on the line."

Tighthead prop Maxine Fonua's third try of the game 71 minutes in, plus a 2-point conversion by Aly Gleason, had to provide some bit of relief that the feisty Cougars were at arm's length.

"I wasn't really paying attention how many tries I scored," said Fonua, a Hawaiian native. "Our forwards really brought it. We gave a good platform for our backs."

Stanford scored quickly to go up 5-0. Good ball movement to the weak side resulted in a try by center Madeline Wilson, who put the ball down far left of post in the second minute. Gleason's conversion effort was short to the left.

"Madeline had a really good game," Sherman said. "She ran hard and tackled hard."

BYU Enroute to Nationals after PMRC Playin

Tue, 04/08/2014 - 11:14pm

Tags: 
USA Women's Collegiate DI Championship

BYU Women at PMRC Playin UCLA 2014

Saturday April 5, 2014

UCLA, CA - BYU women's rugby overcame two good sides to earn an automatic bid to the Nationals Playoff competition. The Cougars dominated University of Arizona on Friday April 4th, and ran numerous tries, to finish the day winning by a record 103 - 3.

On Saturday, University of California Santa Barbara put up a solid start and drew first blood when they scored off an intercept and a penalty kick, to put them up 10 - 0 going into the 15th minute. But BYU had other ideas, the women from Utah Valley regrouped and scored 53 unanswered points. Jordan Gray ran in 3 tries and that was supported by Dana Greenwood and Harley Rowland each with 2 tries a piece. Other players contributed to the final score.

The forwards dominated the scrums and had their fair share of lineouts. Defense was led by hardworking Paige Torgerson, Shaye Grether, and Sia Skipps. The Cougars are through to the Sweet 16, Stanford Regional West which includes:

Brigham Young University Cougar Women’s Rugby
Stanford University Women’s Rugby
Texas A & M University Women’s Rugby
University of California, Berkeley Women’s Rugby

The USA College Rugby Competitions Committee has setup Friday Pool Pairings as follows:
Friday,  April 25, 2014 -  Stanford vs Texas A&M - Time: TBD
Saturday, April 26, 2014 - BYU vs Cal - Time: TBD

BYU runs through PMRC East League

Tue, 04/08/2014 - 10:49pm

Tags: 
PMRC Rugby

Dana Greenwood in action for the BYU Cougars this season.

Saturday, Nov 09, 2013

Provo, UT - The BYU Women's rugby team, regrouped after the UNM loss, and ran through the league table. The team was able to identify the talents needed to sustain the renowned program. This is a rebuilding year for BYU Women's Rugby. League results are as follows:

Saturday, Oct 12, 2013 - BYU vs Colorado @ CU; 12.00pm
Score: BYU 96 CU 0

Saturday, Oct 19, 2013 - BYU vs Utah U23 @ Provo; Time: 11am
Score: BYU 72 UT U23 17

Saturday, Oct 26, 2013 - Colorado State vs BYU @ Provo; 11.00am
Score: BYU 41 CSU 5

Saturday, Nov 02, 2013 - BYU vs Air Force @ AF; Time: 11.00am
Score: BYU 71 AF 17

Friendly Games:
Friday, Nov 08, 2013 - BYU vs Cal State Long Beach @ CSULB - Time: 8pm
Score: BYU 61 CSULB 0

Saturday, Nov 09, 2013     BYU vs UCLA @ UCLA - Time: 1pm
Score: BYU 81 UCLA 0

UNM Upsets BYU

Fri, 10/04/2013 - 12:54pm

Tags: 
PMRC Rugby

Written by Alex Goff  - Tuesday, 01 October 2013 19:31 - RugbyMag.com

Keelia Harker charges up the line against UNM.

PROVO, UT: The University of New Mexico women’s team pulled off something of an upset this past weekend when they defeated BYU (Women’s Cougar Rugby) 29-17 in league play.

With BYU being among the top teams in the country for some years, now, even a strong team like the Lobos, which returned 13 starters from last year’s playoff-bound squad, is expected to struggle.

But BYU has had their issues, too. With the Mormon Church changing the age that women are expected to go on mission from 21 to 19, a large group of players aged 19-20 left this year, leaving Head Coach Tom Waqa with only five starters from last season, and very few B-siders to fill the gap.

“We are young,” said Waqa. “We have talent and we will get it together, but it will take time.”

UNM was led by some superb work out wide.

Wing Tonya Aragon scored the first try for New Mexico, and then 6-2 wing Whitney White added three from her side. Inside center Erica Speer added a a long-range run for a try from about midfield, while Emma McCaslin added two conversions.

BYU’s scorers were all their more experienced players, with Meigham Stevens scoring two and Jordan Gray one. Dana Greenwood added the single conversion.

“BYU is still a really good team, and I don’t think they will have much trouble with the other teams they have to play,” said UNM Head Coach Shannon Robinson. “They like to run their bigger players up the middle so we needed to defend that. I thought our No. 8 Kedra Davis had an outstanding game leading the way on defense.”

Penn State Edges BYU In Quarter Final

Mon, 08/12/2013 - 3:05pm

Tags: 
USA Women's Collegiate DI Championship

Allendale, Mich., Written by Jackie Finlan - RugbyMag.com    Saturday, 13 April 2013 16:44

Meighan Lineout take for BYU.

Meighan Stevens Lineout take for BYU

Allendale, Mich., was cold, wet and snowy the past two days, and those DI and DII women’s colleges followed difficult paths to the national semifinals. The teams that adjusted and then executed their modified game plans proved the most successful, and that group includes the reigning DI champ.

A young Penn State earned their return trip to the Final Four, and players must be pleased that the opportunity to defend their title will be staged in sunny Palo Alto, Calif. The Nittany Lions started their campaign with a 58-5 win over West Chester yesterday, but it took some time to build that point differential. PSU put their patented strong scrum to work, and that dominance allowed the team to starve West Chester of possession. It was the breakdown that posed some issues for the defending champs.

“We were pretty happy yesterday, but we actually didn’t start very well,” Penn State coach Pete Steinberg said. “We’re pretty confident in our defense, but all weekend we really struggled giving away penalties and working off of the refs. Some of that might be the way the Midwest referees referee, but they had a different interpretation of the tackle area, and it took us a long time to adjust. The first 30 minutes, West Chester put us under some pressure – we were only up 17-0 – and we weren’t playing very well. But then we had 30 minutes where we really turned it on and were able to play some really good rugby.”

Cougars down Northern Iowa at Round 16

Mon, 08/12/2013 - 2:54pm

Tags: 
USA Women's Collegiate DI Championship

Cougar Rugby News - Friday, 12 April 2013 19:19

Nicole on the run for BYU at LVI 2013

Nicole on the run for BYU at LVI 2013

Allendale, Mich: The women's college Round of 16 got a day's head start in Allendale, Mich., one of four regional sites hosting the national playoffs. DI's Penn State and Women's Cougar Rugby won their respective matches as the higher seeds, while DII's Winona and Denison advanced to the next round after wins today.

Monica Jackson, Nicole McCullough, Nalia Tafua had stellar performances for BYU.

Penn State and WCR were favored to win their games today, as the Nittany Lions look to defend their title and the Cougars are becoming regular fixtures in the final four. PSU downed West Chester rather easily, 58-5, while Northern Iowa gave WCR a much better game during their 29-7 loss.

BYU Defeats Air Force at LVI 2013

Mon, 08/12/2013 - 2:43pm

Tags: 
PMRC Rugby

Boaz charges up the line against Air Force at LVI 2013

Rebekah Boaz charges up the line against Air Force at LVI 2013

Las Vegas, NV: Friday Feb 7, 2013

BYU defeats Air Force women 58 - 0 to win the Pacific Mountain Rugby Conference - East League. The Cougars have earned a trip to the College Sweet 16 to be held in Allendale, Michigan.  They will be in the same pool as Northern Iowa, Penn State, and West Chester.

http://www.usarugby.org/college-championships/womens-division-i-college

 

BYU Women Down Colorado

Thu, 11/08/2012 - 6:20pm

Tags: 
PMRC Rugby

Saturday, November 3, 2012 - Cougar Rugby  News

Cougar Women shows up in a ruck against CO - Paige, Nalia & Boaz & Company.

Provo, UT - BYU Women defeats a young Colorado University side Saturday winning by 67 - 12. BYU Women dominated the set pieces and breakdown from the get go, and started piling up points after 10 minutes of play. The Cougars made some unforced errors in the beginning by made up for that later in the game.

Rebekah Siebach, back, from China International 7s tournament last week, was on hand, to give her team a boost. Paige Torgerson (6) and Amber Ah Sue (7)  also had outstanding performances.

Colorado had two consolation tries towards the very end of the game, but the game was already one for BYU.

Final Score: BYU 67 Colorado 12

Jordan Gray delivers ball for BYU against Colorado.

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