BURLINGTON, Vt. - The Norwich women's rugby team challenged its friends and intra-state rivals, the University of Vermont (6-2-0, 3-1-0 NERFU), and came away with a 43-7 victory. Avenging their only loss of the regular season two years ago, the Cadets faced an uphill battle against the home side.

After 10 minutes of trying to find a hole in the tight UVM defense, junior scrumhalf Angela Lakey (Houston, Texas) found a gap and made her way across the line to touch down.  In just her second match wearing the #9 jersey, Lakey, who usually plays flanker, looked like a career scrumhalf.

The first half was evenly contested and Norwich eventually added two more tries on long runs from senior fullback Sybil Taunton (Brentwood, Calif.) and junior wing Ashley de Grasse (Colchester, Vt.).  Sophomore wing Clarissa Wynn converted two of the tries to end the half 19-0.

The second half saw renewed energy and focus for the "Wick", who uncharacteristically spent the half-time break running a passing drill to concentrate on their handling. They took the field as if the score was 0-0 and worked to score four more tries and concede one. Senior #8 Berline Marcelin (Miami, Fla.) played as if she was engulfed by flame, earning what will be remembered as her greatest match to date. 

Taunton and de Grasse added tries in the second 40 as did junior center Ashley Lally (Sparta, N.J.) and junior center Kelly Sullivan (Abbington, Mass.). Wynn converted two more to bring her game point tally to 8 and finalize the score at 43-7.

"That was the best UVM team I've seen in four years," said NU head coach Austin Hall.  "They've got some powerful runners and are very good at the set pieces. Every year they go to the playoffs, but this year, I think they will go far in the playoffs. Our players have many friends on the UVM team and the spirit of the game was exceptional.

"The second half was a big improvement over the first. We were a bit unsettled at first and our initial tries came on predominantly solo efforts. Once we settled down and started working as a team, we put together some nice stuff.  Playing a team of UVM's caliber, we were able to work on our defensive systems and had some good development in that area. So many different players stepped up at different times today and our team is starting to come together. We will continue to focus on development as we move towards the playoffs."

The Norwich Second XV (3-1-0) played its best match of the year, beating the UVM-B's 12-10. Sophomores Mallory Downs and Hailey Ribeiro scored the tries and freshman Elise Fournier added the conversion for the win. 

Norwich is off to Castleton State (1-2-0 NERFU) next Saturday, Oct. 20, for its final match of the regular season. A win would ensure that the Cadets (9-0-0, 4-0-0 NERFU) receive a home playoff berth on October 27.