NORTHFIELD, Vt. – The Norwich University women's rugby team stayed undefeated against West Point with a 51-21 victory over the Black Knights on Saturday afternoon at the NU Dog River Rugby Pitch.
Norwich has now won all five meetings between the two programs, including a 32-15 victory in the 2013 American Collegiate Rugby Association (ACRA) Division I 15s finals last December.
Seniors Vanessa Champagne (St. Nazaire, Quebec) and Sophie Mundell (Eagle River, Alaska) each scored two tries to lead Norwich (6-1, 4-0 NWRC) to the victory. Freshman Alanna Girardin (Worcester, Mass.) also scored twice in the second half.
Freshman Ilona Maher (Burlington, Vt.) and junior Hannah Bell (Newberg, Ore.) each added tries to round out the Cadets' offensive leaders. Bell also went 3-for-9 on conversions.
McGuire put Norwich up 5-0 in the ninth minute with a diving try across the end line. Champagne scored back-to-back tries in the 17th and 27th minutes off passes from junior center Ally Day (Gorham, Maine).
Army (2-4) got on the board in the 31st minute with Katherine Roose scoring. Maher gave NU the momentum back though heading into halftime with a try in the 39th minute to make it 22-7 Norwich.
The win marked the 50th home victory under head coach Austin Hall in his 11 seasons at the helm of the program. The Cadets are 50-4-2 all-time at home under Hall. It was also Hall's 200th career game and Norwich improved to 155-41-4 over that span.
Norwich closes out the 2014 regular season with two road matches at American International College (AIC) on Friday, Oct. 17 at 7 p.m. and at Boston University on Oct. 25 at 6 p.m.
-CADETS-
