Women's Rugby Bested By Brown

Saturday, September 17

Princeton, N.J.

11:00 AM

Princeton University

Brown

Photo by: Shelley M. Szwast

September 17, 2022 | Women's Rugby

Three quick tries to open the first half built an early lead for visiting Brown, and a depleted Princeton squad was unable to recover as the Tigers dropped their first-ever varsity Ivy match.

Injury and illness had the first-year varsity program limited to just one substitution as the Tigers took on the Bears in their first varsity match against an Ivy League opponent. Still, the Tigers battled the full 80 minutes, giving their all against a team that had reached the NIRA semifinals last season.

"Among the challenges our team is already experiencing of entering the varsity competition, we have had some injuries and recent illnesses which is combated by a small roster to begin with as we grow our program," said head coach Josie Ziluca. "Despite those obstacle, we were able to fight all the way through the match with one substitution -- usually you have eight. The pains of growth may be difficult, but this team has resiliency that is sturdier than any other team I have worked with. We travel to Harvard this coming weekend and we are looking forward to having some players back and continuing to improve our rugby skills and knowledge with this young rugby team. There is strong interest in joining our program, too. We have a rugby 'test-drive' phase coming these next two weeks and I'm excited to see what talent we have available at Princeton. We have about 30 people signed up for the sessions, and if we can identify and develop some talent from that group, we will contnue to build and grow together. We are continuously thankful for the support of our alumni and everyone at Princeton who is working alongside us in this first season. Go Tigers!"

Brown had quick starts to each half, scoring three tries in the opening 10 minutes of the first half and then adding two in the first six minutes of the second. Those early spurts had the Tigers on their heels, but Princeton battled each possession and had multiple threats to convert tries throughout the match.

The Tigers are on the road next weekend, taking on Harvard in Cambridge on Sept. 24 at 1 p.m.