Women’s Rugby Earns 3-1 Record At West Chester 7s

Saturday, March 30

West Chester, Pa.

10:00 AM

Princeton University

West Chester 7s

Stanford, CA, March 15, 2024. The Princeton Tigers opened their spring season with a win over the Stanford Cardinal 29-27. Photo by Bob Dahlberg, @bobd_photo .

Photo by: MANDATORY PHOTO CREDIT: Photo b

Women’s Rugby Earns 3-1 Record At West Chester 7s

March 30, 2024 | Women's Rugby

WEST CHESTER, Pa. – The Princeton University women's rugby team opened its second spring season at the varsity level in impressive fashion Saturday at the West Chester University Rugby Pitch, posting a 3-1 record at the WCU 7s.

The first match of the day against the host team, WCU, had a tough first half with no Tigers scoring. The second half was a different story. Celia Watson '27 ran it in to put the Tigers on the board. Moments later, Alayshja Bable '26 completed an attacking cross-field kick to have Watson run onto the ball and score in the try-zone then Bable converted the two points. The second half had more energy from the players, but unfortunately it wasn't enough to hold back the Rams.

12 (PU)-17 (WCU).

The second match of the day was against Kutztown University. Bable ran the first try in from a Tiger scrum. After menacing defense, the Tigers turned the ball over and scored quickly, mostly due to Ciara Loughran's '26 swift footwork and speed. The Tigers put two more tries on the board before halftime, leading Kutztown 24-0. Right out of the gates in the second half, Watson scores again, with Bable converting the extra points. The Tigers finished out the second half with another try and successful conversion, concluding in a solid win over the Golden Bears.

38 (PU)-0 (KU)

The third matchup of the day was against Mount St. Mary's a close competitor of the Tigers. In the Fall XVs season, the Tigers narrowly lost a match to them by one point. Today, the tables turned. Mount St. Mary's had a try on the board first, however the Tigers answered back quickly with a try, coming from Watson's 90-meter run. After tackling a Mount player out of bounds, the Tigers attacked with a quick line-out and Malinka Kwemo '27 trotted in for a try then Bable converted the try for an extra two points. The Tigers continued their prowl and dotted down two more tries in the second half, Loughran and Kwemo, with both tries converted.

26 (PU)-5 (MSMU)

The final matchup of the day against University of New Haven had the Tigers hunting for more tries. Kwemo sprinted one in off of the first kick-off and converted her own try for an extra two points. The forwards held it strong in the scrum to be able to get the ball out to Loughran, who scored another try for the day. The Tiger forwards showed their strength by turning over a defensive scrum into an attacking weapon. Watson completed the team effort by scoring again before half. Watson came out of the gate in the second half with another try, followed by an additional try from Loughran. Kwemo converted both tries successfully.

31 (PU)- 7 (UNH)

"The Tigers scored 97 points for the day and allowed only 24 against them," said Head Coach Josie Ziluca. "This was a solid start to the 7s season ahead. Please come out and watch the Tigers compete against Navy's B-side in a friendly 12 per-side match tomorrow, at 12:00 pm at the West Windsor temporary field. The Tigers will be hosting a large 7s tournament, Emperor 7s, at the same pitch on Sunday, April 14. It will be a full day of 7s starting at 9:00 am and going until 5:00 pm. Come out to watch the Tigers take on top teams and meet the Emperor of 7s, Emil Signes! Go Tigers!"