Women’s Rugby Advances To Semifinals At Navy 7s

Sunday, March 23

Annapolis, Md.

All Day

Princeton University

Navy 7s

March 23, 2025 | Women's Rugby

ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Princeton University women's rugby team opened its spring season on a high note, advancing to the semifinals at the Navy 7s at the Prusmack Rugby Center Sunday.

Along with a spot in the semifinals, Princeton ended the day with a 2-2 record, taking down Mount St. Mary's and West Chester's B side while falling to Queens and West Chester's A side. Celia Watson scored five incredible tries for the Tigers, while Ciara Loughran scored three.

"Today was a great start for our spring season," said Head Coach Josie Ziluca. "I feel like we laid down a platform for the tournaments to come and got a good first sense of some of the other teams and what they're about. To see all the hard work that we've been putting in over the winter and spring season is a cause for a lot of joy for our team.

We saw things we've been working on for a long time happening in the game successfully. It's not an easy fix to make something better, so we're in a good place. It's exciting for our players who are newer to get some game time and to help develop their match play. It was two and two for the day, but we're just getting started and it was the first tournament of the season.

We're really excited for next week at West Chester. We'll be seeing some of the same teams both Navy and West Chester. There will other competition including Quinnipiac, which leads us in nicely into our home tournament, which will feature lots of competitive teams. It was a great start to the season. I'm proud of our team for relying on our structure and finding connection, we were playing some really good sevens out there and it's only going to get better."

Princeton opened the day with a 21-7 victory over the Mount. Loughran crossed the line for the first try of the spring at 5:30, then again at 11:50. Watson scored the final try to close out the match at 14:00, and Annie Huettel successfully completed all three conversions.

The Tigers also faced West Chester's B side and earned a commanding 42-7 win led by a Watson hat trick. Watson scored Princeton's first try with 0:35 on the clock then Megan Hickey scored at 1:45, Watson at 4:30 and 5:37, Elizabeth Polubinski at 7:45, Zoë Koniaris at 10:31, Eliana Bane at 13:25 and Amelia Sanchirico at 14:05.

Princeton's only loss in regular tournament play came against WCU's A side, where the Tigers fell 28-15. Annabelle Edwards, Loughran and Caroline Maguire each scored for Princeton.

In the semifinal against Queens, Princeton fell short, 20-5. Watson was the Tigers' lone try scorer, crossing the line at 13:00.

Up Next
Princeton travels to West Chester, Pennsylvania, for the West Chester 7s on Mar. 30.