On a rainy Sunday afternoon that transformed the campus recreation fields into a mud bath, the Stony Brook University Black Widows were seemingly unaffected. Bearing the ugly weather, the women’s rugby team trounced visiting Fordham University, 67-0, picking up its first postseason win.
Fordham arrived late, and only warmed up for ten minutes before kickoff, which did not help in their quest to take down a hot Black Widows team that was eager to make this a statement game.
‘Yes, I think that was just more motivation for us to kill them,’ said junior wing Allegra Waters. And kill them they did. The Black Widows shut out the visitors from the Bronx and built a 40 point advantage by the halftime break.
The postseason atmosphere accentuated the Black Widows’ energy and contributed to the rout.
‘There’s definitely more intensity this weekend because its playoffs,’ added Waters, ‘And because its Fordham and we knew we could beat them.’
The last time the two teams played, Stony Brook won by a narrow margin of 5-0. But the heightened stakes resulted in a blowout this time around.
Coach Ali Nazir credits his team leaders, junior lock Meagan Border and senior fly half Amy Drislane, for the effort.
‘The captains brought it,’ he said, ‘They took care of the warm ups all by themselves. I’ve got to give it up to them, they stepped up.’
But the Black Widows received valuable contributions from a variety of players. Multiple players scored more than once, including sophomore lock Erin Mansfield, who tallied 3 tries on the day to help Stony Brook build its insurmountable lead.
The Black Widows took care of business defensively also, feeding off of the offensive success to keep the visitors off of the scoreboard. Junior prop Karen LaGrega picked up a try and a few huge tackles, including one that sent a Fordham player face first into the ground for a mouthful of mud.
The only sore point in the easy win was the injury suffered by sophomore fullback Alexandra Slavin, who collided with a Fordham player while kicking and had to be helped off the field with less than 8 minutes remaining.
The 67 points scored are the most that Stony Brook has put on the scoreboard this season. ‘We’re going into next week with the momentum of crushing a team like this,’ added Nazir.
The win is fuel heading into next weekend’s matchup. The Black Widows travel to Rutgers University Sunday to take on the nation’s second ranked team and hopefully extend their postseason.