The Quinnipiac rugby team defeated the Central Washington Wildcats in its closest game of the year, 29-24. Junior Emily Roskopf led the team with two tries and senior Ilona Maher converted a try of her own, while also adding an assist. Senior Maggie Wesolowski also had two good conversions out of five, which turned out to be crucial points in the tight contest.

[media-credit id=2182 align=”alignright” width=”300″][/media-credit]The deciding score in this game came from sophomore Mikah Maples, who gave the Bobcats their eventual final score of 29-24 by converting a try with less than 15 minutes left in the match. The Bobcats were backed up in their own zone for roughly the last seven minutes of the with the Wildcats consistently knocking on the door trying to tie the game late, but the Bobcats defense stayed strong and secured their fifth win of the season.

Quinnipiac came into this game with a chip on its shoulder having last lost to the Wildcats a just over two weeks ago by a score of 22-31.

The Bobcats knew something had to change if they wanted to win this time around.

“Just being able to play our game and not letting them dictate the pace and the structure of the game” Roskopf said. “We were able to stick to our structure, working it inside to our forwards and then spreading it wide for our backs and beating them on the edges and really punishing them to the outside.”

Roskopf was a big part of Quinnipiac’s game today as she scored the first two tries for the Bobcats. The first one came five minutes into the game just three minutes after the Wildcats opened the scoring, while the second came just about the halfway point of the first half, which at the time, tied the game at 12-12.

While being able to play the game the way they wanted did make a big difference this time around against Central Washington, it’s not the only thing that the Bobcats credited to today’s win. Quinnipiac’s home field advantage played a role in the victory as well.

“It’s just so much nicer,” Maher said. “You have your fans here and we had all our support and our families here.”

[media-credit id=2148 align=”alignright” width=”300″][/media-credit]Maher contributed immensely to the win, which helped keep the Bobcats undefeated on their new home turf. She had an assist on a try late in the first half and then converted a try of her own about five minutes later, just before the first half ended.  

Quinnipiac only has one more game left in the regular season, a home game against American International next Saturday before playoffs get under way, in which a rubber match against Central Washington is a possibility.