October is the first full month of fall. Temperatures drop, the trees become full of color and animals change their habits to get ready for winter. One animal, however, has refused to change its winning ways. Quinnipiac rugby (5-2) coasted by Mount St. Mary’s (1-4-1) Saturday to finish October the way it started — with a 53-21 win.
The Bobcats opened the match with excellent tackling and nice tosses, culminating in a nice run and score by sophomore hooker Lucy Lamborn. However, Mount St. Mary’s senior center Monet Hubbard took matters into her own hands by scoring a try on a long run, breaking multiple tackles from midfield.
For a while, the game ebbed and flowed, with neither team giving an inch lest they concede a mile. A costly penalty by the Mount would crack the game open for Quinnipiac and senior prop Hannah Pfersch forced her way into the try zone for the first of two tries of the half.
Turnovers, penalties and poor discipline overall by Mount St. Mary’s prevented them from doing much at all after Hubbard’s score. The Mount had a couple chances to get something going with the occasional lapse by Quinnipiac, but nothing materialized.
Quinnipiac took advantage of the poor play by finding the try-zone a couple more times during the first half. Pfersch found her way in the try zone after 25 minutes and senior number 8 Grace Dagenais ran through Mount St. Mary’s defense just six minutes later.
Mount St. Mary’s tried to get something going before the end of the half, but Quinnipiac was having none of it. The Bobcats stalled every advance the Mount attempted and became an awakened giant.
The start of the second half followed an eerily similar script to the first half. Senior utility Alexis Haskins and Dagenais both ran in tries just three minutes in, and Quinnipiac cemented firm control of the game. Mount St. Mary’s would try to answer by way of a swift run from senior wing Katherine Stern, but the odd try here and there would not be enough.
The Bobcats answered Stern’s try with a scrum run to the try-zone from junior scrum-half Alise Kayser, but the half wasn’t all Quinnipiac. A rare lapse in discipline for the Bobcats resulted in a penalty kick, and first-year scrum-half Anita Manglona took advantage by taking the ball to the house for Mount St. Mary’s second and final try of the half.
Unfortunately for Mount St. Mary’s, the budding juggernaut that is Quinnipiac could not be stopped. Haskins punched her second try of the game, followed shortly by a penalty kick score by junior utility back Fódhla Ní Bhraonáin pushed the Bobcats above 50 points for the second time this season, and put a close to a perfect October.
Perfect Octobers are nothing new to Quinnipiac rugby – they did the same in 2022. But Quinnipiac’s 5-2 record is a fresh sight to see for the program. The last time the Bobcats finished October with just two losses on its record was 2017 – the year they won their third-consecutive NIRA title.
Quinnipiac has one more home game against LIU (1-4) to end the season on Saturday. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.
