Despite light showers and a chilly 30-degree day, Texas A&M women’s rugby came back to win the final two games of a four-game round-robin Armadillo seven-on-seven tournament at Burr Field in Austin on Feb. 22.
After over eight hours of play on Saturday, the Aggies were outscored by Texas 17-12 in Game 1, and by North Texas 17-5 in Game 2, but after a Game 3 forfeit by Houston, the Maroon and White dominated Oklahoma State 35-7 in Game 4 to end on a high note.
Aerospace engineering senior and team co-captain Genevieve Pace kicked off the first game by scoring a single try in the fourth minute of the first half. The women clamped down on defense to secure an errant knock-on that led to another successful try by graduate student and winger Isis Davis.
Although the Maroon offense didn’t ultimately outscore the Longhorns, sophomore flanker and team co-captain Nour Hage was all-in on the team’s defensive performance.
“[We’ve] definitely talked about looking up when we’re playing instead of just focusing on the ball when there’s a breakdown like a ruck — looking up and marking up on our people and spreading out,” Hage said. “That way, [the opposing team] doesn’t have a chance to get it out to the wing.”
Game 2 opened with more struggles as the Aggies left open holes in the defense for the Mean Green to take advantage of. Down 10-0 against UNT, A&M refused to give up as nuclear engineering senior prop Elena Swanson bullied her way to the goal line to secure the only try for the Aggies in Game 2. Swanson’s push was through a maul late in the fourth minute of the first half.
Senior biomedical sciences forward Paige Wurster was confident the team could bounce back in the final two games.
“Don’t let the previous games get to you,” Wurster said. “Every game, we learn more and more about what we can do better. We try not to let the teams get in our head. [Whether] it’s a team that always wins [or] always loses, we start fresh every time.”
A&M was warmed up for Game 3 when news broke that the Cougars had exited the tournament due to a severe injury that left only seven players and no one to substitute. With an hour to kill before the last game, chemistry freshman Claire Lawler and the competitive seven-on-seven team went to cheer on the Aggie developmental team, which also competed in the tournament.
“It’s always fun to cheer on your teammates,” Lawler said. “They actually tied and did really well during the game. I think they showed a lot of growth in those 14 minutes.”
The Aggies came out on fire in Game 4 with a 20-yard run by Davis against the Oklahoma State defenders to secure the first try of the match in the first two minutes. It was the first of Davis’ three scores.
In the sixth minute, A&M’s defense halted an attempted ruck by OSU deep in their own territory, leading to yet another successful Davis try to extend the Aggie lead to 15-0 at the half.
Davis continued to dominate with another successful try in the first minute of the second half following Oklahoma State’s opening kick. Another try from Pace followed in the third minute before the Cowgirls’ responded with their only try of the game in the fourth minute to bring the score to 25-7 A&M.
Nutrition junior and outside winger Rylie Mcmullin crossed the goal line in the fifth minute following a key pass from Pace. Hage turned on the jets and scored A&M’s final try of the game in the sixth minute to give the Aggies a dominant 35-7 win.
Pace described a “disconnect” in the first two games due to the team getting warmed up on a cold day and not having much practice time before the tournament.
“Yes, there were a lot of trys, but it wasn’t an individual effort that got us to that try line,” Pace said. “It was definitely a team effort, and that’s what was felt on the field … It was the best we’ve played together all season.”
A&M women’s rugby travels to Waco on March 1 for a four-game seven-on-seven tournament hosted by Baylor. The tournament includes teams from Texas, Texas Tech, North Texas, Houston, UTSA, SMU, Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, LSU and Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.
