State College, Pa. - The Navy women's rugby team (12-6-1) finished in a 29-29 draw against Penn State (3-4-1) in its first 15s match of the spring season on Sunday in State College, Pa. The Mids trailed 17-5 at half but outscored the Nittany Lions 24-12 in the second half to force a tie. In Frostburg, Md., Navy won five of its seven 7s matches, with the #1 squad going 2-2 and the #2 squad going 3-0.
 
Frostbite 7s Recap
Navy's #1 squad finished 2-2, with wins over Rowan (15-5) and Bloomsburg (15-5). The Mids began the day with a 5-0 defeat to Kutztown's #1 team and fell to the Golden Bears in a knockout playoff match 19-10. The #2 squad went 3-0 with wins over West Virginia (25-7), Kutztown's #2 team (30-5) and Binghamton's #2 team (39-0). Jess Mckenzie led the scoring with eight tries, followed by Mary Agube who scored five and Elizabeth Dunne and Ashley Spencer with three each.
 
Penn State Recap
"Great match played by both sides today. It was great to go at it with another good team. I thought considering we haven't played since December we looked pretty sharp," said head coach Murph McCarthy. "Penn State was outstanding in the breakdowns and had some pretty explosive players in its attack. We were down by two tries at halftime but caught up to them before having to chase them from two tries again to tie it up. It was a friendly so we didn't play any extra time but sure would have liked to."
 
Team captain Eliza Herring scored the first points of the match with a try in the 12th minute but Penn State scored the remainder of the first half points. The Nittany Lions struck first in the 26th minute with a try and made the conversion kick to take a 7-5 lead. Penn State added another try in the 35th minute and made its second conversion kick before ending the first half with a penalty kick to take a 17-5 lead into halftime.
 
Despite the deficit, Navy worked quickly to even up the match just 10 minutes into the second half. Abby Hershner scored a try early in the second half and Chrissi Foster added Navy's third try in the 50th minute. Nicole Deprey made her first conversion kick of the day following Foster's score to tie the match 17-17.
 
Penn State answered with back-to-back tries in the 55th and 58th minutes and made a conversion kick to retake a double-digit lead at 29-17.
 
Navy's top scorer from the fall, Marissa Meyer, got the Mids back within a score with a try in the 65th minute. Miracle Haynes scored a try in the 71st minute and a penalty gave Navy free two points after the score, tying the match at 29-29.
 
Meyer scored her 13th try overall this season and leads Navy with 65 points scored in 15s competition. Herring scored her sixth try overall, while Haynes scored her fourth and Hershner scored her third. Deprey made her 12th conversion kick of her senior campaign to bring her point total to 42 points.

Up Next
Navy returns to the pitch on Saturday, March 25 for its service academy matchup versus Army. The match is scheduled to kickoff at 10:30 a.m., from Segra Field in Leesburg, Va.
 
Box Score
12:56 - Navy - Try - Eliza Herring (5-0)
 
26:26 - Penn State - Try (5-5)
Conversion - Penn State (5-7)
 
35:55 - Penn State - Try (5-12)
Conversion - Penn State (5-14)
 
40:00 - Penn State - Penalty Kick (5-17)
 
41:00 - Navy - Try - Abby Hershner (10-17)
 
50:05 - Navy - Try - Chrissi Foster (15-17)
Conversion - Nicole Deprey (17-17)
 
55:45 - Penn State - Try (17-22)
Conversion - Penn State (17-24)
 
58:08 - Penn State - Try (17-29)
 
65:08 - Navy - Try - Marissa Meyer (22-29)
 
71:49 - Navy - Try - Miracle Haynes (27-29)
Conversion - Penalty (29-29)