ANNAPOLIS, Md. – In a dominant first half performance, the women's rugby (3-2, 1-2 NIRA) team picks up its first conference and home victory of the season defeating Princeton (1-5, 0-5 NIRA), 24-19 on Saturday afternoon.

"It was a tale of two halves, I don't think our play dropped off in the second half, Princeton was executing using its bigger bodies for those two tries in the second half," stated head coach Murph McCarthy. "You got to hand it to Princeton. That program has come a long way in the last few years and they came here ready to play and it was a fight from the beginning to the end."

Each team displayed big runs early on in the match but were halted with turnovers. The Tigers showed proficient passing to march their way into Navy's 22-meter zone, but the theme of the first half was Navy's stout defense as it forced a fumble out of bounds near its five-meter zone to gain possession in the eighth minute.

Neither team could establish a solid possession through the next nine minutes, a Tigers pass was intercepted by senior captain Miracle Haynes and was advanced into the 22-meter zone for the first time of the day for the Midshipmen. Princeton defense was pushed on its heels with the Mids quick passing as Lara Olmsted found a gap in the defense and slams in her second try of the season and the first of the match in the 18th minute.

Navy resumed its offensive attack as Megan Leitz quickly put the team in scoring position once again but the Tigers players counter-rucks to steal the possession and booted the ball out of danger. Minutes later, Leitz added a second long run and drawn a Princeton high tackle penalty as Navy elected for a penalty kick. Sophomore Meagan Alvarez converted the team's lone penalty kick of the season attempted to give the Mids a 10-0 lead but the gusting winds pushed the kick wide right in the 28th minute.

Navy's offense came alive in the final 10 minutes of the first half with a pair of tries from sophomore's Mia Young and Alexis Rohrbach. The Midshipmen thrashed the Tigers defense with long runs, in the 33rd minute, Young poached the ball from a Princeton scrum and traveled the distance from mid field to spike in her second try of the season to give Navy a 12-0 lead.

The Tigers would steal a possession on the following kickoff as a wobbly kick fell through the arms of a Midshipmen in their own territory. A high tackle penalty on Navy turned out to be beneficial as it would steal the line out, Rohrbach worked her way out of the ruck pile as she broke through two tackles and jukes past Princeton last defender from the try zone as she ran in her team leading fourth try of the season.

In the final minutes of the first half, the Tigers marched their way into the Mids five-meter zone but the front-line defense was too strong and forced a penalty to end the half and go into halftime, 19-0

Princeton offense came out of halftime with a different pace and scored two tries in 25 minutes to shrink Navy's lead to one possession, 19-12.

The Midshipmen responded quickly with a try of their own in the 70th minute with quick passing attacking the Tigers 22-meter zone. Ella Callahan caught the defense sleeping with a quick kick and go to score her first try of the season. The conversion kick was missed wide right to keep it a two possession match, 24-12.

Princeton added one more try in the final seconds of the match to lessen the wounds on the scoreboard, 24-19.

Up Next

Navy will hit the road to Fairfield, Conn., to take on Sacred Heart on Saturday, Oct. 19. Kickoff is slated for 11 a.m.

Box Score

First Half

17:25 – Try – Navy – Lara Olmstead (5-0)

Conversion kick – Meagan Alvarez (7-0)

32:26 – Try – Navy – Mia Young (12-0)

37:01 – Try – Navy – Alexis Rohrbach (17-0)

Conversion kick – Meagan Alvarez (19-0)

Second Half

44:09 – Try – Princeton (19-5)

65:14 – Try – Princeton (19-10)

Conversion kick – Princeton (19-12)

69:22 – Try – Navy – Ella Callahan (24-12)

79:57 – Try – Princeton (24-17)