The Wisconsin Women’s Rugby team earned its fifth straight league win with a track-meet 72-12 victory against the visiting Minneapolis Menagerie Saturday afternoon.
The lopsided win strongly retained Wisconsin’s hold on the No. 1 spot of the Midwest North Division league standings and provided a great game for cheering fans at the Wisconsin Rugby Club Sports Complex.
Wisconsin opened up strong, scoring three unanswered tries by no. 8 Sammy Clevenger, and props Meg Blodgett and Nadia Riese. The home team controlled nearly all aspects of the game moving forward and entered the second half at 29-0 after additional tries by outside center Kelly Mullen and scrumhalf Mary Hanks. Mullen converted two of the five tries successfully.
Wisconsin opened the second half with a second try by Hanks (unconverted) before Minneapolis’ Sophia McCabe finally broke the shutout with a try at the 44-minute mark (conversion by Marie Anderson) to update the score to 34-7.
Hanks would notch her third for the first hat trick of the game at 51 minutes and the team welcomed back formerly injured teammate Elisa Becker back on a successful conversion. Wisconsin wing Sybil Levine only waited a few minutes after Hanks’ try to notch her own first-ever try for her new team, with another successful Becker conversion, to make it 48-7 at just 55 minutes into the game.
No heading into the final 20 minutes, Wisconsin’s runners broke open the Menagerie backline as Mullen scored at 63 minutes, followed quickly by back-to-back tries by rookie flanker Maddie Hettinger at 65 and 70 minutes.
Mullen notched a second hat trick for Wisconsin at the 78th minute with another conversion by Becker take the 72-7 lead with just two minutes left in the game. However, Minneapolis’s Alisson Sladek powered through the Wisconsin defense in the final seconds to earn a final try and ending the game at 72-12.
Wisconsin will look to wrap up the fall half of the league season at home next Saturday against in-state rival, the Milwaukee Scylla.
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Wisconsin Women – 72
Minneapolis Menagerie – 12
Wisconsin Tries – Meg Blodgett, Sammy Clevenger, Mary Hanks (3), Maddie Hettinger (2), Sybil Levine, Kelly Mullen (3), Nadia Riese.
Wisconsin Conversions – Elisa Becker (4), Kelly Mullen (2)
Minneapolis Menagerie Tries – Sophia McCabe, Alisson Sladek
Minneapolis Menagerie Conversions – Marie Anderson
Wisconsin Lineup:
1. Meghan Blodgett
2. Emily “Mouth” Mastandrea
3. Nadia Riese
4. Mollie Overby
5. Jill Lehman
6. Amanda “Stoli” Stoltz
7. Maddie Hettinger
8. Sammy Clevenger
9. Mary Hanks
10. Meaghan White
11. Katie Odens
12. Marissa Kraynak
13. Kelly Mullen
14. Emily Frerichs
15. Jennifer Messer
Reserves: Liz Robinson, Jinelle Kubly, Greta Slack, Kelly Clerkin, Elisa Becker, Nicole Helmer, Sybil Levine, Anne-Sophie Daloz.