By: BYU Extramural Sports/Women's Rugby
BYU women’s rugby dominated Utah State Aggies 112-7 on senior day at BYU's South Field March 19, 2022.
If it wasn’t already clear, Pacific Desert Rugby Conference's No. 1 seed, and arguably the No. 1 ranked Spring College D1 team, BYU women’s rugby cemented their status as a D1 Spring contender Saturday March 19 afternoon, blowing out Utah State Aggies 112-7 to clinch an unbeaten Winter-Spring 2022 season and mark 4 consecutive wins and 1 draw for all the rugby games they've played at the South Field Stadium.
In front of about 200 fans, families, and supporters, alumni at South Field and more watching live online on our YouTube channel, the Cougars put on the same show that’s propelled them into the record books all season long: efficient, unselfish offense, and outstanding defensive effort.
“Today, we honor our seniors, who hopefully will be graduating this year as Class of 2022. And it is about heart, love and passion for the game,” head coach Tom Waqa said. “That's who we are: we try to play physical and entertaining running rugby.”
The Cougars didn’t just beat the Aggies— they dominated on all aspects of the game. Over the first half, BYU outscored Utah State Aggies 67-0, and the hysterical South Field faithful couldn’t get enough. The second half score was 45-7 to the Cougars.
The Aggies managed to slot in a converted try through their outstanding #12 Inside Center Abbey Hymas, who managed to break and beat so many tackles from the half way line, enroute to a brilliant try that she converted herself. In addition to Abbey's performance, the Aggies No. 8 Maddison Strubhar also had a stellar day in the office operating behind a brand new squad that is playing the 15s game for the first time this season.
Full of emotions and wonderful rugby memories, the BYU Captain Matalasi Morrissette, Vice Captain Delaney Rakuita, Aubrie Robinette, Mariann Higgins, Berlynn Hall, Nicole Lyons Dimond, and Riho Kurihara Maruyama played their last rugby game as BYU Women's Rugby players on home soil on Saturday March 19, 2022. The dream season that Waqa and company imagined when the Cougars had their 7 seniors shattered all expectations and became one of the most anticipated campaigns in women's rugby program history.
Center #12 Delaney Rakuita added to her try-scoring resume with 5 tries (25 points) while Berlynn Hall contributed 3 tries (15 points) of her own. Almost all of the Cougars on roster got on the score sheet for the day, including the last conversion kick of the day by #7 Flanker Riho Maruyama. Goal kicking master #15 Fullback Nicole Dimond converted 8 of the 18 tries scored. Final Score: BYU 112 USU 7.
The BYU women were just happy to rekindle this instate rivalry between the Cougars and the Aggies — this Utah State Aggies squad took top seed in the Rocky Mountain Rugby D1 Conference for the CRAA 2021 Fall D1 College Title.
BYU heads on the road for a much anticipated contest against D1 Elite powerhouse Central Washington University in Ellensburg, WA on March 26, before the USA Rugby/CRAA's D1 Spring Championship Quarterfinal at Stanford University's Steuber Rugby Stadium, in Stanford on April 15, 2022.
